Congressmen Darrell Issa (R, CA) and Louis Gohmert (R, TX) pushed a bill, H.R. 3892, that would officially designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization at a meeting organized by the London Center for Policy research in the Russell Senate building on Wednesday.
The panel included several distinguished American and Egyptian speakers. Egypt has already designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and H.R. 3892 would apply the terror designation to the Muslim Brotherhood for the U.S. government.
After the London Center’s Vice President Eli Gold started the meeting, Congressman Gohmert spoke first by outlining the case against the Muslim Brotherhood and countering arguments made by detractors of the legislation. The outspoken Texas Congressman addressed accusations of racism over his opposition to radical Islam by saying Radical Islam isn’t a race, it’s a violent ideology. Gohmert also hammered the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as an unindicted co-conspirator in the conviction of the Holyland Foundation for providing material support to terrorists. Gohmert used the words of several prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood to illustrate that the Muslim Brotherhood considers itself an enemy of the United States and that we should take them at their word.
Congressman Issa spoke next, saying that the Muslim Brotherhood drives hatred of Christians and Jews. Congressman Issa eviscerated arguments from opponents of the legislation that claim the Muslim Brotherhood is just a political organization. “The Muslim Brotherhood should change their name if they want to call themselves a political organization,” Issa said. “They can’t use the same monikers, slogans, and rhetoric and claim they’ve changed their spots.”
After the Congressmen left to attend a vote in the House, President of the London Center for Policy Research, Herb London, talked about the Muslim Brotherhood providing seed money to Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. He talked about the revolution in Egypt that initially installed the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi as President. Shortly after Morsi was installed nearly a third of Egyptians again took to the streets, this time to remove Morsi. Morsi called on the military to fire on the protesters and General El-Sisi refused, making him a hero and eventually Morsi’s replacement as President, London explained.
London also brought up a speech Egyptian President El-Sisi made denouncing violence and extremism in his own religion and commented that it was unfortunate that it was mostly ignored by the media.
Egyptian actor Mahmoud Kabil also spoke about his experience in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood. Kabil talked about heading “veterans against Morsi” and tied the Muslim Brotherhood to an organization that the United States has already designated as a terrorist organization, Hamas.
London Center Senior Military Fellow Major General Bob Newman talked about the Muslim Brotherhood’s potential for non-kinetic attacks including cyber attacks and an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack on American infrastructure.
Egyptian TV host Michael Morgan warned that the Muslim Brotherhood will lie and say anything to get what they want, which is a foothold to attack from within.
Breitbart News asked another panelist, Senator Ted Cruz’s Legislative Assistant Samantha Leahy, what impact the terror designation would have on the Muslim Brotherhood. She answered by saying that it would give the State Department more leeway to open investigations and follow Muslim Brotherhood finances. A member of the audience asked in a follow-up question if the terror designation would compel the government to take action because the current administration isn’t likely to do anything against the Muslim Brotherhood voluntarily. Leahy answered that terror designation would prevent members of the Muslim Brotherhood from entering the country and compel the monitoring of their finances.
Dustin Stockton is a political reporter for Breitbart News, a community liaison for Gun Owners of America, and a political strategist. Follow him on Twitter @DustinStockton or Facebook.