No matter how you look at it, this seems like a stunningly bad idea: ‘Brotherhood’ Invited To Obama Speech By U.S.

A sign that the Obama administration is willing to publicly challenge Egypt’s commitment to parliamentary democracy: various Middle Eastern news sources report that the administration insisted that at least 10 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s chief opposition party, be allowed to attend his speech in Cairo on Thursday. The brotherhood is a Salafist/ Islamist party with branches in many countries, and it does not have a reputation for liberalism and has supported violent campaigns against Israel (and Egypt’s own government). It has deep roots in the region and traces its intellectual lineage to Sayyid Qutb, a top American-educated Islamic intellectual who was executed — or martyred — by the Egyptian government in 1966. The Brotherhood has direct links with Sunni groups like Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

(I’m putting a question mark in the title, because I haven’t seen solid confirmation of this report yet.)

UPDATE at 6/3/09 8:25:35 pm:

Well, it’s been confirmed that this horrible idea is a reality.

Khaled Hamza, editor of the Muslim Brotherhood Web site, confirmed to FOXNews.com that 10 members of the Brotherhood’s parliamentary bloc received official invitations to attend the speech.

The list includes Mohammed Saad el-Katatni, head of the parliamentary bloc.