A Blood-Soaked, Totalitarian Death Cult’: National Security Expert Explains Why You Should Fear the Muslim Brotherhood
Considering the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, Erick Stakelbeck’s new book, “The Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy,”
provides a fascinating lens into the Muslim Brotherhood’s history,
contemporary power structures — and the level to which the journalist
and national security expert believes that the Obama administration has
empowered the group.
In an e-mail interview over the
weekend, Stakelbeck answered some of TheBlaze’s most burning questions
about the Brotherhood and why he chose to pen such a fascinating book.
–
Why should Americans fear the Muslim Brotherhood?
First and foremost, Americans need to
understand that the Muslim Brotherhood is the granddaddy of them all
when it comes to modern-day Islamic terrorist groups. Al Qaeda and Hamas
are direct offshoots of the Brotherhood—and if the MB was never created
in 1928 in Egypt, 9/11 would have never happened. I know that may be a
stunning statement to some, but think about it. The architects of 9/11 —
including Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
— all belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood before they formed Al Qaeda.
As I show in the book, all of these Al
Qaeda kingpins were heavily inspired and influenced by the Muslim
Brotherhood’s ideology of martyrdom and jihad. The Brotherhood is where
they got their start. The MB is, in essence, the gateway drug to Islamic
terrorism. Every Islamic jihadist worth his suicide belt today owes a
depraved debt to the Muslim Brotherhood and its leading icons like
Hassan Al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb. To understand Islamic terrorism and the
mess we’re in right now globally, you must first understand the Muslim
Brotherhood.
What led you to write “The Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy”?
I had become absolutely, positively
fed up with the narrative being pushed by the Obama administration and
the mainstream media that the Muslim Brotherhood is a “moderate”
Islamist group that can be used to fight against Al Qaeda.
First of all, as discussed previously, the Muslim Brotherhood spawned Al
Qaeda. Secondly, this is an inherently anti-American, anti-Western and
anti-Semitic organization at its very core. Starting with its founding
motto — which reads, in part, “Jihad is our way, dying in the way of
Allah is our highest hope” — the Brotherhood and its ideology and goals
are fundamentally incompatible with the United States.
Brotherhood leaders openly speak of
reestablishing a global Islamic caliphate, or super state, that would
unite every Muslim nation economically, politically and militarily and
control a good amount of the world’s oil supply as it targets Israel for
elimination (with assistance on that end by the Brotherhood’s
Palestinian branch, Hamas). They praise suicide bombings against
American troops and have called for jihad against the Untied States. As I
document in “The Brotherhood,” the MB even collaborated closely with
the Nazis during World War II in an attempt to extend Hitler’s Final
Solution to the Middle East.
It’s so bad that my book could easily
be titled: “The Brotherhood: Even Worse Than You Think.” I’ve been
tracking the MB closely for 12 years and even I was shocked by some of
what I uncovered in my research for this book. This is not an
organization we should be embracing: it is a blood-soaked, totalitarian
death cult that we must defeat and discredit at every turn.
What is the most terrifying detail about the Brotherhood that you’ve learned over the years?
What makes the Muslim Brotherhood so
dangerous is their tactics: patient, stealthy, and deceptive, they are
truly Islamists-in-sheep’s-clothing that most Western elites will never
see coming until it’s too late. As I document in the book, I have
interviewed Muslim Brotherhood operatives around the world face-to-face
and spent time in their offices, mosques and enclaves. Their modus
operandi is not flowing beards and robes and fiery rants against
America. Rather, the Brotherhood operatives I’ve spent time with wear
designer suits and ties, speak fluent English, are eloquent, and are
often Western- educated. They come across very charming and reasonable
and are extremely disciplined and clever with their messaging.
According to the Brothers, Hamas
suicide bombers aren’t terrorists. They’re persecuted, impoverished
orphans who are acting out of desperation against an unjust and
murderous Israeli occupation! Western journalists — who are
predominantly liberal, ignorant of the enemy and predisposed to side
against the United States and Israel — lap this stuff up. So does, of
course, the Obama administration. The Brotherhood and Al Qaeda may
differ in tactics, but their endgame is the exactly the same: the return
of the caliphate and the enforcement of Islamic sharia law for one and
all whether we like it or not.
