The Muslim Brotherhood must enter into a compromise with the Egyptian military or face destruction, award-winning journalist Judith Miller says.
“If the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't make a deal with the military, the military will move to crush them with the overwhelming support of most Egyptians,” Miller told “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV.
“The military will move to crush them and they will be successful. I worry about them driving the Brotherhood underground and back into terror. That's my big concern.”
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Miller believes some Islamist participation is very essential if the views of a large percentage of Egyptians are to be represented in a democratic government.
“But the Islamists do not need to be the Brotherhood,” she added.
Miller said the United States cannot be blamed for the violence which has claimed hundreds of lives across Egypt as the military fights protesters demanding the reinstatement of President Mohammed Morsi.
“We shouldn't fall into what I call the Egyptian pattern, which is to blame the United States for all of its ill,” she said.
“We either are accused of having supported President Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, too much — or we're accused of not supporting him enough when 30 million Egyptians go into the streets and sign petitions saying this man is destroying democracy.
“So the point is we have very limited leverage here in this situation and anything we say at this point is not likely to be helpful.”
Miller believes the Obama administration’s decision not to label the downfall of Morsi a coup, is the correct one because it would have forced the cutting off of financial aid to Egypt.
“Let's face it, of course it's a coup, right? You know it's a coup, I know it's a coup,” she said.
“But it wouldn't be helpful to cut off money to the group that has done so much to advance American interests in the region and upon whom American forces depend for movement.”
Miller, a Newsmax contributor, believes leadership under the Muslim Brotherhood was proven to not work.
“When they're ruling, they tend to exclude the views and the participation of anybody else who disagrees with them. So what has been determined by the Egyptian people, not by the United States, is that they are not fit to govern and that they are not democratic and that Egyptians don't want them,” she said.
“My hope is still that the more pragmatic members of the Brotherhood will realize that Egyptians don't want what they were peddling and will make a deal.”
But would the seemingly unbendable Brotherhood be willing to negotiate? They should, according to Miller.
“They can participate in government without dominating government. Their voice can be heard and on some issues, they may win and other issues, they're likely to lose,” she said.
“But they could still participate in government and learn what democracy is all about, which is not imposing edicts as President Morsi did saying that I can overrule any law that's enacted by the parliament.”
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