Obama welcomes the Muslim Brotherhood

I haven’t seen it noted much, but the Los Angeles Times reported the position of the Obama administration this past Monday on the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood in a future Egyptian government:

The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.
The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said. But by even setting conditions for the involvement of such nonsecular groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis that has enveloped Egypt for the last week.

The New York Times adds that White House staff members have “made clear that they did not rule out engagement with the Muslim Brotherhood as part of an orderly process” of transition to a new government after the departure of Mubarak. The Times helpfully explains that the Muslim Brotherhood “renounced violence years ago.” Funny that the Brotherood’s Hamas branch (i.e., “one of the the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine”) hasn’t gotten the word.
If you want to get a fix on the Muslim Brotherhood that will take you beyond the useful idiocy of the Times (and the Obama administration), you can check out the Hamas charter, or Andrew McCarthy’s “Fear the Muslim Brotherhood.”
UPDATE: Dore Gold has more on the Muslim Brotherhood,as does Neo-Neocon.

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