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Why the Brotherhood Won't Back Down

(Foreign Affairs) Eric Trager - After only one year in power, during which its blatantly autocratic behavior alienated millions of Egyptians, the Muslim Brotherhood is back where it started. But the Brotherhood does not seem ready to go quietly. It has called for an intifada and has repeatedly vowed escalate its protests until Morsi is reinstated. The Brothers doubt that the military is unified in favor of the ongoing crackdown. They see the possibility of fragmentation within the military's ranks if the generals escalate violence further. The military is "already talking to us - not just low level, but high level," Gehad al-Haddad, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, told me this week. "They're telling us that Morsi is all right. They were in touch with me about the fact that my father [detained Morsi adviser Essam al-Haddad] needs medication. They are briefing us on what's going on." The Muslim Brotherhood knows that it can count on its legions of members, around 250,000 by conservative estimates, to continue risking death to protest Morsi's removal. After all, Muslim Brotherhood ideology extols martyrdom in pursuit of its Islamist agenda. At the same time, it would be suicidal for the military's leadership to reinstate a president whom they just removed from power. Thus, the military and Muslim Brotherhood have mutually exclusive interests for which they are willing to fight indefinitely. The writer is a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2013-07-12 00:00:00
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