Long time Muslim Brotherhood leader Kemal Helbawy has provided some insight into the recent article in Foreign Affairs by Robert Leiken of the NIxon Center which argued for great U.S. involvement with the Brotherhood. Responding to a question about the article posed during an Islam Online “Live Dialog Session”, Mr. Helbawy described his interaction with Dr. Leiken:
Robert Leiken and Brooks visited me many times. We had many discussions and dialogues about Islam, Christianity, Judaism and other cultures and civilizations. They even went with me to the mosques and listened to one or two of my Friday khutbahs (speeches). They visited the Middle East and they had fruitful discussions with a good Muslim Brothers, members of Muslim Brotherhood, and they wrote their article, which is a fair one and aroused some discussions in the States about it.
Helbawy was at one time the “European spokesman” for the Muslim Brotherhood and although he said he has resigned from the Brotherhood, he has remained active Brotherhood-associated organizations such as the Muslim Association of Britain, which he founded, and mostly recently founded the Center for the Study of Terrorism.