Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated government recently allowed members of the
Brotherhood and hardline jihadists to join
Egypt’s
military academy for the first time as part of what U.S. officials
say is a covert effort to impose Islamist rule in the key Middle East
state.
According to U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports, the government of President
Mohamed Morsi
is covertly taking steps to take control over the pro-Western
military and the police forces as part of a campaign to solidify
Islamist control.
Egypt for decades had banned the
Muslim Brotherhood
and radical Islamist groups from both the military and police
academies after Islamic terrorists in the military assassinated
Egyptian leader
Anwar Sadat in 1981.
The
Egyptian military also for decades has maintained close ties to the
U.S. military. Analysts in the
U.S. intelligence community and the
military are viewing the introduction of Islamists into the
national military academy, disclosed last week, with concern.
Muslim Brotherhood
members and hardline Salafi groups are regarded as dedicated first to
jihad, or holy war, and other Islamist principles rather than to the
country.
“Any opening of the
Egyptian military
to Islamist elements would be a big and complicated change,” said one
U.S. official. “It’s not clear how it would be managed or how well
the rank and file would absorb it.”
Disclosure that the
Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamists are now being admitted to the
military academy was made public March 19 in Egyptian news reports.
The head of the
military academy,
Ismat Murad, told reporters the new batch of Islamist students included the nephew of
Morsi, a
Muslim Brotherhood leader.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials said intelligence agencies are investigating reports that
Morsi recently concluded a secret agreement with the Palestinian terror group
Hamas, another disturbing sign the
Egyptian government is shifting away from its former pro-Western stance and toward radical Islam.
There are concerns the agreement involves collusion between the
Muslim Brotherhood and a plan to settle Palestinians in
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Hamas militants in recent days have attacked Egyptian troops engaged in demolishing tunnels from the Sinai into
Israel.
Hamas has asked the
Egyptian government to halt the tunnel demolition. The tunnels are a major source of covert support into Gaza.
Morsi was elected president last year. His
Freedom and Justice Party was founded by the
Muslim Brotherhood,
an anti-democratic Islamic political movement whose motto states,
“Jihad is our way.” The group claims to be nonviolent but has spawned
numerous Islamic terror organizations including
al Qaeda.
Under
Morsi, the
Egyptian government has appointed hardline Islamists as presidential advisers and assistants, including members of the
Salafist Al-Nour Party.
In addition to the
military academy, Cairo also is taking steps to Islamicize the police forces.
According to recent reports, the
Muslim Brotherhood is planning to restructure the
Egyptian Interior Ministry. The restructuring is said to include plans to place Brotherhood members in key ministry positions.
On the secret agreement with
Hamas, Egyptian daily
Al-Watan published documents in early February purportedly exposing a secret agreement between the
government and
Hamas. One document stated that
Hamas‘ military wing was sending militants to
Egypt to defend the current regime from supporters of the ousted
Mubarak government.
A second document was written by a Qatari foreign affairs official granting
Hamas $250 million to support
Morsi.
The
Morsi administration has agreed to several construction deals in
Gaza, along with security and intelligence-sharing agreements with
Hamas.
Morsi also has sought closer ties to
Iran,
whose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Cairo in February.
Intelligence officials said the two intelligence services also are
collaborating.
Many Persian Gulf states are worried about the threat to their regimes posed by the rise of the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, with the exception of Qatar emerging as a connection point for
Brotherhood’s expansion efforts.
In Saudi Arabia, several Islamist Saudi clerics are supporting the
Muslim Brotherhood transformation in
Egypt, putting them at odds with Riyadh’s opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood government there.
There are concerns that
Egypt
will create religious police along the lines of Saudi Arabia’s
Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as the
Sharia-law enforcement police are called.
Thousands of police in
Egypt went on strike to protest the
Muslim Brotherhood Islamist efforts earlier this month. Riots broke out March 22 between pro- and anti-
Muslim Brotherhood
protesters. The police went back to work after the government said it
would bring in contractors, raising fears of further Islamicization.
The
Brotherhood announced it planned to form vigilante groups to prevent attacks on Islamists.
An
Egyptian military adviser went public with concerns about
Muslim Brotherhood activities in
Egypt on March 11. Maj. Gen. Abd-
al-Munim Katu, an adviser to the Egyptian Armed Forces Morale Affairs Department, told the Dubai news outlet Al Bayan Online that the
military is resisting
Morsi’s Islamicization efforts.
Specifically,
Katu said the
Muslim Brotherhood was pressuring
Egypt’s Defense Minister Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi to ignore the Sinai tunneling into Gaza.
“I think that the current situation in
Egypt is alarming and confused, in general,”
Katu said.
Asked if
Morsi will complete his term as president,
Tatu
said: “The vision is blurry. Indicators suggest that he may not be
able to complete his term. The people have legitimate demands, but the
Muslim Brothers are busy seizing control of the joints of the state.
The gap between the two parties is widening.”
The Obama administration, whose religious outreach advisers include several
Muslim Brotherhood
sympathizers, is not directly challenging the far-reaching campaign
of Islamicization being carried out by the Morsi government in
Egypt.
Instead the administration adopted conciliatory policies toward the current government in
Egypt. The administration hopes to continue working with
Egypt’s government but has not pressured Cairo into making needed democratic reforms, U.S. officials said.
Secretary of State
John Kerry
visited Cairo March 4 and mentioned U.S. hopes for democratic reform.
He also announced the release of $250 million in U.S. aid out of $1
billion promised by President Barack Obama after
Egypt’s revolution overthrew long-time ally Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak last year.
Kerry said he urged
Morsi to initiate “homegrown reforms.”
Pro-democracy protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square carried banners during the visit that read “
Kerry, member of the
Brotherhood,” and “
Kerry, you are not welcome here.”
Analysts have compared Obama’s policy toward
Egypt to those of President
Jimmy Carter who in the late 1970s tacitly supported
Iran’s exiled radical cleric Ayatollah Khomeini.
Carter eventually abandoned the Shah of
Iran,
a longtime U.S. ally, and paved the way for 1978 revolution that
brought the current hardline Islamist state in Tehran into power, a
regime that is now on the verge of developing nuclear weapons for its
large ballistic missile force.
Frank Gaffney, head of the Center for Security Policy, said Obama’s foreign policy has been accurately described as “
Jimmy Carter’s policies on steroids.”
“What’s happening in
Egypt today with the
Muslim Brotherhood takeover and the ascendancy of Islamist throughout the Middle East and North Africa, makes
Jimmy Carter’s debacle in
Iran pale by comparison,” Gaffney said.
•
Bill Gertz is the senior editor of the Washington Free Beacon.
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