“Terrorist” MB Responsible For 9/11, Asserts US Congresswoman Bachmann

Michelle Bachmann explains to Egyptians how the Muslim Brotherhood was responsible for 9/11.

Michelle Bachmann appeared Sept. 7 (along with fellow representatives Steve King and Louie Gohmert) in a prerecorded message on ONTV where she cheered the Egyptian military for removing Morsi from power and putting down the Muslim Brotherhood.

Bachmann’s penchant for making dumb erroneous statements was in full swing as she described the Muslim Brotherhood as a worldwide terrorist organization and implied they were responsible for 9/11

The MB is not, of course, a terrorist organization. They are an organization of socially committed Muslims who combine political activism with Islamic charity work. There are members of the organization that have committed acts of terrorism, and members who have broken away to form terrorist organizations.

And they are not associated in any way with Al-Qaida, which was formed in the 1980s in the crucible of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent US-USSR proxy war.

I get the semiotics of Bachmann’s statement,, of course:

1. The Muslim Brotherhood is (she asserts) a terrorist group.
2. A terrorist group attacked the US on 9/11.
3. Erego…

Yes. it’s a logical fallacy, but hey, this is a US politician speaking on television. We should expect logic?

I thought about writing a rebuttal here. But I have a student, Emily Crane, who has responded in her blog in a clearer, more sensible way than I could. She describes her encounter while she was a student in Egypt with a friend’s mother–a sweet, conservative mom who was also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

She writes:

For reasons her liberal blogger-activist daughter will never understand, Salma’s mom cast her vote for Morsi in 2012 and stood by him throughout his presidency. Salma thinks her parents felt they had to vote for him because they identified with his strong Muslim faith and values—much the way many conservative Christians feel they must vote Republican.

But regardless of why, Salma’s mom believed in the Muslim Brotherhood, and she believed in Morsi. She used her hard-earned right to vote to elect him, and her heart broke the day the military forced him from power. Salma described the wailing that filled the apartment that fateful day as her mom watched it all unfold helplessly on the TV. So when the sit-in began in Rabaa, a short microbus ride from her apartment, Salma’s mom decided to go. She was there the day that the military arrived with machine guns and tanks to disperse the “terrorists.”

By God’s grace, Salma’s mom made it back safely to her apartment, her husband and her four children. But other moms weren’t so fortunate. They weren’t terrorists. Salma’s mom isn’t a terrorist. She cooked me fish.

Read the full blog post here.

Read about Bachmann’s speech here.