Renege: Muslim Brotherhood taking the mask off in Egypt and Tunisia

There is a narrative being pushed by western leaders right now that the Muslim Brotherhood is "moderate" in comparison to Iran. That narrative has come from none other than the Muslim Brotherhood itself. Naturally, once that premise is accepted, the Brotherhood is perceived as the lesser of two evils and is supported by the West in places like Syria, for example.

This is exactly how the Brotherhood wants it and the West is playing right into their hands. The latest indicator can be found in both Tunisia and Egypt, where Islamists there are already reneging on their pledge to moderate.

From Reuters, via Jerusalem Post:

PARIS - After months of reassuring secularist critics, Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Egypt have begun to lay down markers about how Muslim their states should be -- and first signs show they want more religion than previously admitted.

Islamist parties swept the first free elections in both countries in recent months after campaigns that stressed their readiness to work with the secularists they struggled with in the Arab Spring revolts against decades-long dictatorships.

With political deadlines looming, the Tunisian coalition led by the reformist Islamist Ennahda party and the head of Egypt's influential Muslim Brotherhood both made statements this week revealing a stronger emphasis on Islam in government.

Popular List, an Ennahda coalition member tasked with writing Tunisia's new constitution, announced on Monday its draft called Islam "the principle source of legislation" -- a phrase denoting laws based on the sharia moral and legal code.

On Tuesday, Egyptian Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said his group wanted a president with "an Islamic background." That term is vague, but not as vague as the conciliatory "consensus candidate" talk heard from most parties until now.

Secularists in both countries warned voters against trusting the Islamists and these subtle changes could have come straight from a secularist playbook on how Islamists would gradually insert more religion into the political and legal systems.

The Brotherhood has been very effective at duping the west for several reasons, not least among them being the power its organizations have been able to acquire in western halls of power (CAIR and ISNA among them). Another reason is the tactic known as Muruna; it affords Islamists the ability to violate the very tenets of Islam in order to deceive in the name of a greater goal. This technique also goes a long way toward portraying themselves as moderate.

h/t Weasel Zippers