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Obama Pledges ‘New Way’ With Muslim World
President Barack Obama declared he would “seek a new way forward” with the Muslim world and “extend a hand” to any foe willing to “unclench your fist,” as his administration prepared to deal with two wars, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“This is a good opening, it’s one that sounds promising,” said Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor at the University of Maryland. “And then it’s down to real positions – – and people will be watching those positions very carefully.”
In his inaugural address today in Washington, Obama repeated his campaign pledge about changing course in the wars the U.S. is waging in Muslim countries. “We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan,” the new president said.
The most perilous foreign policy challenges for Obama are in flashpoints across the Muslim world — from terrorist networks in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq to the aftermath of the conflict in the Gaza Strip and a suspected nuclear threat from Iran. Before even mentioning the global economic crisis, Obama referred to what his predecessor President George W. Bush had termed the “war on terror.”
“Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred,” Obama, 47, said. Still, he said, the U.S. need not compromise its ideals on “the rule of law and rights of man” while trying to assure its citizens’ safety.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations praised Obama’s remarks about Muslims as “encouraging” in a statement issued today.
Obama has pledged to halt the Bush administration’s use of aggressive interrogation of suspected terrorists, tactics some have assailed as torture. He has also promised to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for suspected terrorists, a facility that has drawn criticism from around the world.
In an attempt to retool America’s image, Obama has said he intends to travel to a Muslim nation soon after taking office to make a major foreign policy address. Though he didn’t allude to that plan today, he did stress that “America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity.”
One of Obama’s most difficult policy problems will be how to deal with Iran, which the U.S. and Europe suspect is pursuing a nuclear weapon or at least the means to make one. Obama also pledged during his campaign to engage leaders of adversarial nations, such as Iran, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela.
The confirmation of Obama’s choice for secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was delayed today after Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas demanded a full debate on potential conflicts involving foreign donations to President Bill Clinton’s foundation. The Senate will spend three hours tomorrow debating Clinton’s confirmation.
Obama may name former Senator George Mitchell, who led peace efforts in Northern Ireland under the Clinton administration, as his special envoy to the Middle East. The president’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, declined to discuss Mitchell in a television interview today, saying he didn’t want to “get ahead of where the president is” on such announcements.
The move would be a first step toward facilitating talks between Israel and the Palestinians following the cease-fire in Gaza. The Israeli military operation aimed at stopping rocket attacks from Gaza by its Hamas rulers inflamed Arabs, including the Palestinian Authority leadership the U.S. backs.
Telhami, the Maryland professor, said Obama’s description of the U.S. as “a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers” and the fact that he was sworn in using his Arabic middle name Hussein “sends a powerful signal.”
Obama’s comment during the speech that America’s energy dependency poses a security problem seems to put Saudi Arabia on notice, said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Saudi Arabia is a major source of imported oil.
“The fact that it was one element of the campaign that carried over into the inaugural speech is going to have people scratching their heads in Riyadh about where is this relationship going,” Alterman said.
Obama broadened his message beyond the Muslim world, spotlighting repressive leaders across the globe.
Those “who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy,” Obama said.
Indira A.R. Lakshmanan
Bloomberg.com
