Is the Obama Administration resting the future hopes of democracy in Egypt on the Muslim Brotherhood? If they are, they can expect to fall flat on their face. That at least is the history over the past fifty years. In a remarkable piece in the New York Review of Books, Ian Johnson lays out the history. Be sure to read the whole thing. An excerpt:
“If this discussion [of the US working with the Muslim Brotherhood to bring democracy to Egypt] evokes a sense of déjà vu, this is because over the past sixty years we have had it many times before, with almost identical outcomes. Since the 1950s, the United States has secretly struck up alliances with the Brotherhood or its offshoots on issues as diverse as fighting communism and calming tensions among European Muslims. And if we look to history, we can see a familiar pattern: each time, US leaders have decided that the Brotherhood could be useful and tried to bend it to America’s goals, and each time, maybe not surprisingly, the only party that clearly has benefited has been the Brotherhood.”