Addressing Muslim world, Obama will face many audiences

[babylonsister]

Addressing Muslim world, Obama will face many audiences

By Margaret Talev and Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has a sweeping goal for his speech Thursday in Cairo, Egypt: to begin remaking the dynamic between the United States and Muslims abroad.

He'll declare a clean break from the Bush administration's "war-on-terror" approach to foreign affairs and forcefully endorse establishing a Palestinian state.

He'll talk about his respect for Islamic culture and call for an era of partnering with Muslim nations in areas of common interest, among them curbing violent extremists before they destabilize Muslim nations and threaten the West.



Having publicly demanded that Israel stop building settlements in the predominantly Palestinian West Bank, he'll also ask Arab nations collectively to recognize Israel's existence.

Tying together all the elements of such a speech is no easy proposition, for his worldwide audience — Muslim and non-Muslim — reflects competing priorities and concerns.

Consider: Lebanese go to the polls just three days after he speaks, Iranians will be preparing for pivotal elections June 12 and both contests pit moderate parties against radical forces. Afghans and Pakistanis are girding for increased U.S. military and political engagement.

Palestinians and Israelis have conflicting stakes. In the U.S., Republicans will be looking for any window to paint the Democratic president as anti-American, anti-Israel or soft on terrorism.

"It's a very high bar to clear. The expectations are immense," said Tamara Cofman Wittes, the director of the Middle East Democracy and Development Project at the Washington-based Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy. "No matter how broadly he speaks, what he says will be parsed through the lens of those disagreements."

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[HopeOverFear]

1. Incredible. God bless President Obama on his journey

[FrenchieCat]

2. And some try to say this man is not a leader! They call him a coward....

right here at DU!

[ClarkUSA]

3. He'll knock it out of the park the way he always does.

[Cha]

4. It's a tough challenge but that's why we

elected President Obama.

That and a million other reasons.

[BlooInBloo]

7. a-yup.

[O is 44]

5. Well I hope....

that they keep him safe, a bit nervous about this trip. Does anyone know when he will give the D-day speech? Or is he giving one? I may be mistaken here.

[starroute]

6. The more pieces to reconcile, the higher you have to set your sights

When Obama is pressed by necessity, he always responds at what can only be called the highest spiritual level. I predict that he's not going to cast this speech in terms of politics -- or even in terms of religion, which can be equally divisive -- but on the level of spiritual vision.

He's going to speak in terms that address the common aspirations of Jews, Muslims, and Christians (not to mention Buddhists and Hindus and anybody else who might be tuning in.) He's going to talk about what makes us all human and what has the potential to make us more than human -- and of the kind of world we need to create in order for that to happen.

If he does this right, every single one of those disparate audiences will believe he is speaking just to them -- because that is the effect that speaking from the heart and to the heart always has.

[jeanpalmer]

8. There's not much he can say

that will make sense. What he should do is apologize for all the crimes the US has committed against people in that area, for the unlawful invasions and occupations based on lies, all the millions killed or made homeless, for all the efforts to prop up dicatators like Mubarrak and the Saudis, preventing the people from having freedom and democracy, for trying to undermine their societies, for all the torturers the US has unleashed on them. Anything short of that will be just blowing smoke.

I find it interesting that he's giving this speech in Cairo where the people are governed by a despot and anyone daring to speak out or organize politically is imprisoned and tortured. Will he acknowledge that and ask Mubarrak to give his people freedom and democracy? Now that would show real leadership and a concern for the people there. Let's see if he does that. There's a large dose of tone deafness in his selection of Cairo, unless he calls out the Arab despots.

I doubt rhetoric is going to mean much to the average muslim. Obama is going to call them out for extremism while he's bombing women and kids in Aghanistan and Pakistan, ccupying and manipulating Iraq. That's not going to fly. Except with a certain segment of people back in the USA.

[jeanpalmer]

9. Here's the speech he should give

I want establish a new relationship with muslims. To do that, we have to be honest with each other. Relationships can't be built on deceit. So today, I'm going to be honest with you.

The United States and its CIA assisted in the overthrow of the lawfully elected Iranian government in 1953. We were instrumental in imposing the Shah on the Iranian people and we trained his secret police and assisted them in controlling and terrorizing the Iranian people for 25 years.

We unlawfully invaded Iraq in 2003 under a deception that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Iraq had no such weapons and President Bush manufactured false evidence to justify that invasion. It was a war of aggression, of the kind prohibited by international law. In the course of the invasion and occupation, we have destroyed Iraq. We're responsible for the deaths of a million innocent people and have made 4 million people homeless. We destroyed all law and order in the country and have installed a puppet government which is mainly answerable to us rather than the Iraqi people. I'm announcing today that we will be completely and immdeiately withdrawing from Iraq militarily, and our troops should be out no later than it takes them to gather everything up and leave.

We have unlawfully made war on and invaded Afghanistan under the guise of pursuing the 9-11 attackers and Osama bin Laden. The truth is we could have accomplished that objective without an invasion by just using standard law enforcement tactics and limited military tactics to hunt down, capture or kill those responsible. I make no apology for pursuing bin Laden. He and his organization killed 3,000 of our citizens in a criminal attack. And we will continue to pursue him.

In Afghanistan, we have set up another puppet government that is highly corrupt and inneficient. It has minimal support outside of Kabul. We have spread war across the country, killing people who oppose us out of their religious and/or political beliefs. We have bombed and killed many innocent people by mistake frequently through negligence. We're trying to impose a political system on the people of Afghanistan that many don't want and are resisting, many through force. I'm telling you today that our venture in Afghanisan is misguided and is the wrong approach. And we have decided to withdraw our military forces from that country and let the people work out their political problems on their own. As in Iraq, we will begin our withdrawal immediately.

In the past, we have supported many dictators and unrepresentative governments in countries in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. From now on, we will actively encourage these countries to become democratic so that their people can experience the freedom and democracy that we in the US enjoy. But in a way that they ultimately will determine. And we will acknowledge and respect the people's choices to the extent we can.

The US has engaged in spying, torture, rendition, and the infiltration of governments through the use of our securities aparatuses, like the CIA. I pledge to you today that these practices will cease.

In the past, we have on occasion fomented discord among peoples and have not sought a just solution for the Israeli-Palestinian problem. The truth is we have backed Israel almost 100%, while ignoring the plight of the Palestinians. Well, we're now going to adopt an approach that is even-handed and that give us the chance to solve that problem once and for all based on the reasonable expectations of each party.

What I've said today clears the air and announces a clean break with past bad practices, and opens up the possibility of dialogue in the future on an equal footing to explore areas of common interest with mutual respect.