Did U.S. Arm Muslim Brotherhood in Sinai?

As the U.S. State Department continues to try to give the Muslim Brotherhood leverage with the new Egyptian government, the new Egyptian government is claiming that one of its offices was hit by a U.S. hellfire missile fired by… the Muslim Brotherhood? The missiles appeared to have been fired from a region where Ansar al-Sharia is known to operate – the Sinai.

Via Fox News:

Jihadists in Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula are using U.S. weapons to carry out attacks against the temporary government in the wake of the military’s ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, according to the embattled nation’s Interior Ministry.

The government office posted an official statement on its Facebook page along with images of an exploded missile that hit the third floor of a building in the city of el-Arish last week. The post said terrorist forces targeted the North Sinai Security Directorate office with a ballistic missile that struck the third floor facade of the building, leaving three soldiers injured. While attacks in the Sinai, which borders Gaza and is a haven for terrorist activity, have become commonplace, the prospect that militants have U.S. weapons typically fired from helicopters at their disposal is especially alarming.

Did the Muslim Brotherhood fire this Hellfire Missle?

Did the Muslim Brotherhood fire this Hellfire Missle?

The Brookings Institute’s Peter Singer remains skeptical, via Fox:

Three photos of the missile posted by the government agency shows that it appears to be an AGM-114F with a label written in English and the letters “U.S.” stenciled on the side.

“If, and that is a big if, it was a AGM-114, as in the report, that’s not a ballistic missile, which conjures Cold War images of something massive and long range, but a Hellfire, which is of the type carried on helicopters,” Peter Singer, of the Brookings Institute’s Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, told FoxNews.com.

As an aside, the Brookings Institute was heavily involved and represented in the U.S.-Islamic World Forum (IWF), held in Doha, Qatar this past June. The participant list was rife with Muslim Brotherhood representatives and sympathizers. We point this out to underscore the point that Brookings isn’t exactly a neutral party.

Bill Burns: Lookin' out for the Brotherhood

Bill Burns: Lookin’ out for the Brotherhood

Despite the Muslim Brotherhood’s attempt to deny responsibility for the hellfire attack, none other than Khairat al-Shater – whom State Department Deputy Secretary Bill Burns visited in jail recently in an effort to find the Brotherhood a seat at the table in the formation of a new Egyptian government – has a history of smuggling weapons through the Sinai and even into Gaza. Check our EXHIBIT A-1 at the bottom of this post.

Go figure. One of the three suspects arrested for the hellfire attack is a Palestinian.

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