HERNDON, Va., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Unappreciative of Western philosophy, members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood probably never heard an analogy first mentioned by Roman statesman Cicero -- "putting the cart before the horse!" For more than two millennia, the phrase has applied to situations of misplaced priorities.
In the aftermath of the Egyptian military removing from office the country's fifth -- and first democratically elected -- president, Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood is gaining an education about the phrase.
From its inception in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has been the subject of persecution due to its commitment to a single goal -- transitioning the world into an Islamic empire.
Recognizing Islamism begins at home, the Brotherhood plodded along for more than eight decades under four presidents seeking to achieve the goal in Egypt. Like a race horse heading home, the Muslim Brotherhood's pace quickened, sensing victory was near with Morsi's election.
The Muslim Brotherhood saw its gains as "one small step" for Islam and "one giant leap" for Muslimkind.
Not content with small successful steps, it moved to take a giant leap in Egypt. It stumbled and seems headed back to its earlier days of harsh persecution under previous presidents.
A U.S. commercial claims four out of five dentists recommend its product, suggesting the four have superior knowledge to the one who doesn't. Similarly, four out of five Egyptian presidents have sought to minimize the Muslim Brotherhood's influence, suggesting they possess superior knowledge as to why it poses a danger -- one clearly recognized by the Egyptian military.
That danger was set aside in 2011 by U.S. President Barack Obama, who announced the United States would work with the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization seeking America's long-term demise.
Morsi was the Muslim Brotherhood's "poster boy," coming to office because the Brotherhood was the only domestic organization with the infrastructure in place to support a candidate.
While proving inept as president, failing to act upon major domestic problems like the economy, Morsi chose to help the Muslim Brotherhood establish a stranglehold on the people. No attempt was made to lull the people into a false sense of security as Morsi put the cart before the horse, quickly seeking to impose the Muslim Brotherhood's will upon them. Compared to the former Soviet Union, Morsi sought neither glasnost nor perestroika.
What the Muslim Brotherhood had planned for Egypt extended far beyond those borders.
In the early 1990s, the Brotherhood memorialized its strategy in a secret document -- not discovered until 2004 -- for spreading Islam's reach to U.S. borders as well. In a game plan best described as "Shariah creep," it sought to introduce Islamic law into the United States, gradually getting it to replace rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Sound absurd? We have already seen Shariah applied by U.S. state courts!
The Muslim Brotherhood's strategy mandated Muslims immigrate to the United States, ignoring its "mixing bowl" of cultures concept by non-assimilation. In this way, Muslims remained pure in their efforts to go forth and multiply, gaining more and more influence in the United States.
The idea of a large, non-assimilated Muslim population gaining influence on foreign shores has long been promoted by leaders such as Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who once said, "The mosques are our barracks, the domes are our helmets, the minarets are our swords and the faithful are our army."
There is little doubt what role such leaders envision for their "army."
One example of a state court applying Shariah involved a Muslim husband accused of raping his Muslim wife. Arguing that Shariah allows a husband to forcefully impose himself upon a non-consenting wife, he was found not guilty.
One can only wonder how long it will be before such rationale is applied to Muslim defendants killing a family member, declaring their innocence under the Islamic concept of "honor killings."
The Muslim Brotherhood game plan involves initially using "peaceful" jihad to impose Shariah, playing on the concept of political correctness to maximize their stature while minimizing U.S. values. Once achieved, having lulled Americans into a false security, "violent" jihad follows.
The Muslim Brotherhood has set up dozens of "front companies" in the United States to launch peaceful jihad. They wave the flag of Islamophobia whenever concerns are raised about rising Islamic influence over-riding valued U.S. principles.
Such flag-waving has enabled one front company to play a role in advising the U.S. military whom it should accept as a religious leader within its ranks -- preaching a religion promoting Muslim superiority and death to non-believers.
When New York City ran an ad on buses showing pictures of 16 criminals wanted for terrorist activity, a Muslim Brotherhood front company objected to the image portrayed as all were Muslims. It succeeded in getting the city to remove the ad.
All this leaves one with mixed emotions. The violence demonstrated by the Egyptian military against Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood supporters is worrisome but so, too, is the impact an unfettered Brotherhood would have not only in Egypt but elsewhere as well.
We must recognize the Muslim Brotherhood is the Sunni equivalent of Iran. Just as the Iranian clerics established a secure environment in which to flourish and export violence to spread its Shiite version of Islam, this too remains the Brotherhood's goal.
There is one big difference, however. Tehran's clerics were successful because they ensured they operated out of a secured homeland before launching jihad. But the Muslim Brotherhood became so enthralled with initial domestic success, they failed to do the same. It was only the army's recognition of the Brotherhood's true intentions that prompted it to decapitate a civilian leadership dedicated to opening wider the door to the Muslim Brotherhood's increased influence.
The Egyptian army's actions have taught the Muslim Brotherhood the meaning of putting the cart before the horse. One can only hope it is a lesson from which the Brotherhood never recovers.
(A retired U.S. Marine, Lt. Col. James Zumwalt served in the Vietnam War, the U.S. invasion of Panama and the first Gulf War. He has written "Bare Feet, Iron Will -- Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam's Battlefields," "Living the Juche Lie: North Korea's Kim Dynasty" and "Doomsday: Iran -- The Clock is Ticking.")
(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)