“They are not seeking to have a religious country,”

"A member of Egypt’s ruling military council said fears that the Muslim Brotherhood poses a threat to the country’s emerging democracy are exaggerated and that the group has a right to participate in political life.

“They are not seeking to have a religious country,” said Major General Mohamed Said Elassar, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that took control when ousted President Hosni Mubarakceded authority. “They have to have the same rights as all Egyptians.”

Elassar assured an audience yesterday at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a government-funded organization in Washington, that the military council is eager to hand over authority to civilian parliament and president to be elected later this year.

The military council, in the meantime, remains committed to the 1979 Camp David Accords with Israel, said Elassar, who is assistant to Egypt’s defense minister and is leading a military delegation in Washington for semi-annual meetings at the Pentagon, the State Department and on Capitol Hill..."