U.S. congressman meets with Mubarak's banned rival (Steny Hoyer and the Muslim Brotherhood!!)

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A top U.S. Democratic congressman met a leader of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's most powerful rival, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, U.S. officials and the Islamist group said Saturday.

Visiting House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with the head of the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Saad el-Katatni, twice on Thursday -- once at the parliament building and then at the home of the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, said Brotherhood spokesman Hamdi Hassan.

U.S. Embassy spokesman John Berry would confirm only that Hoyer, who represents Maryland, met with el-Katatni at U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone's home at a reception with other politicians and parliament members.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has refused in the past to meet with the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition group.

But Berry said U.S. government policy does not bar meetings with Brotherhood members of parliament and Hoyer's talks with el-Katatni were not a change in U.S. policy toward the group.

"It's our diplomatic practice around the world to meet with parliamentarians, be they members of political parties or independents," Berry said.

Speaking of Clintonian elements within the CIA:

From the article :

... Jon Alterman, a Mideast specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Bush administration officials may have avoided meeting Muslim Brotherhood members because it could strain relations with the secular Egyptian government, one of the closest U.S. allies in the Arab world.
"The difficulty when it gets to Egypt is that the Brotherhood is not a legal group within Egypt and the U.S. government is wary of violating laws in countries in which it operates," he told The Associated Press on Saturday.
"The larger constraint on our willingness to meet the Brotherhood is the Egyptian government's unease with our government's meeting with the Brotherhood."...
"There's been a growing sense in Washington over 20 years that Islamic politics are here to stay, and the U.S. interest in promoting democracy around the world means we should be engaging with a growing number of actors," Alterman said.

From another article on CIA funding of leftist agitprop: A grant of $250,000 to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, known as CSIS, headed by former Clinton administration Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre -------- "How the CIA Funds Anti-Bush Propaganda ," by Bill Gertz, Frontpagemag.com, September 14, 2004

CSIS brings to mind Brzezinski, Scowcroft, Zinni and Kissinger.

http://somd.com/news/headlines/2007/5707.shtml

“Hoyer Leads Congressional Delegation to Sudan, Egypt, Greece, and Germany”

Posted on April 08, 2007:
Current Stories:

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON - Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (So. Md.) is currently led a bipartisan Congressional Delegation to Sudan, Egypt, Greece and Germany. Joining him were Congressman John Barrow (D-GA), Congressman G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA), Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Congressman Ray LaHood (R-IL), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC), Congressman Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).”

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