RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelyoussef/2011/07/26/obamas_plan_to_ingratiate_himself_to_islamists_backfires/print

Since his election to the Presidency of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has been on a campaign to ingratiate himself to the Wahhabis, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic hardliners. In doing so he is magically transforming them, in his mind at least, into “moderates.” According to his logic, as long as Islamic expressions of jihad do not translate into bombing and beheading, their proponents should be considered “moderates”.

Mr. Obama has either been misled or has deceived himself into thinking that Muslim fundamentalists can be moderate. To them the world is very simply divided into two segments: Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb. Dar al-Islam is the House of Islam and this segment is filled with those who agree with the divinity of Islam and those whom they deem qualified to be under their tent. Dar al-Harb is the House of War and it encompasses everyone else, regardless of what they call themselves.

Make no mistake about it, in the eyes of those with whom he is attempting to ingratiate himself; Mr. Obama belongs to the House of War. He may bow to them, negotiate with them, and give them international respectability, but their views of him will not change.

The recent revelation that the Obama administration has been negotiating with the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt raised some eyebrows in the West. In reality, many Arab newspapers have been writing about clandestine meetings between the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and the American Ambassador to Egypt for the past two years.

Just a reminder, the Muslim Brotherhood is the group vowing to deny Israel’s right to exist. They are also overtly aligning themselves with Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

You would think that with all of this risky ingratiating, Mr. Obama’s favorability ratings in the Arab/Muslim world would soar. Not so. The Egyptian public, who detested George W. Bush, gave him a nine percent approval rating. They have given Mr. Obama a scant five percent approval rating.

To add insult to injury, 75 percent of the Egyptian public has said they do not want American aid dollars. Still, US aid money continues to pour into various organizations in Egypt that are purportedly pursuing democratic reform. Currently, aid is going directly to reform organizations to avoid the interim government “skimming the cream” off of America tax-payer dollars.

Regardless, by giving indirect aid under Mr. Obama’s “operation moderation,” the Muslim Brotherhood is a recipient of some US aid. No doubt, part of that money has funded the recent increase in the persecution of Egyptian Christians. As I recently told a friend of mine who is an United States Senator, Christians in Egypt have reconciled themselves to suffering persecution for the name of Christ, but please don’t use my tax dollars as succor to enable it.

Instead of engaging in an impossible project of using aid to moderate Islamists, President Obama should honor the wishes of Egyptians and withdraw US aid. Just to refresh your memory, US aid to Egypt was directly tied to them honoring the Camp David agreement signed between Egypt and Israel. Unless they keep that agreement in its entirety, aid to Egypt must come to a screeching halt.

I know Mr. Obama does not ask for my advice, but I would urge him to divest himself of his current White House advisors on the Middle East, especially those who have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood (read more about this connection) and replace them with objective, thoughtful ones who possess truth, patriotism and scholarship.

Michael Youssef

Michael Youssef, PhD is an Egyptian-born American and founding rector of The Church of The Apostles. His messages are broadcast 3800 times a week into 200 countries through Leading The Way Ministries. He holds a PhD from Emory University in Social Anthropology. His blog: www.michaelyoussef.com Follow on Twitter: @MichaelAYoussef