Thursday, February 10, 2011

U.S. Director of National Intelligence: Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is "Largely Secular" and "Has Eschewed Violence and Decried Al Qaeda"


I've been happy that the Muslim Brotherhood has been kept in check by the Egyptian people. As I wrote last month:

While many in the U.S. have tried to paint most Muslims as extremists, and the "War on Terror" as being a black-and-white war of good guys versus bad browned-skinned people, the Egyptian revolution shows that the reality is very different.

As Democracy Now producer Sharif Kouddous tweets, moderate Muslims are drowning out members of the Muslim Brotherhood:

Muslim Brotherhood chanting Allah Akbar. Crowd stopped them chanting louder: Muslim, Christian, we're all Egyptian.

Similarly, an editorial in the Guardian states:

Tell everyone: Egypt's revolution is sweet and peaceful.

No one wants the Muslim Brotherhood to take over, no one wants violence – just elections and a new constitution

But America's Director of National Intelligence - James Clapper - is apparently a lot less worried about the Muslim Brotherhood than I am.

Clapper told Congress today:

The term Muslim Brotherhood is an umbrella term for a variety of movements. In the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaeda as a version of Islam.

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