Iranian Media's 'Fabrications': Actions Of The Muslim Brotherhood In Egypt
19 January 2013
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
Saad El-Katatni, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member
and former speaker of the Egyptian parliament, has
denied a story recently reported by the Iranian
network Press TV about him meeting with the Iranian
speaker of the parliament Ali Larijani in Sudan,
affirming that he never traveled to Sudan in the first
place.
Several Brotherhood members in Egypt also rushed to
deny the story. This demonstrates the Egyptian
government's anger towards Iran's fabrications, which
were apparently meant to undermine Egyptian president
Mohammed Mursi's visit to Saudi Arabia to participate
in the Arab economic summit.
There are several stories, all of which could in fact
be fabricated, about meetings between Brotherhood
members and Iranian officials. We all remember the
false Mursi interview that was published in the
Iranian official press. Yet what is really worth our
attention here is the mysterious relationship between
the Brotherhood and Iran; who is using who and why. It
is easy to deny a report or claim an interview or
meeting was fabricated, but the official invitation
extended by President Mursi to his Iranian counterpart
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a true story. This means after
all that both countries enjoy a close relationship,
and reinforces the suspicion that the Muslim
Brotherhood has strong ties with Iran, although the
validity of this assumption remains to be seen.
Some Iranians want to see Mursi's government besieged
on the Arab level so that Egypt becomes a close ally
to Iran and an alternative to Bashar Al-Assad's
collapsing regime. Meanwhile, some Brotherhood members
in Egypt want to blackmail and intimidate Arab
countries, especially in the Gulf region, to obtain
political, partisan, and financial support. The second
camp is represented by some Brotherhood writers who
call for rapprochement with Iran under the pretext
that Gulf countries do not support the Brotherhood's
rule, with the exception of Qatar, which is on good
terms with Tehran. However, I do not think this latter
camp distinguishes between media tampering and the
official political strategy of a state.
It will not be easy for Mursi's government, or any
other Egyptian government for that matter, to forge an
alliance with Iran unless it decides to drag Egypt
into a series of domestic problems. Egypt gets one
third of its remittances from the Gulf, not from Iran,
and its international value is derived from its
positive role in the region, not the other way round.
It seems unlikely that the Muslim Brotherhood would
choose to risk the interests of their people in return
for changing the political map. If this happens, it
would be a totally different story.
Whether the Iranians are trying to undermine Mursi's
relationship with Saudi Arabia and the rest of the
Gulf region or the Muslim Brotherhood are using the
Iranian scarecrow to get closer to the Gulf, there are
core issues that will become clear on both sides.
These will not be revealed through press reports, but
rather through the actions of the new Egyptian regime.
They will be demonstrated in the Egyptian government's
relationship with senior officials in Iran, the nature
of the deals they strike together, as well as any
Brotherhood interventions or conspiracies in the Gulf
states.
The most serious obstacle to hamper the relationship
between Mursi's government, the Gulf, and Iran would
be dual policies, in other words when the statements
and actions of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt do not
to represent Mursi and his government. Yet this would
be hard to believe because after all this is a
Brotherhood government, and even if negative
statements are sometimes issued they are attributed to
other names.
Al
Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya
television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of
Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in
the daily newspapers of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is
a US post-graduate degree in mass communications. He
has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs.
He is currently based in Dubai.From Consul To Terrorist: The Only Faction Active oOn The Scene Because Everybody Else Has Left The Arena :: EsinIslam The Muslim World Portal For Islamic News And Opinions
From Consul To Terrorist: The Only Faction Active oOn The Scene Because Everybody Else Has Left The Arena
14 January 2013
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
As soon as I heard the name Iyad Ag Ghaly in relation
to the events in Mali I began to wonder if this could
be the same man from the same country? Could it really
be him? Iyad Ag Ghaly heads up the military operations
of armed terrorist groups in northern Mali; whilst
there was a man with the same name who served as
Mali's consul in Jeddah. I called some friends and
confirmed that Iyad Ag Ghaly is indeed the same man
that I met at Jeddah's Hilton hotel less than three
years ago.
We are facing a truly strange world where those who
are legitimate today could be fugitives tomorrow.
At the time, I knew-from those who had dealt with
Ghaly as a Tuareg tribal chief and diplomatic
consul-that he was the best source to find
intermediaries to negotiate the release of hostages
taken in the Azawad region. Now, he is said to be
commander of the Ansar Dine movement fighting the
Malian army, as well as international French and
African forces.
When I read a profile about him in yesterday's Asharq
al-Awsat newspaper, I was even more confused, for this
stated that he was close to Libyan dictator Muammar
Qadhafi who reportedly sent him to fight in Lebanon.
Yet, Ghaly only recently displayed extremist
tendencies.
This kind of confusion and uncertainty has become
quite common as shown by the emergence of extremists
like Tarek al-Zomor and Mohamed al-Zawahiri on Egypt's
political scene. So how did a man like Iyad Ag Ghaly
turn from being a moderate Sunni Muslim to an
extremist armed fighter? Is it rational to suppose
that a man in his fifties, like Ghaly, should suddenly
become radicalized? This is truly hard to believe. I
sense that this may be some kind of political maneuver
where politicians have pretended to adopt extremist
ideologies in order to recruit impulsive youths. These
politicians provide these youth with funding under the
pretext of ?religious duty?, convincing them to
sacrifice their lives for a false cause in return for
a place in heaven! Since there is a general
international lack of will to fight anywhere in the
world, the French-alongside a few African states-will
fight this war on their own before realizing that
desert wars never end and withdraw. What makes matters
more complicated is that conflicts that involve
religious slogans and tribal powers can last for
decades without any side being defeated.
Our problem with those who are keen on fighting these
extremists, like the French today and the Americans
yesterday in Afghanistan and perhaps tomorrow in
Syria, is their inability to understand the
fundamental nature of the problem. These extremist
groups represent the smallest part of the equation;
rather the greatest and most important challenge is to
confront extremist ideologies. Had the West, as well
as the Arab countries involved and other relevant
parties invested their money and effort in fighting
extremist ideologies, this crisis might have come to
an end. Instead they spent billions of dollars on tens
of thousands of soldiers, advanced weaponry, and
combat drones managing to eliminate a number of Al
Qaeda's leaders; however Al Qaeda's ideology remains
the same and in fact continues to spread like a
disease. Most people find it easier to jump to easy
conclusions by laying the blame on one group or
another like Sunnis, Shi'ites, clerics, or even
religion as a whole; however all these groups were
present prior to this and were never a source of
trouble.
We are living in a different world in which political
powers are establishing and nourishing extremist
ideologies and generations. These politicians have the
project, the expertise, and the will to propagate such
extremist ideology and they are practically immune to
punishment because the wrong parties are always held
accountable. Who could have imagined that Mali would
become an international battlefield after Afghanistan?
The West is repeating the same mistake in Syria by
allowing it to fall prey to extremists who are
emotionally manipulate the general public under the
pretext that they are their only source of salvation
from the tyranny of the Assad regime. In reality, they
are the only faction active on the scene because
everybody else has left the arena.
Al
Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya
television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of
Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in
the daily newspapers of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is
a US post-graduate degree in mass communications. He
has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs.
He is currently based in Dubai.