Does Carter's statement on the Muslim Brotherhood miss the point?

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter stated during a lecture yesterday at the University of Texas that there is 'nothing to fear' from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Due to the relatively small number of Eyptians who identify with the Muslim Brotherhood and the country's current push toward 'democracy and open, free elections,' said Carter, the group will more than likely become 'subsumed' by the overwhelming desire for 'freedom and true democracy.' 

Carter, who is best remembered for brokering a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1978, spoke on a wide range of issues related to the Middle East.  But his quip concerning the Muslim Brotherhood raises a serious question that has gotten lost in the current debate regarding Egypt's future--does the focus on the Muslim Brotherhood miss the point?

Democratic Party strategists tend to highlight recent polls showing that only 15% of Egyptians at the most trust the Muslim Brotherhood and would support them in reorganizing the government.  The accuracy of such polls are difficult to determine in a naton that has been under the heavy hand of oppression for most if not all of its existence, especially given that a Pew Poll from 2010 suggests that the Brotherhood has a fairly high favorability rating in Egypt.

But even if the validity of the polls could be verified, a significant factor concerning the mindset of the average Egyptian makes the Brotherhood a non-issue.  Those same polls find that over 80% of Egyptians support Sharia Law in their nation as prescribed by the Koran.  Over 80% believe that a Muslim who defects from the religion should be killed. And nearly the same number believe that a woman caught in adultery should be executed.

Therefore, the polls show that despite Egyptian reluctance to embrace the Muslim Brotherhood as an organization, the belief system is the same.  Egypt as a whole embraces fundamentalist Islam every bit as thoroughly as any other radical Muslim nation in the region.

This raises yet another serious question to which there are no easy answers.  Is 'feedom and true democracy,' as Carter put it, even possible in a fundamentalist Muslim nation?

'Democracy,' as it is understood by the nations of the west, and Islam are mutually exclusive terms.  Islam as understood and practiced by the majority of Muslims in the Middle East is diametrically opposed to human liberty. Statements made by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and other fundamentalist Muslims, have made it clear that the notion of human liberty is a direct affront to will of 'Allah,' who insists that all nations be subject to the teachings of the Koran as meted out by Islamic clerics who force obedience on the part of citizens.

In such a society, woman are second-class citizens who must be veiled in public and even beheaded if they dare dabble in western culture.  Female genital mutilation is rampant.  Children are viewed as property.  Again, if they dabble in western culture they are snuffed out in what is known in the Muslim world as 'honor killings.'  If one is caught stealing, their hand is chopped off.  Homosexuals, if they are not killed, are given severe beatings.

Thus, when Barack Obama speaks of 'everyone having a place at the table' in the new Egypt, little comfort can be taken when it is realized that not only will the Muslim Brotherhood have a seat, but the others sitting around that table will exhibit radical views that are just as crushing to human liberty as the Brotherhood.

And today, news headlines around the world point to growing danger not only in Egypt but throughout the Middle East as citizens in other extremist nations take to the streets.  Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain are embroiled in major social unrest.  And the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who is the driving force behind the rewened push toward a world-wide 'caliphate,' or consortium of nations under Islam, has called for 'united Muslim nations' to 'kill the Jewish Zionists, every last one of them.'  He views the Holocaust as Allah's punishment of Jews.

As the fundamentalist Muslim nations of the world gradually unite, ominous signs of what may be ahead made the news today.  Iranian warships are reportedly headed toward the Suez Canal on their way to Syria, a development that has placed Israel on high alert.  The act of provocation has not occurred in many years, leading some obervers to note that the demise of a moderating influence in Egypt has opened the floodgates to dangerous extremism throughout the region.

Thus, Carter's statement on the Muslim Brotherhood is a moot point.  Even if the Brotherhood is not at the forefront of a new Egypt, the entity that will likely fill the power vacuum in the country is no solace to those who value human liberty and the safety of Israel and the west.

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