Michael Youssef: The "Fear Factor" in Foreign Policy: The Case of Egypt

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Since September 11, 2001, Western governments have developed a “fear factor” approach in how they deal with Islamist groups. Fear leads those governments, especially the United States, to do foolish things—like supporting apparently less-overt Jihadist Muslim groups, such as the global powerhouse of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In doing so, they think they can kill two birds with one stone. To the Islamists, they can say: “See, we’re not anti-Islamist. We’re just against the bad guys who want to kill us.” To other Muslims, they can say: “Please tell those terrorists not to attack Western targets or people.”

But it’s easy to see how this “fear factor” causes the West to stumble into the darkness of foolishness. Read more