by Patrick Lang (bio below)
Akef, whose group won 88 of the Egyptian parliament’s 454 seats in elections in November and December, made his comment in an attack on the United States’ assertion that it is promoting democracy in the Middle East.
He said the U.S. campaign was a cover for promoting its own interests and those of the Zionist movement in the region.
`American democracy … steers the world into the American orbit delineated by the sons of Zion, so that everyone must wear the Stars and Stripes hat and keep away from the Zionist foster child,” he wrote in his weekly statement.” NY Times
Someone among my correspondents wrote recently to say, that I should relax, that “all such” extremist movements in the Middle East become political parties embedded in the body politic of their country over time and are rendered harmless, by being involved with “real” concerns.
I suppose that the Egyptian Muslim Brothers (MB) would be a good example. Stimulated by the bloviations of academics who generally believe that the evil deeds of Western countries and the “oppression” of autocratic government are responsible for Islamic extremism, the US Government has been inspired to foster the political empowerment of the MB in Egypt. As a result the MB in Egypt grew its caucus in the Cairo parliament from 11 seats to 88 in the recent election. Feeling its “oats” it now speaks up in defense of a belief held by many in the Islamic World, namely that the Holocaust is an invention of Western propaganda designed as “cover” for yet more evil deeds by the USA under the guidance of “Zionism.” Zionism is here used in quotes because it is not the Zionism of the Zionists to which they refer, but rather the “Zionism” of the “Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion” in which many of the same people fervently believe. For those who may not have heard of this interesting work of political fantasy, it is a document written in central Europe in the 19Th Century purporting to be the records of the planning conference at which the Jews laid out their plan to take over the world. Someone should ask Mr. Akef if he believes in that as well.
I will say again, Islamist movements have two agenda items in common:
- They intend to create Sharia law states in preparation for merger of these states into the Umma. Within those states they will tolerate nothing that is at odds with their view of Islam.
- Antipathy to the West and particularly to the US as leader of the West is a “treasured” belief since they see all of mankind as locked in a struggle between the Muslims and “the other.”
Among Islamists such beliefs are so strong that any and all actions by “the other” are interpreted on the basis of learning what evil purpose “the other” had in them.
Pat Lang
Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann (interview), CNN and Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room (interview), PBS’s Newshour, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” (interview), and more .
Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
Recommended Books || More BooTrib Posts
Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free by chapter, PDF format)
“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
