The general guide of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Mohamed Badei said in his weekly statement on Thursday that he fears the repetition of the 1954 military coup scenario and warned the military council against continuing in power. He said also that there are strong forces, both external and internal, fighting their last battle to abort the revolution. "There are some people who fear the hijacking of the revolution, reducing its gains, or procrastinating and delaying its steps through the [military council] and its continuation in power indefinitely. They warn of similar events that took place in Egypt in 1954 and led to the continuation of authoritarian rule for more than fifty years," the statement read. "Our main enemy is the "Zio-American project," which aims at controlling the whole region to establish the Greater Israel in the new Middle East," the statement said, adding that Israel and the US considered former President Hosni Mubarak's regime a strategic treasure, and the protector of their interests. "They will not give up easily and will do their best – through their agents – to obstruct the course of the revolution, abort its results and frustrate its youth," Badei said. The internal enemies are the remnants of the dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP), the remnants of the disbanded security system, the former regime's agents in the media, and what he called "ultra-secularists and the owners of the Western project" who want the Egyptian people replace their identity, values and morals. He stressed that the remnants of the former regime and those who benefit from them were shamed by God and the people, and were loathed by all Egyptians. Badei said those who follow the same practices of the former system will fall from favor with the people, and will not be accepted under any circumstances, no matter how they try to pretend and change their appearance. He added in a message to the military council that its members represented the situation of the armed forces, which appeared to take a neutral position at first and then took the side of people and protected the revolution. "[The armed forces] has repeatedly announced that it does not want to stay in power, but wants to return to its barracks to perform its fundamental role of protecting the borders and securing the homeland, and we hope it meets these promises, " Badei said. He added that, in addition to this, the military council must meet the demands of the revolution and hand over power to a rational government that believes that the people have the upper hand. He said people should rule through a parliament that is feared by the ruler and really represents them, and a new constitution that reflects the identity of the people and regulates the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. Experts in the Islamic movements said that the MB statement, which called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to hand over power and hold the presidential election before drafting a new constitution, and the Freedom and Justice Party's refrainment from signing the military council's statement, is evidence that the MB is seeking to draft the new constitution on its own. Emad Gad, an expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said, "The Brotherhood advocated strongly the referendum of 19 March on the constitutional amendments, because they thought they were in alliance with the military council, which would implement what they wanted, but they realized that this was not true, and that the council has acted neutrally toward all political forces since it began to respond to the demands of the civil forces. So they began to threaten the military junta and call for the presidential election." Gad noted that the MB needs the military to be replaced by a civil president, who they can deal with better. They want to write the constitution after the presidential elections, because they feel that the military is not on their side, Gad added to Al-Masry Al-Youm. Translated from the Arabic Edition