How would you respond to those
who claim that the Brotherhood is an overseas operation with no chance
of impacting Americans at home?
Here’s an example: the Boston Bombers
attended a mosque near their home that is controlled by the Muslim
American Society. According to federal prosecutors, the Muslim American
Society is the “overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” Did the
mosque radicalize the Tsarnaev brothers? We don’t know, and the Obama
administration isn’t exactly chomping at the bit to ask. But given the
Brotherhood’s history of radicalizing young Muslims, I think it’s worth
exploring.
As I document in the book, I’ve been
in American mosques from coast to coast where the radical, pro-jihad
works of Brotherhood ideologues like Al Banna and Qutb are readily
available. The prevalence of MB ideology (and Saudi and other overseas
funding) at American mosques becomes even more chilling when you realize
that the number of mosques in America has doubled since the year 2000
alone. Speaking of overseas, if the Brotherhood in Egypt decides, along
with its Salafist allies there, to resort to terrorism and violence
against the new military regime (a distinct possibility), what happens
to the Suez Canal? A good amount of the Middle Eastern oil that flows
through the Suez winds up in the West. If the Suez is shut down through
terror, every American will feel the skyrocketing price of oil and gas
in a major way. It’ll be a similar deal if Islamic terrorists working
out of Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula provoke some sort of military
conflict with Israel.
‘A Blood-Soaked, Totalitarian Death Cult’: National Security Expert Explains Why You Should Fear the Muslim Brotherhood
Considering the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, Erick Stakelbeck’s new book, “The Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy,”
provides a fascinating lens into the Muslim Brotherhood’s history,
contemporary power structures — and the level to which the journalist
and national security expert believes that the Obama administration has
empowered the group.
In an e-mail interview over the
weekend, Stakelbeck answered some of TheBlaze’s most burning questions
about the Brotherhood and why he chose to pen such a fascinating book.
–
Why should Americans fear the Muslim Brotherhood?
First and foremost, Americans need to
understand that the Muslim Brotherhood is the granddaddy of them all
when it comes to modern-day Islamic terrorist groups. Al Qaeda and Hamas
are direct offshoots of the Brotherhood—and if the MB was never created
in 1928 in Egypt, 9/11 would have never happened. I know that may be a
stunning statement to some, but think about it. The architects of 9/11 —
including Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
— all belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood before they formed Al Qaeda.
As I show in the book, all of these Al
Qaeda kingpins were heavily inspired and influenced by the Muslim
Brotherhood’s ideology of martyrdom and jihad. The Brotherhood is where
they got their start. The MB is, in essence, the gateway drug to Islamic
terrorism. Every Islamic jihadist worth his suicide belt today owes a
depraved debt to the Muslim Brotherhood and its leading icons like
Hassan Al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb. To understand Islamic terrorism and the
mess we’re in right now globally, you must first understand the Muslim
Brotherhood.
What led you to write “The Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy”?
I had become absolutely, positively
fed up with the narrative being pushed by the Obama administration and
the mainstream media that the Muslim Brotherhood is a “moderate”
Islamist group that can be used to fight against Al Qaeda.
First of all, as discussed previously, the Muslim Brotherhood spawned Al
Qaeda. Secondly, this is an inherently anti-American, anti-Western and
anti-Semitic organization at its very core. Starting with its founding
motto — which reads, in part, “Jihad is our way, dying in the way of
Allah is our highest hope” — the Brotherhood and its ideology and goals
are fundamentally incompatible with the United States.
Brotherhood leaders openly speak of
reestablishing a global Islamic caliphate, or super state, that would
unite every Muslim nation economically, politically and militarily and
control a good amount of the world’s oil supply as it targets Israel for
elimination (with assistance on that end by the Brotherhood’s
Palestinian branch, Hamas). They praise suicide bombings against
American troops and have called for jihad against the Untied States. As I
document in “The Brotherhood,” the MB even collaborated closely with
the Nazis during World War II in an attempt to extend Hitler’s Final
Solution to the Middle East.
