Is Morsi’s Prime Minister Insane or Just Plain Ignorant?

Hesham Kandil, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s prime minister, has declared that the reason that babies in impoverished villages have health problems is that nursing mothers don’t clean their breasts.

In case anyone might think Kandil is intelligent, he went on to explain that the lack of running water in the villages means that “men go the mosque,” apparently to wash, while “women go to the field and get raped” on their way to wash at the river.

His comments were made-to-order ammunition for Morsi’s critics, who consider him and his Muslim Brotherhood regime as being extremists who have absolutely no understanding of the suffering of Egyptian women.

"Women's role in the Muslim Brotherhood is limited to helping men capture seats of power,” said  Egyptian feminist and writer Karima Kamal, quoted by the Associated Press. “They use them in elections very well. Then they keep them on the margins. There is nothing called equality between men and women.”

Kandil did make one astute comment. He said, “Egypt is full of miseries,” perhaps referring to himself and the Morsi regime.