Category Archives: Muslim Brotherhood

Pro-government demonstrators, bottom, watch as cars burn during clashes with anti-government demonstrators, behind barriers at top, in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, early Thursday, Feb. 3. Hundreds of people were injured in the clashes in which the two sides rained stones, bottles and firebombs on each other as soldiers stood by without intervening. The demonstrations began as an effort to force President Hosni Mubarak from power. (Lefteris Pitarakis / AP)

It was almost surreal to watch a titanic battle with thousands of participants being waged in the streets of Cairo. And until tonight it was fought without guns but instead like some sort of medieval battle with rocks, clubs, and machetes. A fifteen hour plus battle that waged fiercely throughout the day. When was the last time you saw fifty or sixty men mounted on horses and camels charge a crowd? Quite the sight. Several people have been killed and probably well over one thousand wounded in the melee. It is escalating even as I type this post as guns come into play and people are torched by Molotov cocktails.

And the Egyptian army? It pretty much (literally) closed down the hatches and watched it all play out. Various elements seemed to help first one side and then the other at times and otherwise they would briefly emerge to douse a fire or fire off a few tear gas canisters before the soldiers once again retreated to the safety of their tanks and APCs.

I predicted that Mubarak was no pushover and Egypt no Tunisia. How long he can hold on is anyone’s guess. Friday is set to be another ‘day of rage’ and it will be interesting to see if the government can hold together its impromptu gang of thugs in the face of very large numbers of anti-Mubarak crowds over the next couple of days. We are approaching the critical mass here. The next forty-eight to seventy-two hours will probably be decisive one way or another for one side or the other. If the army fractures we may see a more serious type of civil war erupt. If one side or the other triumphs in the streets we may see a low-level civil conflict continue between the sides for some time to come. Very hard to predict what will unfold.

The Obama administration and Western intelligent agencies have shown themselves to once again be woefully inept in seeing this coming. Do we not have one person on the ground in either country? Absolutely shameful. And what, pray tell, can we expect if the Muslim Brotherhood was to seize control of the Egyptian government you ask? Well, they’ve made that very clear already. Already the Left is assuring us that we have nothing to fear if they come out on top. Makes you wonder why progressives continue their de facto alliance with Islamists the world over. It makes no sense except they share the same deep-seated hatred of Judeo-Christian values, Western Civilization, and Israel I guess.

Muslim Brotherhood: Suez Canal Must be Closed, Egypt Should be Ready for War with Israel

Muhammad Ghannem told an Iranian news network that if he and the Muslim Brotherhood had his way, the Suez Canal would be closed immediately.  This would not only hurt capital coming in for the Mubarak government, but it would have further repercussions, as one-third of the world’s oil is transported through the canal.  This could increase the price of oil and gas substantially.

Continuing, Ghannem stated that gas flowing from Egypt to Israel should stop immediately, “in order to bring about the downfall of the Mubarak regime.”  Once again, this would hurt the Mubarak regime and would also hurt the Israeli economy in the process.

However, Ghannem’s most provocative statements came about war with Israel.  Talking about what the Muslim Brotherhood is prepared to do, Ghannem stated that “the people should be prepared for war against Israel.”  This implies that a war with Israel could be inevitable if the group takes substantial power in Egypt.

A good number of videos showing the extent of the chaos can be found here.

A man watches a burning APC