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Egypt's Beleaguered Muslim Brotherhood

(AP) Hamza Hendawi and Maggie Michael - The Muslim Brotherhood's decision to play hardball after the military's ouster of Egypt's Islamist president has backfired, leaving it with unattractive choices: aligning with hard-line groups in an insurgency that almost certainly will fail or going underground in the hope of resurfacing one day. The Brotherhood's grim future will impact Islamic groups across the Middle East. Egypt's Brotherhood is something of a "mother ship" that has inspired their creation and provided a role model of the political Islam they want to prevail. Hundreds of Brotherhood leaders and supporters have been detained in the crackdown, crippling the group's command structure and demoralizing loyalists and sympathizers. Pro-Morsi demonstrations in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt have diminished since last week's deadly clashes, with only a few hundred or even dozens showing up for protests after the government authorized the use of deadly force against protesters last week. However, Raafat Sayed Ahmed, head of the Yafa Center for Arab Studies, predicted the group will continue to show a measure of resistance so long as its sources of funding are left untouched by authorities. He predicted the Brotherhood will join an insurgency already underway in Sinai, while simultaneously starting another in southern Egypt, where the Brotherhood and Gamaa Islamiyah, an allied hard-line organization with a history of violence, enjoy significant influence.
2013-08-21 00:00:00
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