Egypt: A Democratic Example Would Pound ‘A Stake Through the Heart of Al-Qaeda’

Lawrence Wright, a staff writer at the New Yorker, and author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda & the Road to 9/11, argues that the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda are very much at odds in contemporary Egypt.

He says in the opinion of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current leader of al-Qaeda, “the Brothers have walked away from the original idea of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was that God’s law takes precedence over man’s law.”

He says al-Qaeda is “fighting for its life,” and that “the main thing that can put a stake through its heart is a successful democratic experience in Egypt.”

“If the Muslim Brothers can demonstrate responsible leadership in Egypt that is tolerant and progressive, that will be the end of al-Qaeda,” Wright argues.

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Marco Werman: In Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate has captured the presidency, Islamists insist they respect democracy and reject the goals of terrorist organizations. But historically, the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda has been long and twisted. Lawrence Wright dug deep into that history in his book ” The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda & the Road to 9/11″. Wright says in its early days, especially in the 1940s and early 50s, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood embraced violence.

Lawrence Wright: It’s most violent expression probably was in 1954 when a member of the Muslim Brothers decided to assassinate Gamal Abdel Nasser at a speech he was making in Alexandria. The entire country heard the shots which injured a bystander, but did not hit Nasser at all. And after that the government cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood and that was an important moment in the history of al-Qaeda because that’s when Ayman al-Zawahiri, who a young fifteen year-old student then, decided to form a cell to overthrow the Egyptian government. And he is now the head of al-Qaeda.

Werman: I want to ask you about him in just a second, but what do you think was the moment when the Muslim Brotherhood kind of entered the mainstream and became, you know, this political party that is now running Egypt today?

Wright: It’s interesting how that happened. They wanted a route to power and in Egypt there are a number of syndicates, professional syndicates for doctors, lawyers, journalists, and they colonized those syndicates. In the process, the Muslim Brotherhood became a much more middle class professional organization. And in 2005, they formally decided to enter the political process, but long before that, al-Qaeda and Zawahiri had broken with the Brothers because of their tendency to accommodate with the government. This middle class professionalism has really defined it in the last several decades.

Werman: And the al-Qaeda strain of the Muslim Brotherhood, if you will, really got vilified by the Egyptian government. What do you think the severely disabled leadership of al-Qaeda makes of the Muslim Brotherhood today? I mean Ayman al-Zawahiri is, as you say, an Egyptian doctor, number two in al-Qaeda, now number one, he was a dyed-in-the-wool Muslim Brother. What must he be thinking of Mohamed Morsi today?

Wright: Ayman al-Zawahiri hates the Muslim Brothers. He wrote a book called “Bitter Harvest” in which he denounced them. It would be very, very difficult for him to accommodate to what’s happening now because the Brothers, their acceptance of democracy is the very opposite of what al-Qaeda stands for. In Zawahiri’s opinion, the Brothers have walked away from the original idea of the Muslim Brotherhood which was God’s law, it takes precedence over man’s law. And the Brothers believe this, but they just believe that democracy is the best way of enforcing that kind of change in Egyptian society and other Islamic societies. Zawahiri doesn’t believe in democracy at all. He would prefer to see a religious theocracy take control, and that once was the vision of the Muslim Brothers as well, but it doesn’t seem to be so predominant in their thinking today. You know, the truth is al-Qaeda is fighting for it’s life. The main thing that would put a stake in it’s heart is a successful democratic experience in Egypt. And if the Muslim Brothers can demonstrate responsible leadership in Egypt that is tolerant and progressive, that will be the end of al-Qaeda. If they fail, it will be a different story.

Werman: It’s interesting that you say that the Arab Spring could mean something of a death knell for al-Qaeda.

Wright: This is what it’s all about for death knell. It wanted mainly to take over an Arab country and Egypt was the most appealing of all of them, especially for Zawahiri, his own native country. It was his goal since he was fifteen years old. And what has happened? All the Muslim Brothers are now a democratically elected government and they have taken over the government – a goal that al-Qaeda never even got close to.

Werman: Let me put this to you, Lawrence Wright. I mean since you point out that the Muslim Brotherhood kind of colonized occupations in Egypt, but they’ve kind of being doing that for decades. How did they manage to one-up the military in this most recent instance?

Wright: Well, the Muslim Brothers are a very formidable force in Egypt and so is the military. These are the two primary poles that function in Egyptian society right now and they had to come to an accommodation. Neither one of them could work without the other. And so I think what we’ve seen is that the military has bowed to the reality of a Egyptian political system right now. It doesn’t mean they’re not going to be a big factor in politics and I don’t think the story has been told yet about where Egypt is going, especially what the military’s role will be in the future.

Werman: Lawrence Wright, a staff writer at the New Yorker and author of “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda & the Road to 9/11″. He has been speaking with us from Austin, Texas. Lawrence Wright, thank you so much.

Wright: It’s a pleasure, Marco. Thank you.

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