US clueless about Egypt?

Senate hearing turns into farce as American ignorance on Egypt revealed

Senate hearing turns into farce as American ignorance on Egypt situation revealed; specific agenda of Muslim Brotherhood unclear, top official says, has trouble responding to question on group’s attitude to peace with Israel

WASHINTON – A senate hearing Wednesday revealed that top US intelligence agencies are largely ignorant about the current situation in Egypt and unfamiliar with the agenda of the country’s radical Islamists.

"It's hard to at this point to point to a specific agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood as a group," National Intelligence Director James Clapper told senators. When asked about the group’s attitude to Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel, he said this was a difficult question before assessing “they are not in favor of the treaty.”

However, he then noted that the Muslim Brotherhood was “only one voice in the emerging political milieu," adding that the group is “a large, heterogeneous global organization whose agenda and impact differ from country to country.”