Two Egyptian presidential candidates have endorsed jihad against the United States, and one of them even supports al Qaeda. MEMRI TV (the Middle East Media Research Institute) has released archival footage of Al-Mun’im Abu Al-Futouh and Hamadein Sabahi from 2004 and 2005 which shows them stating their hatred of the United States in absolutely unequivocal terms.

Abd Al-Mun’im Abu Al-Futouh, who is calling himself a “Moderate” Islamist, was a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood. He co-founded the Al-Nahda party, which sees Islam as central to Egypt. Supported by Salafi Islamists, Gama’a Islamiyya, the Islamist group Wasat, and Google executive Wael Ghonim, he said in 2004:

Like all members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and around the world, I personally hope to have a chance to bear arms to confront the U.S. occupation in Iraq… This is a matter of religion, not of politics. When a Muslim land is occupied, jihad becomes an individual duty.

Al-Futouh is currently polling second in the presidential race.

Hamadein Sabahi, a former journalist, helped found the Al-Karama party, and was elected to parliament in the 2000 and 2005 elections. He stated in 2005:

When a weapon is pointed at the Americans, it is good. Any weapon that kills an American is good. Any gun pointed at the Marines is good. Any kidnapping or slaughtering of an American in Iraq is good . . . One must salute this organization [Al-Qaeda] when it kills any American soldiers – a soldier, not a civilian. The presence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq as part of the resistance is a positive phenomenon that should be supported. I support Al-Qaeda when it kills Americans.

This is the face of the Arab Spring. And this is the face of the “legitimate” Islamism that the Obama State Department wants to embrace.