COMMENT: In the wake of the Egyptian uprising, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is more or less inevitable. It remains unclear just what role they will play, but they will certainly be among the major players in that country, and possibly elsewhere throughout the Arab world.
The U.S. has a long history of dalliance with the Brotherhood, all of it counterproductive.
Read the following article carefully and consider the implications:
EXCERPT: In the summer of 2006, after pressing the Egyptian government for more than a year to restart the country’s nuclear power program, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s foremost political opposition force, escalated its nuclear goals and openly called for Egypt to develop nuclear weapons as a counter to Israel’s nuclear capabilities. Against this background, the group reacted with little enthusiasm to the mid-september announcement by Jamal Mubarak, son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, that Egypt would revive its peaceful nuclear power – without declaring that Egypt would build a nuclear deterrent. (See “Renewed Egyptian Ambitions for a Peaceful Nuclear Program” in this issue of WMD Insights.)
In 2005, revival of the Egyptian nuclear power program had been a rallying cry for the Muslim Brotherhood. In its 2005 parliamentary election platform, for example, it had declared that under its leadership, Egypt would develop “special national programs, such as the nuclear program, the space and aviation program, armaments program, and the bio-technology program.” [1] The party, which currently holds roughly one fifth of the seats in the Egyptian National Assembly (the lower house of the Egyptian parliament), used the nuclear issue to challenge the current Egyptian government, which had shown little interest in nuclear energy, unlike a number of states in the region, including Iran and Turkey.
By May 17, 2006, Brotherhood deputies were openly attacking the Mubarak government for not pursuing an active nuclear program. Ikhwanonline, the official website of the Muslim Brotherhood, stated that Brotherhood “deputies accuse the government of abandoning the nuclear program and [being content with not] building atomic power plants for peaceful purposes and electricity production at the same time many other countries such as India advanced in this field.” [2] (India has not only developed nuclear power for electricity production, but used its peaceful nuclear program as a stepping stone to develop nuclear weapons.) . . .
First of all, let me say that I am happy to see that I am no longer the only one now who posts comments on this site. There is some traffic finally and it is good for you! If I helped to stimulate it, I am proud of it! Shyness is certainly not productive at this time of history.
The connection presented here is terrific. Now we see the real deep-root motivation for the “uprising”. A pattern is unfolding: Middle East nations develop nuclear ‘clean’ capabilities in order to get nuclear weapons. India is given here as an example. But there is also the example of Iran...which presents the same rhetoric. Supposedly, they are developing nuclear capabilities for ‘electricity’ and other purposes in a country where oil is abundant...
A film has been made, titled “Iranium”. It features mainly conservative people. We may debate whether it is biased or not (they pass quickly on the Iranian Revolution and other subjects) but nevertheless, this movie remains a good tool to raise people’s awareness about Iran and counteract anti-americanism propaganda.
What is really interesting though is not the content of the movie but the history of the movie itself. On this side of the border, in Canada, the movie was scheduled for screening in Ottawa at the Library and Archives of Canada somewhere in January but the Iranian Embassy made a complaint. The bureaucrats at the Library behave like cowards, as it was expected, and pulled off the movie. The Minister in charge, James Moore, retorted to the Iranian Embassy that Canada won’t be told what to do by another nation. He ordered the Library to screen the movie, and finally it was last sunday. You see, that’s the spirit of the Resistance!
By the way, Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially supports Israel...I think the Iranians don’t like him very much.
Here is the adress of the movie’s website for those who want to see it. It is available free for a limited time.
http://www.iraniumthemovie.com/
Have a great day and keep fighting back.
Dave, as usual — your insights and intelligence reign supreme. I’m would take a deep breath except I’m breathless at this observation.