Osama Bin Laden and The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood

[Roudy]

Osama bin Laden -- Influences on Osama bin Laden
Influences on Osama bin Laden from the 1960s through 1996

Osama Bin Laden's belief that violent attack on both Middle Eastern and Western targets is a legitimate political route stems from both his early influences and his own experience.

Bin Laden and the Muslim Brotherhood: Bin Laden grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, a period of great turmoil throughout the Middle East. Raised in a strict Islamic environment (like most of his peers), bin Laden was exposed at school to the ideas of his Muslim Brotherhood teachers. The Muslim Brotherhood, often considered the forerunner to contemporary Islamist terrorist groups, was founded in Egypt in the late 1920s .The group saw Islamic rule as necessary to counter Western influence. They advocated violence to achieve Egyptian independence.

Bin Laden paid attention to Muslim Brotherhood members in after-school sessions. In these sessions, they taught Islam both as a religion and as a political system that could be achieved through violence. By most accounts, bin Laden was a serious, studious youth who increasingly turned to religious ideas and texts in his teens, but there are no satisfactory explanations for his turn to unwavering extremism.

Osama bin Laden -- Influences on Osama bin Laden

 

[waltky]

From Pharaohs to dictators to the Muslim Brotherhood...

Muslim Brotherhood's rise sparks concern democracy will be fleeting in Egypt
July 02, 2012 - After thousands of years as the land of the pharaohs and decades under dictators, Egypt could find its experiment with democracy brief, some analysts worry.

That concern follows the Muslim Brotherhood's wild success at the polls in post-Mubarak Egypt, most recently with the election to the presidency of Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi. He was sworn in over the weekend. Kori Schake, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, feels Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood's rise owes much to Egyptians' dislike of those candidates aligned with Hosni Mubarak and the Egyptian military. But the result is that the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid is now led by a party with past ties to terror group Hamas. "With the Islamist parties, because they are revolutionary, that is -- they seek to change the societies as they have been governed -- the fear is that you will get one man, one vote, one time," Schake said. Schake went on to say the Brotherhood could adjust the peace treaty with Israel and has members who support Shariah law, which could mean fewer rights for women.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice questioned what those moves would mean for the tenuous U.S.-Egypt relationship. "No American president can support an Egypt that calls into question the historic treaty between Israel and Egypt. And no American president can support an Egypt that doesn't fully recognize women's rights or the rights of religious minorities," Rice told Fox News. Some experts think Egypt's military will ultimately pressure the government to keep the peace treaty with Israel and do so without trying to control the government. "They particularly don't want to run things now because they know Egypt is headed for some real economic problems in the next year," Fox News security analyst KT McFarland said.

But the Brotherhood may be less predictable. It had promised not to run candidates for parliament or president, then ran candidates for both. It is also the main opposition group in Jordan and Tunisia, and may well lead Syria should the regime of Bashar Assad fall. And while some worry the Brotherhood will succeed in Egypt, Schake worries it will fail to bring security and prosperity, and that could bring a new fear: "That politics can't fix this, the routine ways we govern our societies can't fix this." This stalemate, she said, could lead to calls for violence. She added: "I fear that that narrative may once again take hold as people get discouraged and despair." Schake calls that the Al Qaeda "narrative," and says Egypt would be its biggest prize.

Source

 

[Roudy]

From Pharaohs to dictators to the Muslim Brotherhood...

Muslim Brotherhood's rise sparks concern democracy will be fleeting in Egypt
July 02, 2012 - After thousands of years as the land of the pharaohs and decades under dictators, Egypt could find its experiment with democracy brief, some analysts worry.

That concern follows the Muslim Brotherhood's wild success at the polls in post-Mubarak Egypt, most recently with the election to the presidency of Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi. He was sworn in over the weekend. Kori Schake, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, feels Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood's rise owes much to Egyptians' dislike of those candidates aligned with Hosni Mubarak and the Egyptian military. But the result is that the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid is now led by a party with past ties to terror group Hamas. "With the Islamist parties, because they are revolutionary, that is -- they seek to change the societies as they have been governed -- the fear is that you will get one man, one vote, one time," Schake said. Schake went on to say the Brotherhood could adjust the peace treaty with Israel and has members who support Shariah law, which could mean fewer rights for women.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice questioned what those moves would mean for the tenuous U.S.-Egypt relationship. "No American president can support an Egypt that calls into question the historic treaty between Israel and Egypt. And no American president can support an Egypt that doesn't fully recognize women's rights or the rights of religious minorities," Rice told Fox News. Some experts think Egypt's military will ultimately pressure the government to keep the peace treaty with Israel and do so without trying to control the government. "They particularly don't want to run things now because they know Egypt is headed for some real economic problems in the next year," Fox News security analyst KT McFarland said.

But the Brotherhood may be less predictable. It had promised not to run candidates for parliament or president, then ran candidates for both. It is also the main opposition group in Jordan and Tunisia, and may well lead Syria should the regime of Bashar Assad fall. And while some worry the Brotherhood will succeed in Egypt, Schake worries it will fail to bring security and prosperity, and that could bring a new fear: "That politics can't fix this, the routine ways we govern our societies can't fix this." This stalemate, she said, could lead to calls for violence. She added: "I fear that that narrative may once again take hold as people get discouraged and despair." Schake calls that the Al Qaeda "narrative," and says Egypt would be its biggest prize.

Source

The reason the elected Muslim brotherhood leader is "laying low" now is because half the power is still in the military's hands. If he had the mi'itary in his back pocket, he'd be singing a very different tune. The lyrics would have a lot of Jihad and Allah Akbar in it.