Glenn Beck's Alternative Theory On Egyptian & Mideast Revolutions

Certainly one of the major political stories of the week has been the Egyptian uprising against longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak.

It seems clear that the clamor for Mubarak's ouster began as a popular uprising stimulated by the exit of the Tunisian dictator, thanks to popular discontent only a week or so ago.

However, upon seeing the overthrow of the Tunisian strongman, and the popular discontent with Mubarak erupting in the  streets, there seems to be evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Muslim organizations hoping for a theocratic Caliphate, have joined the uprising with hopes of eventually turning it to their aims.

Glenn Beck seems to have been the first to try to alert the US public to this possibility. As you might expect, liberals immediately jumped all over him for pushing a conspiracy theory to scare said public.

While it's not crystal clear that Beck is correct, there seems to be a lot of troubling evidence suggesting that he's not too far wrong.

For example, the Muslim Brotherhood's stated aims include destroying Israel and basically killing all the Jews they can. And several American organizations, like Code Pink, are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, without acknowledging their intended violence toward Jews.

Then there's Beck's contention that several Muslim-related sites discuss 'freedom' in English language versions, with a prominent picture of a child, but have radically different Arabic site versions. In the latter, the child is gone, the tone is violent, and the words are not about freedom, but, rather Islamic power.

While I haven't had the time or inclination to check out that allegation, it's very believable. Language differences in this instance offer a great opportunity for misinformation and misdirection by Islamist revolutionaries for American and Western consumption.

If Beck is correct, then a popular Egyptian uprising is quite vulnerable, eventually, to becoming a cog in a larger system of pan-Mideast Islamic revolution aiming for theocratic states. Others obviously debate whether or not Islamist revolutionaries will gain control of whatever subsequent government takes over Egypt. But Beck's theory is slightly different.

He's suggesting that what have begun as non-religious, popular uprisings in a few Mideast countries will be hijacked by the waiting Muslim Brotherhood and similar groups.

It's a provocative view, because, as one anti-Beck interviewee on another Fox News program contended, now that people are rising up for freedom from Mideast dictators, people like Beck are criticizing and doubting them.

I do realize that Beck may be off on one extreme. But his warnings are worth considering. It wouldn't be the first time that a popular uprising gets taken over by differently-motivated extremists.