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He said the "Mubarak administration has always conjured up the spectre of an Iranian style Khomeini result (replacing him) to" justify his regime. Now the "following scenario is possible, if not likely. (He'll) leave. Someone like Mohamed ElBaradei (will replace him) as an interim leader." The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) supports him, and he them, quoting comments he gave CNN saying:
"You know, the Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with the Iranian model, has nothing to do with extremism, as we have seen it in Afghanistan and other places. The Muslim Brotherhood is a religiously conservative group. They are a minority in Egypt. They are not a majority of the Egyptian people, but they have a lot of credibility because all the other liberal parties have been smothered for 30 years."
They favor "a federalist state" in which all Egyptians have "the same rights, same obligations, that the state in no way will be based on religion. And I have been reaching out to them. We need to include them. They are part of the Egyptian society....I think this myth (demonizing them) has been perpetuated and sold by the regime" to solidify their own power.
Dershowitz called this "Pollyannaish" portrayal "misleading and incomplete at best and totally unrealistic at worst." He calls the MB "violent, radical....with roots in Nazism and an uncompromising commitment to end the cold peace with Israel and replace it with a hot war of destruction. (They) don't play by the rules of democracy, using assassination and threats of violence to coerce support. ElBaradei is their perfect stalking horse." He'll assemble a government with them as "kingmaker," ending up as "king."
In fact, they're not liberal or threaten Washington, Israel or Western interests. Western intelligence agencies, including CIA, have had longstanding ties with MB, Britain since the 1940s. In his book "Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude," former CIA case officer/Middle East specialist Robert Baer, describing Washington's "dirty little secret," said since the 1950s:
"The CIA funnel(led) support to the Muslim Brotherhood because of (its) commendable capacity to overthrow Nasser....The White House looked on the Brothers as a silent ally, a secret weapon against - what else? - communism. The covert action started in the 1950s with the Dulles brothers - Allen at the CIA and John Foster at the State Department. As far as Washington was concerned, Nasser was a communist."
In fact, he combined Pan-Arabism, nationalism, anti-colonialism and anti-Zionism. In his book, "Nasser's Egypt, Arab Nationalism, and the United Arab Republic," James Jankowski said he promoted unity, arguing that he did so to prevent Syria from going communist.
Referring to the "logic of the Cold War," Baer said America was willing to support radical Islamists as long as "Allah agreed to fight on our side....If Allah (wanted) political assassination(s), that was fine too, as long as no one talked about it in polite company."
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