….Or they correctly identified the Brotherhood risks and chose to engage with them because of it; it depends on how you look at these discoveries.
To contextualize this information, and understand why it’s all important, remember – you can replace the label “Libyan Muslim Brotherhood” (LMB) with the familiar term from Obama/Clinton talking points in 2011, “rebels”.
Remember, back in 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was continually saying “we’re not sure who these rebels are“. She said they were continuing to try and identify their ideology. What these FOIA Documents reveal is that both President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton knew *EXACTLY* who the “rebels” were when they chose to support them.
The administration had been studying them (Presidential Study Directive 11 – 2010) for over a year and even had meetings with them prior to the eruption of the Libyan crisis on Feb 14th of 2011. In the mind of the administration the Muslim Brotherhood was “moderate“.
(Via Gulf News) The Obama administration conducted an assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2010 and 2011, beginning even before the events known as the “Arab Spring” erupted in Tunisia and in Egypt.The President personally issued Presidential Study Directive 11 (PSD-11) in 2010, ordering an assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood and other “political Islamist” movements, including the ruling AKP in Turkey, ultimately concluding that the United States should shift from its longstanding policy of supporting “stability” in the Middle East and North Africa (that is, support for “stable regimes” even if they were authoritarian), to a policy of backing “moderate” Islamic political movements.
To this day, PSD-11 remains classified, in part because it reveals an embarrassingly naïve and uninformed view of trends in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.
“Benghazi Meeting With Libyan Muslim Brotherhood: On April 2 [2012] Mission Benghazi met with a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood steering committee, who will speak at the April 5 Carnegie Endowment `Islamist in Power’ conference in Washington, D.C.
He described the Muslim Brotherhood’s decision to form a political party as both an opportunity and an obligation in post-revolution Libya after years of operating underground. The Brotherhood’s Justice and Construction Party would likely have a strong showing in the upcoming elections, he said, based on the strength of the Brotherhood’s network in Libya, its broad support, the fact that it is a truly national party, and that 25 per cent of its members were women.
He described the current relationship between the Brotherhood and the TNC (Transitional National Council) as `lukewarm.’”
The document is heavily redacted, but nevertheless provides clear indication of Washington’s sympathies for the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood as a major political force in the post-Gaddafi Libya.
The talking points recommended that Secretary Burns tell Sawan that the US government entities “share your party’s concerns in ensuring that a comprehensive transitional justice process is undertaken to address past violations so that they do not spark new discontent.”
“Prior to last year’s revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood was banned for over three decades and its members were fiercely pursued by the Gaddafi regime.
The Libyan Muslim Brotherhood (LMB) returned to Libya last year after years in exile in Europe and the United States, selected new leadership and immediately began to plan for an active role in Libya’s political future.”[After a redacted section, the document continued],
“The LMB-affiliated Justice and Construction party, led by Misratan and former political prisoner under Gaddafi Mohammad Sawan, was created in March 2012.
Sawan himself was not a candidate in the elections but wields significant influence as the head of the largest political party and most influential Islamist party in Libya.”
