Egypt Islamists see mass protest at "rigged" vote (Muslim Brotherhood to lead revolt: 12/23/2010)

AF.Reuters ^ | 12/23/2010 | Marwa Awad

[Qbert]

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood says it will shift its political struggle to the streets after elections that were "rigged" to ensure the movement was ejected from parliament.

Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said the group would use peaceful means of dissent against a parliament that he said did not reflect the real strength of Egypt's opposition or the will of voters.

"Absent from parliament...the opposition will take to the streets," Badie told Reuters in an interview.

He said the movement would coordinate with other opposition groups in protests that would be "legal, constitutional and en masse".

[Snip]

Officials said the vote was fair and any violations did not undermine the outcome...

[Snip]

Asked whether civil disobedience was on the Brotherhood's agenda, Badie said the group has yet to study that option but added: "Activities will continue to escalate".

[Qbert]

Now if Reuters reported this one month ago, how is it that the administration was caught so completely off guard, and that "nobody" knew "who was behind this" in the initial days of the chaos?

[ClearCase_guy]

The media (Katie Couric) tore Palin apart when it appeared that she didn't read a lot of newspapers. Well, it turns out that no one in the State Dept or the White House reads Reuters.

That probably says something about both Reuters, and this administration.

[eeevil conservative]

I would wager that “Friends” of this admin were instrumental in mentoring the “Brotherhood” on exactly HOW to “demonstrate” in a way that would be effective but would allow Obama to not condemn them.....

“We” not only KNEW, certain “We’s” are directly responsible...... Piven, Aires (and wife), etc come to mind....

will be interesting to see just how long these Brotherhood thugs will stay peaceful....in no way do I see the Egyptian Gov’t as non thugs.....but I do believe that both groups love violence, and believe in it as a way to reach their means...the MAIN way.....but both are trying to win public approval....

they just givin up the radical pose for the moment.....

[BCW]

check out: Babylon’s Covert War - the book is on Kindle as well...alot of info on Islamic advancement throughout the world...

[Qbert]

“they just givin up the radical pose for the moment.....”

Yep. The Obama administration says they could be accepted if they “renounce violence”, but of course there’s no way to enforce that after they gain control. They’ll just wait until it’s off everybody’s radar. And coordinate more uprisings around the globe.

[eeevil conservative]

THANKS! Will look into that!

[eeevil conservative]

What if Brotherhood does gain control....

will we still be sending money to Egypt?

If “We” send money to support the same group that mentored and taught the 911 terrorists.....Obama will not have to worry about “protests” overseas....

[anglian]

“Brotherhood members were acting as ‘stewards’. When stone-throwing broke out, a group of Muslim Brothers started chanting ‘Silmiya, silmiya” (Keep it peaceful).” “I’m not going to venture a guess at the level of Muslim Brotherhood participation but, judging from my chance encounters with protesters, any assertion that the movement is absent or very thinly represented is probably wishful thinking. By the way, many Brothers are clean-shaven, wear suits and ties and are physically indistinguishable from other Egyptians of the same class.” The Brotherhood, from long experience of confrontation with the Egyptian authorities, is always wary of commitment to street protests. It will calibrate its level of participation to its assessment of the chances of success. If it overreaches, it runs the risk of a massive crackdown. For the moment, probably rightly, it is not convinced that the protests will overthrow the regime.
The Brotherhood knows that the world (especially the United States and Europe) are watching events in Egypt closely. If the protests appear to be Brotherhood-led, the government will feel free to use much more brutal methods to disperse protesters. For the moment it suits the Brotherhood’s interests to give the impression that there is a broad coalition united against Hosni Mubarak, including liberals and leftists. This explains why Brotherhood members who have taken part in the protests have refrained from chanting slogans with religious connotations. The impression of a broad coalition also helps domestically — if the Brotherhood take the lead, it would frighten off some of the other groups.
The Brotherhood believes that, given freedom and time, it can win over Egyptians to its long-term agenda.
http://jnthnwrght.blogspot.com/2011/01/cairo-unrest-and-muslim-brotherhood.html If Mubarak is still in power at noon on Friday, it could be a very bloody day. Read the following statement from an unknown group called the Youth of the Revolution:

“We the people and the youth of Egypt demand from our brothers in the national armed forces to outline their position clearly and without ambiguity. They must either take the side of millions of Egyptians protesting or stand in the camp of the regime. We await a response to this statement from now until Thursday, February 3, bearing in mind that if no response is given, it means bias towards the regime, at which point we call on
all Egyptians to protest on February 4 for the ‘Friday of Departure’ after Friday prayers. Finally, we call on people to march to the presidential palace and parliament building and the state broadcast building in millions across Egypt ... to impose the wished of the Egyptian people.”

