Egypt's Kerensky

IBD Editorials ^ | January 31, 2011 | Staff

[Kaslin]

Succession: As talk of deposing Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak grows, one name keeps popping up: Mohamed ElBaradei. If he takes over, it'll be a disaster not just for Egypt, but also for the U.S. and the West.

ElBaradei built a long, and lucrative, career as an international diplomat with the U.N., posing as a moderate technocrat. He's anything but, which has become apparent as talk of a "unity" government featuring the Muslim Brotherhood and former U.N. nuclear watchdog ElBaradei has increased.

ElBaradei hasn't lived in Egypt in years. Yet after the uprising began, he immediately flew to Cairo. Over the weekend, Reuters reports, the Muslim Brotherhood announced ElBaradei had a mandate from opposition groups to form a national unity government.

It's talk that ElBaradei is encouraging.

Speaking to CNN's Fareed Zakaria, ElBaradei said the idea that the Muslim Brotherhood could take over in Egypt is "a myth," adding that the group "has nothing to do with the extremism as we have seen it in Afghanistan and other places."

Wrong. In fact, the Muslim Brotherhood is the founding inspiration for virtually every major terrorist group in the Mideast — from Hamas and Hezbollah to al-Qaida and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

Sayyid Qutb, the Muslim Brotherhood's theorist, was also the intellectual father of al-Qaida. Al-Qaida's No. 2, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, is a former Brotherhood member. And 9/11 terrorist crew chief Mohammed al-Atta, an Egyptian, had ties to the Brotherhood.

[Stepan12]

He is no Kerensky. Kerensky was a decent if naive and somewhat inept person. El Bariedi is an Iranian toady. He will usher in the Muslim Brotherhood, Khomenism — whatever. And they will be the ones to make war on Israel and G-d knows what else.

[yarddog]

My Father once told me he worked at the shipyard in Panama City, FL, with Kerensky. This was before he was drafted.

Daddy lived to be 90 but I can no longer ask him to clarify. Is it possible he really did work with the Kerensky?

[PaleoBob]

My Father once told me he worked at the shipyard in Panama City, FL, with Kerensky. This was before he was drafted.

Daddy lived to be 90 but I can no longer ask him to clarify. Is it possible he really did work with the Kerensky?

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He did live here in the USA after spending some of his exile in Paris. I think he lived in San Francsco for a while. I remember seeing him on talk shows—the Steve Allen show for one. But he always worked as a professor, I think. At Stanford or Berkeley, something like that.

[PaleoBob]

He is no Kerensky. Kerensky was a decent if naive and somewhat inept person. El Bariedi is an Iranian toady. He will usher in the Muslim Brotherhood, Khomenism — whatever. And they will be the ones to make war on Israel and G-d knows what else.

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I agree. Karensky was a decent man and a Russian patriot who was sideswiped by the most ruthless bunch to ever emerge—the Bolsheviks of 1917. El Baradei is a high-end grifter who trades on predictable anti-Americanism and lots of grease.

[Southack]

Doesn’t matter. Mubarak is being underrated. Mubarak will beat the “demonstrators.”

[Revolting cat!]

Sue them!

[rbg81]

El Bariedi will be in office maybe 6 months before being forced out.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Obama and the Democrats owe ElBaradei. Ten days before the 2004 U.S. presidential election ElBaradei told the New York Times that 377 tons of explosives had been looted from Iraqi bunkers because of a “lack of security.” It was established later that the materials were missing before the first U.S. troops entered the area. This was the Kerry campaign's “October Surprise” but the propaganda never gained enough momentum get him elected.