Mauro: What is your view of the Muslim Brotherhood?
Elibiary: I do not view the Muslim Brotherhood as a single global syndicate or tanzim, as it is referred to in Arabic. Muslim Brotherhood members naturally exist everywhere at this point, but that’s not a problem in and of itself because there have been MB members inside the US abiding by the law for a very long time.
In every country, one can find areas of similarities amongst the MB-likeor even -affiliated Islamist movement there, but one can also find a great deal of differences driven by local dynamics in how they operate and what objectives they’re pursuing. Bottom line, there are many Muslim Brotherhoods and not necessarily one Global Muslim Brotherhood group. I am aware of different initiatives by MB over the decades to stand up to its international tanzim, as well as how some other nations’ MB have or continue to have influence over their tanzims residing hereinside the US, but all these are minor efforts and not currently a threatto our national security.
MB in Egypt is a pragmatic, non-violent and generally pluralistic sociopolitical movement by Egyptian cultural standards. It is not accurate to paint MB-Egypt as dogmatic, violent or autocratic, much less more sensationalized terms like dictatorial, totalitarian or jihadist.
Again, Muslim Brotherhood doctrine has always been explicitly jihadist—and, indeed,
“dictatorial” and “totalitarian”—in character; this ideological foundation extends from its
founding until today. If the Brotherhood can be described as anything, however, it should
