Manama, Cairo: Addressing “radical Islam” will be a top priority for the United States, the nominee for the next US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, citing Daesh, Al Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood, and certain elements within Iran as its agents.
“Radical Islam poses a grave risk to the stability of nations and the wellbeing of their citizens,” Tillerson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.
“Powerful digital media platforms now allow ISIS (Daesh), Al Qaida, and other terror groups to spread a poisonous ideology that runs completely counter to the values of the American people and all people around the world who value human life. These groups are often enabled and emboldened by nations, organisations, and individuals sympathetic to their cause. These actors must face consequences for aiding and abetting what can only be called evil.”
Eliminating Daesh, the new administration’s foremost priority in the Middle East, would be the first step in disrupting the capabilities of other groups and individuals committed to striking the US and its allies, he added.
“The demise of [Daesh] will also allow us to increase our attention on other agents of radical Islam like Al Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood and certain elements within Iran. But defeat will not occur on the battlefield alone; we must win the war of ideas.”
However, while hitting out at the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, Tillerson said that he would “ensure the State Department does its part in supporting Muslims around the world who reject radical Islam in all its forms.”
Tillerson’s statement on the Muslim Brotherhood, predominant mainly in Egypt, lit up spirits and social media about the merit of considering it a terrorist organisation.
In an apparent response to his statement, Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood denied links to violence on Thursday.
In an online statement, the Brotherhood, listed as a terrorist group in Egypt, said it espouses “legal civil resistance” against the regime of President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi.
As a defence minister in mid- 2013, Al Sissi led the army’s overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohammad Mursi following enormous street protests against his one –year rule. Mursi is a senior Brotherhood leader. The Islamist group has decried Mursi’s ouster as a coup and vowed to reverse it.
Egypt has since seen a string of deadly attacks that the government blamed on the Brotherhood.
“The group’s stance, announced in February 2014 and emphasized by the new Shura [consultative] council elected last December on commitment to the revolutionary course to break the coup, does not mean militarising the revolution or turning to violence,” the Brotherhood added.
Egypt is hoping that the Trump administration will designate the Islamist group as terrorist, a prospect ruled out by a senior Brotherhood official. “This is a decision that we neither like nor fear,” Ebrahim Munir, a deputy to the Brotherhood supreme guide, said on Twitter.
Government officials, contacted by Gulf News, declined to comment on Tillerson’s remarks, But one official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media, said, “Egypt firmly sees the Brotherhood as the mother group from all other terrorist groups have branched off. We welcome any cooperation against terrorism.”
An Egyptian delegation, comprising pro-government lawmakers, civil society activists and clerics, are expected to visit the US soon after Trump’s inauguration in a bid to push for blacklisting the Brotherhood. The team will meet US officials, members of the Congress and influential think-tanks, Dalia Zayeda, a member of the delegation, said in press remarks.
A move by the new US administration to outlaw the Brotherhood would mark a vast change from the previous one where Democrats consistently rejected to include on the terror list.
Neither Hillary Clinton nor John Kerry who were the two secretaries of state in the previous administration referred to the Muslim brotherhood in their confirmation hearings opening statements.
An attempt last year by the Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to force the State Department to label the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation was resisted.
Some analysts expect the Trump administration to act tough against the Brotherhood as part of its anti-terror policy.
“There is a connection between the Brotherhood’s statement denying espousing violence and the announcement of the new US administration that it will act against the Brotherhood,” Saeed Al Lawendi, an expert at the Egyptian state-run Al Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies. “The group is trying to court and mislead the world, but the Trump administration will not swallow the bait,” he told Gulf News. “It [the new US administration] knows well about the Brotherhood’s suspicious ploys and its involvement in violence.”
In the Gulf, Tillerson’s statement about “radical Islam” had a mainly warm reception among people who argued that they wanted a greater sense of regional stability and security.
“We look forward to a genuine combat against all groups that use religion as a cover up to further their agendas,” Mohammad Jaber, a Bahraini analyst, said. “Of course, we need to wait and see what Tillerson and the new US administration do because there is a strong sense of deja-vu regarding promises to work for stability and security and to combat fanaticism and extremism. The US had links in the past with the Muslim Brotherhood. Will they be really severed? The troubling concern is that everything seems to be based on narrow interests and not on principles and values.”
Jaafar, a legal expert, said that he welcomed any move to help the version of moderate Islam regain its global status.
“For a long time, radical ideologies have dominated, hijacking the true value of Islam. Several countries have been actively involved in the combat to recover the genuine values and protect their youths and people, banning the group and others that support a radical ideology,” he said.
“However, we have to make sure Americans do not see anything Islamic as radical or take action against any Muslim in the US or elsewhere under the claim that he is an extremist or a terrorist. We have seen that there is a thin line that many people, especially those who are not well versed in Islam, ominously tend to cross.”
Saud Abu Qais, a Bahraini, said that combating radical movements would be great for the region, but insisted that it should include all parties with negative agendas.
“If it is based on a selective choice based on interests, then we should expect bias and prejudice,” he said.
Mohammad Abu Iyad, a Saudi national, said that he was optimistic about the Trump administration.
“I have high hopes that it would be much fairer in addressing issues that have been plaguing the region,” he said.
Mohammad Abdullah, another Saudi, said that he was concerned that the combat against “radical Islam” is done in the wrong way.
“When I see at what is happening in Iraq, then I cannot be optimistic and I have serious concerns about what could afflict us,” he said.
For Ali Abdullah, talking about taking action against the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical groups serves mainly a propaganda agenda.
“When we look at history, we see that allies and foes can be changed easily,” he said. “It is true that we want peace and stability, but we need deeds not words. If the US can do it, like other countries in the region, then it is fine. But if it is just some form of lip-service, then I do not see stable times ahead.”
