President Barack Obama presented a humble and conciliatory face of America to the Islamic world Monday in the first formal interview since he assumed office, stressing his own Muslim ties and hopes for a Palestinian state, and avoiding a belligerent tone — even when asked if America could “live with” an Iranian nuclear weapon.
The interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya Network was a dramatic piece of public diplomacy aimed at capitalizing on the new American president’s international popularity, though it balanced America’s traditional commitment to Israel, whose security Obama called “paramount.’
“I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries,” Obama said, according to a White House transcript. “My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.”
[...]
“What I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating — in the past on some of these issues — and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved,” Obama said. “What we want to do is to listen, set aside some of the preconceptions that have existed and have built up over the last several years. And I think if we do that, then there’s a possibility at least of achieving some breakthroughs.”
Mr Fusion,
No… you have it completely backwards. The Palestine/Israel conflict is not the cause of all problems in the middle east. If it was, it would have been resolved decades ago.
The conflict is there because the benefits outweigh the cost. The powers that rule the nations of the middle east profit tremendously from this conflict. Solving it is the LAST thing they want. It is what keeps them in power. It is what gives them an excuse to ignore their own failures and to justify their own grips on power.
These powers don’t give a rats ass about the Palestinians. They are just using them, and the Palestinians are too blinded by hate and desperation to realize they are being played.
Haven’t you noticed that every time a resolution get close to succeeding, the paymasters in Iran, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia send in their goons to cause murder and mayhem in order throw it off track?
It will only end when these powers want it to end. There is not much we in the US can do, except to attacking the sponsors of Hezbollah and Hamas, which is a pretty tall order.
wooo woooo! a new approach
we have tried it the neo-cons way for years and only made most of the rest of the world hate us and the fan the flames of the middle east
it might take the state department a few years to wash off the stink that was left there
I salute Obama for this brave statement. Unlike most of you Americans think here, Muslims dont hate America and view America as a ray of hope in their world full of dictators, death threats from religious extremists and so on. But thanks for Bush and his gang for painting all the Muslims in the same color and thus creating more enemies rather than decreasing them. Now if Obama really takes positive measures to prove that America is not our enemy, we will see more Muslim countries favoring the US rather than the Chinese and the Russians now.
wish I had my pocket Koran reference handy. I had the full list of verses from the Koran that instruct the faithful [to Islam] to kill the infidels. I think there were 33 of them, in all. Generally speaking, an infidel is anyone who believes something other than “Allah is the one true God, and Mohammed is His prophet”. By definition, this includes all non-Muslims.
There are as many variants of Muslims as there are “Christians”, however, and the more moderate will tell you that the Koran doesn’t really say this. Fanatical Muslims describe these “moderates” as infidels also, because they do not stringently hold to the teachings of the Koran.
For reference, fanatical Muslim nations hate the US for a variety of reasons including their religion. Most are due to our iconic licentious behavior (sexual promiscuity, overt sexuality/sensuality in everyday lifestyle, glorification of homosexuality, drinking, etc.). These behaviors will not end anytime soon, so it’s highly unlikely that the fanatics will despise us any less. Unlike Christianity, the Muslim world has not undermined the power and of their clergy and faith in government. So, while not actually theocracies, they might as well be.
Brian, can you point out the part that says Israel belongs to the Jews?
Ethanol, I thought I remebered Egypt as also taking land, but don’t they border Israel right now? What land could they have taken? Sinai Peninsula?
My soapbox ramblings…
Spreading faith by violence never works well. If you look hard enough and do your editing you can make almost any major religious text support any agenda. (That’s land is mine God says so! What you don’t believe me? You say your family has held a deed for hundreds of years of KILL THE INFIDEL!)
Jews, Christians and Muslims all think the other has distorted the revelations their god is trying to tell them. Folks like Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Einstein and many more (sorry I only know western heroes of science) have shone us that that none of these groups has a hold on some sort of divine truth.
How about we work on the overlapping major principles of most of the worlds religions “Ethical conduct and altruistic behavior.”
Obama reaching out to the Muslim world, saying U.S. isn’t your enemy is a great new start. He understands the best recruiting tool the Bin Ladens of this world have is that us against them mentality. The Busheys played right into there hands.
Growing Pains?
Islam is 600 years younger than Christianity; in the 1400s Christians were using their religion to excuse some pretty nasty stuff, they still are in some sects.
recommended viewing.. The Life of Brian
Barry Mcguire
“Hate your next-door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace
And… tell me over and over and over and over again, my friend
You don’t believe
We’re on the eve
Of destruction”
#43 zorkor, you’re back!
Long time no see!
BTW, I actually agree with you on this 100%
By Jack Cafferty
CNN
“Picking a fight with that corpulent Oxycontin aficionado of right wing talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, will mobilize a bunch more on the conservative right and begin to bring those approval ratings down from 83 percent, where they were before you actually started working as the president, to a more mortal 68 percent in the Gallup Poll taken on those first three days in office.”
“The stimulus package is not going to be a walk in the park either. Republicans are yelling it’s too costly and doesn’t stimulate enough. And they might have point. It’s at $825 billion now and could go higher. Hundreds of millions for condoms and other contraceptives doesn’t belong in there either, unless it’s for what’s about to happen to the American taxpayer.”
Obama better get it together.
# 46 Highway 61 said, “Obama reaching out to the Muslim world, saying U.S. isn’t your enemy is a great new start. He understands the best recruiting tool the Bin Ladens of this world have is that us against them mentality. The Busheys played right into there hands.”
And, Obama murdering Pakistani civilians fits into this how?
Thank you president obama for that wonderful speech.
Death to america!
#48, Cow-Paddy,
As usual, not a single effen original thought in your head.