“Even though the Muslim Brotherhood’s ploy was predictable, it seems the Egyptian army fell straight into the trap: The soldiers who massacred demonstrators outside the military facility where ousted President Mohammed Morsi was being held threatened the success of the enormous gamble the generals took last week.

Both sides have already begun presenting their conflicting stories about what happened: The army claims the demonstrators fired first, as they were storming the compound; the Muslim Brotherhood claims their people were slaughtered while at prayer. But either way, it seems that many of those killed were unarmed, and that given the already tense situation, the soldiers guarding the facility simply panicked and opened fire when the mob drew near.

And either way, the Brotherhood’s strategy is clear: The pictures of these murdered Muslims creates a dual problem for the generals, both at home and abroad. Within Egypt, it has eroded the legitimacy of last week’s coup, which the generals ostensibly perpetrated to save the nation. Overseas, even countries that disliked having the Brotherhood in power, like Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ‏(among the Gulf states, only Qatar wholeheartedly supported the ousted government‏), will have trouble accepting such horrific scenes.”

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