|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18109236/site/newsweek/
U.S. May Be Softening Stance on Muslim Brotherhood
[Newsweek] Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball - A brief encounter at a Cairo cocktail party could signal a shift in Bush administration policy toward the Muslim Brotherhood, a worldwide Islamic movement that the U.S. has shunned because of alleged ties to terrorism. At the residence of U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Francis Ricciardone, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was introduced by a U.S. Embassy official to Mohammed Saad el-Katatni, a Brotherhood leader in the Egyptian Parliament. A senior U.S. official says the invite to el-Katatni was "cleared" by the State Department and represented the highest-level contacts with the Brotherhood since 9/11. "This doesn't mean we are embracing the group," the official says. "It means we recognize that we have to listen to a wide range of voices."