[BenLurkin]

Odd...Bob Beckle was saying just last night on FBN that the MB were merely “followers”

[Condor51]

I don't get all the hate directed at the Muslim Brotherhood?

According to the always reliable source; Wikipedia, the Muslim Brotherhood is a peaceful organization. They are against jihad and condemned the 9-11 Terrorist attack on America.

Granted they also believe that the Quran and Sunnah constitute a perfect way of life. And that governments must be based on this system and eventually unified in a Caliphate, but hey, nobody's perfect. Even the Rotary Club and Elk's have some bad apples (not to mention, Moose).

So I'm sure we could sit down with them and negotiate about their grievances. They sound reasonable - and again - are against jihad and violence.

10....
9.....
8.....
7.....
6.....
5.....
4.....
3.....
2.....
1.....

[Qbert]

“What if Brotherhood does gain control....
will we still be sending money to Egypt?”

Good question. The reports say Obama is willing to accept their legitimacy in the Egyptian government if- based on their word alone, apparently- they “reject violence and recognize democratic goals”.

This is completely asinine of course...but if the MB does “accept” those meaningless, non-binding terms, I’m thinking Obama will hail this as progress and won’t see any reason not to send more money.

[DannyTN]

The Muslim Brotherhood may well be behind this, but are the people protesting because the Muslim Brotherhood was ejected, or because food and fuel costs have gone up. It seems like I’m hearing both, but never from the same source.

It may be that the Food and fuel hikes that are an inconvenience here, are so devastating to these poor countries that it’s the fuel that the Muslim brotherhood is trying to ride the coattails of.

Maybe Saudi Arabia needs to increase production before their neighborhood goes up in flames.

[Qbert]

“Odd...Bob Beckle was saying just last night on FBN that the MB were merely “followers”

Morning Schmo Scarborough seemed to be saying this was completely a democracy movement inspired by Obozo’s Cairo speech.

[Qbert]

“The Muslim Brotherhood may well be behind this, but are the people protesting because the Muslim Brotherhood was ejected, or because food and fuel costs have gone up. It seems like I’m hearing both, but never from the same source.”

—The MB is already well-trained in these endeavors. It looks like they used their claim, and their claim alone, that the elections were “rigged” as an excuse to start a mass revolt. Then they gathered the already hungry, disenchanted young people to join them.

And notice: there are no statements from the US here about examining whether there really were any problems with the Egyptian election. The MB makes this claim, starts a riot...and then we give them exactly what they want without challenge.

[DannyTN]

"It looks like they used their claim, and their claim alone, that the elections were “rigged” as an excuse to start a mass revolt. Then they gathered the already hungry, disenchanted young people to join them."

It seems like if the voters truly rejected them, then they wouldn't have enough support to be able to start a mass revolt.

[Qbert]

“It seems like if the voters truly rejected them, then they wouldn’t have enough support to be able to start a mass revolt.”

Well, who knows? A lot of the people in the protests are youths- I don’t know honestly what the voting age is over there- it might be that a lot of them didn’t even get to vote. Plus, the youths over there appear to be much more susceptible in recent times to accepting radical elements- you fill their heads with enough propaganda, and they will change if they are hungry enough, even if they initially rejected the MB.

I’d like to see some evidence verifying the claim that the elections weren’t valid, either way.

[L,TOWM]

10% of say, 16 Million male eligible voters is still a heck of a lot of people, Danny.

And 20% of the 25 Million adult and teenage males are even more people...

Nobody stays in power for 30 years without being a complete tyrant or some seriously f’ed up elections. Or both.

[Lil Flower]

>>>>>>What if Brotherhood does gain control....
will we still be sending money to Egypt?<<<<<<<

And why wouldn’t we? The former administration insisted on free and fair elections in Gaza and who did the people elect? Hamas who was created by, Muslim brotherhood! Now, did we stop sending money to Gaza? Of course not! We have imbeciles running our country now. Hell, we should be in the streets!

[eeevil conservative]

Hell, we should be in the streets!

agreed.....I fear that won't happen until someone shuts down MTV or bans video games.....liberals would never do that....but the Brotherhood would.... and by then it will be too late..