Egypt Islamists in hiding ahead of vote - Maggie Michael

Only in Egypt the state of Emergency has lasted over three decades. Only Egypt has CIA-sponsored Presidents who win elections by 99% plurality. Yet these puppets are afraid as is evident in this report. t

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A government crackdown has forced dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members into hiding ahead of local elections in Egypt, where the banned group has become the U.S.-allied country's most powerful opposition force by agitating for Islamic law and democratic reform.

House-to-house searches and dawn ambushes by police this month placed behind bars about 750 prominent Brotherhood members, many of whom were hoping to run as candidates in the April 8 balloting.

The sweep has even drawn the ire of the Bush administration, which, though it did not name the Brotherhood, criticized the crackdown.

The U.S. is "concerned by a continuing campaign of arrests in Egypt of individuals who are opponents of the current governing party and are involved in the upcoming local elections," White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters Wednesday. [for more click on the heading]