Secretary of State John Kerry was in Egypt this weekend and received a bit of an education from his counterpart – Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri – on the issue of terror groups; it’s a point we’ve been making for a long time. To focus on al-Qaeda or ISIS specifically is like focusing on a small branch of a large tree. The tree remains and grows more branches. It’s not difficult to understand and it’s unlikely that neither Kerry nor Obama knows it, which is a dangerous brew for America.
Barack Obama was born Muslim; he was exposed to Islam at an early age; he attended Muslim schools; he attended Mosques; and his uncle Sayyid insists that every member of the family is Muslim. Yet, we’re supposed to believe the U.S. President doesn’t understand that the terrorism problem facing the U.S. is not al-Qaeda or ISIS specifically but a larger Muslim Brotherhood agenda.
Anyway, here’s what CNS News reported about Kerry’s visit to Egypt:
During Secretary of State John Kerry’s weekend visit to Cairo, his Egyptian counterpart pushed for the new international focus on countering terrorism to go beyond Syria and Iraq, arguing that the same ideology espoused by the jihadists there is driving other Islamist extremists, including those in Egypt’s neighboring territories.
During his current travels in the Middle East and Europe, Kerry is seeking support for a coalition to tackle the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL), and he said Sunday he has received offers from some countries to take part in the military element of that campaign.
But while the administration’s focus has been largely centered on ISIS, Cairo sees the problem as a far broader one.
A spokesman for President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi said that in talks with Kerry the president had “stressed that any international coalition against terrorism must be a comprehensive alliance that is not limited to confront a certain organization or to curb a single terrorist hotbed but must expand to include all the terrorist hotbeds across the Middle East and Africa.”
If there is one overarching tactic that has worked for the west’s terrorist enemies, it’s been name games. As westerners – even the so-called ‘experts’ – spend hours distinguishing between the likes of Ansar al-Sharia and al-Qaeda, its members laugh because they belong to both groups. As Shoebat.com reported, Osama bin Laden himself suggested the name change to Ansar al-Sharia because translated, it means ‘followers of Sharia’. Bin Laden thought it would make recruiting efforts easier if prospects saw the west waging war on Sharia law.
The pseudo-intellectual Kerry outwardly shows ignorance; his Egyptian counterpart did not:
In reply to a question about possible links between ISIS and Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a terrorist group based in the Sinai peninsula, he (Shukri) said the two organizations were linked through a common ideologically and vision, even if they portray themselves differently.
“We definitely monitor these relationships between the various organizations, and in the end, this – ideologically speaking, this organization is linked and these organizations share that common vision,” Shukri said, speaking through a translator.
Even Kerry can’t be as stupid as he’d have us believe. As someone who’s been exposed to Islam more than most Americans, Obama certainly isn’t.
Speaking of trees and branches, ISIS is a branch and the Muslim Brotherhood is a tree. Last year, Egypt identified the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann introduced a bill in the U.S. Congress to do the same. Recently, former Vice President Dick Cheney agreed with her.