by CAITLIN DICKSON
As protests in Cairo continue, attention has turned to the Muslim Brotherhood, the 83-year-old Islamist opposition group. Members of the long-suppressed organization have recently been arrested in the protests. The opinions of the Muslim Brotherhood are vast and varied, as beliefs that the group’s sole motivation is to oust President Mubarak and bring peace to the country are contradicted by proclamations that the Brotherhood plans to take over Egypt and create an anti-American state. Here is a sampling of the current discussion and the questions everyone is asking.
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Are They a Threat to the U.S.? Think Progress writer Tonya Somanader scoffs at the purported threat of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, calling it the Republican hardliners’ “delusion-du-jour.” She writes that Representative Thaddeus McCotter and UN Ambassador John Bolton are among many in the U.S. who believe “the result of this pro-democracy movement will be the enfranchisement of the Muslim Brotherhood and other anti-American ‘jihadist nutjobs.'” She cites Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei’s appearance on Fareek Zakaria’s CNN show in which he denounced such assertions as “a myth perpetuated and sold by the Mubarak regime,” insisting that the religiously conservative group is a minority in Egypt, but has a lot of credit because they are interested in a secular state. Somanader affirms ElBaradei’s comments by writing that the Muslim Brotherhood has moved away from its past violence and, now peaceful, is the largest opposition group to the Egyptian government.
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