It’s so bad that my book could easily
be titled: “The Brotherhood: Even Worse Than You Think.” I’ve been
tracking the MB closely for 12 years and even I was shocked by some of
what I uncovered in my research for this book. This is not an
organization we should be embracing: it is a blood-soaked, totalitarian
death cult that we must defeat and discredit at every turn.
What is the most terrifying detail about the Brotherhood that you’ve learned over the years?
What makes the Muslim Brotherhood so
dangerous is their tactics: patient, stealthy, and deceptive, they are
truly Islamists-in-sheep’s-clothing that most Western elites will never
see coming until it’s too late. As I document in the book, I have
interviewed Muslim Brotherhood operatives around the world face-to-face
and spent time in their offices, mosques and enclaves. Their modus
operandi is not flowing beards and robes and fiery rants against
America. Rather, the Brotherhood operatives I’ve spent time with wear
designer suits and ties, speak fluent English, are eloquent, and are
often Western- educated. They come across very charming and reasonable
and are extremely disciplined and clever with their messaging.
According to the Brothers, Hamas
suicide bombers aren’t terrorists. They’re persecuted, impoverished
orphans who are acting out of desperation against an unjust and
murderous Israeli occupation! Western journalists — who are
predominantly liberal, ignorant of the enemy and predisposed to side
against the United States and Israel — lap this stuff up. So does, of
course, the Obama administration. The Brotherhood and Al Qaeda may
differ in tactics, but their endgame is the exactly the same: the return
of the caliphate and the enforcement of Islamic sharia law for one and
all whether we like it or not.
How would you respond to those
who claim that the Brotherhood is an overseas operation with no chance
of impacting Americans at home?
Here’s an example: the Boston Bombers
attended a mosque near their home that is controlled by the Muslim
American Society. According to federal prosecutors, the Muslim American
Society is the “overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” Did the
mosque radicalize the Tsarnaev brothers? We don’t know, and the Obama
administration isn’t exactly chomping at the bit to ask. But given the
Brotherhood’s history of radicalizing young Muslims, I think it’s worth
exploring.
As I document in the book, I’ve been
in American mosques from coast to coast where the radical, pro-jihad
works of Brotherhood ideologues like Al Banna and Qutb are readily
available. The prevalence of MB ideology (and Saudi and other overseas
funding) at American mosques becomes even more chilling when you realize
that the number of mosques in America has doubled since the year 2000
alone. Speaking of overseas, if the Brotherhood in Egypt decides, along
with its Salafist allies there, to resort to terrorism and violence
against the new military regime (a distinct possibility), what happens
to the Suez Canal? A good amount of the Middle Eastern oil that flows
through the Suez winds up in the West. If the Suez is shut down through
terror, every American will feel the skyrocketing price of oil and gas
in a major way. It’ll be a similar deal if Islamic terrorists working
out of Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula provoke some sort of military
conflict with Israel.
Is the Brotherhood active here in America? If so, where?
We know that the Brotherhood is active
in America because the MB’s own strategic documents tell us so. In
2004, the FBI raided a leading Muslim Brotherhood operative’s home just
outside of Washington, D.C. During the raid, the FBI uncovered dozens of
boxes of official Muslim Brotherhood documents written in Arabic. One
of these documents was titled, “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General
Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America.” It was written by
a top global Brotherhood operative and detailed the MB’s plans to
subvert the West from within, declaring the group’s goal for the United
States to be a, “’Civilization-Jihadist Process’ with all the word
means.
The [Brotherhood] must understand that
their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and
destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its
miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it
is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other
religions.” That same strategic Brotherhood document, which I examine
in-depth in my book, lists 29 American Muslim organizations that the MB
identifies as “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.”
At least one of those MB-linked organizations, the Islamic Society of
North America (ISNA) has advised the Obama administration on its
counterterrorism and Middle East polices and seen its members invited to
White House Iftar dinners. As I show in the book, this is only the tip
of the iceberg of the Brotherhood’s infiltration of the halls of power.
No comments:
Post a Comment