Robert Fisk: Words that could heal wounds of centuries (UK Independent)

[Jackeens]

The one commentator I most wanted to read after the speech in Cairo was Robert Fisk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fisk) - I expected him to be a little world-weary about it all, considering what he has witnessed in the Middle East and how he has reported it over the years, and more than a bit cyncial, so this piece was fascinating for me.


Robert Fisk: Words that could heal wounds of centuries

Preacher, historian, economist, moralist, schoolteacher, critic, warrior, imam, emperor. Sometimes you even forgot Barack Obama was the President of the United States of America.

Will his lecture to a carefully chosen audience at Cairo University "re-imagine the world" and heal the wounds of centuries between Muslims and Christians? Will it resolve the Arab-Israeli tragedy after more than 60 years? If words could do the job, perhaps...

It was a clever speech we heard from Obama yesterday, as gentle and as ruthless as any audience could wish for – and we were all his audience. He praised Islam. He loved Islam. He admired Islam. He loved Christianity. And he admired America. Did we know that there were seven million Muslims in America, that there were mosques in every state of the Union, that Morocco was the first nation to recognise the United States and that our duty is to fight against stereotypes of Muslims just as Muslims must fight against stereotypes of America?

More: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-words-that-could-heal-wounds-of-centuries-1697417.html

[Cha]

1. I use to read Robert

Fisk during the bush years..it's pretty cool that Robert Fisk, also, thought the speech was "not bad"..

<snips from your article>

.."The Palestinians had suffered without a homeland. "The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable," Obama said and the US would not turn its back on the "legitimate Palestinian aspiration for a state of their own". Israel had to take "concrete steps" to give the Palestinians progress in their daily lives as part of a road to peace. Israel needed to acknowledge Palestinian suffering and the Palestinian right to exist. Wow. Not for a generation has Israel had to take this kind of criticism from a US President. It sounded like the end of the Zionist dream. Did George Bush ever exist?

Alas, he did. Indeed, at times, the Obama address sounded like the Bush General Repair Company, visiting the Muslim world to sweep up mountains of broken chandeliers and shredded flesh. The President of the United States – and this was awesome – admitted his country's failures, its over-reaction to 9/11, its creation of Guantanamo which, Obama reminded us all again, he is closing down. Not bad, Obama..."

<snip>

"There was one merciful omission: a speech of nearly 6,000 words did not include the lethal word "terror". "Terror" or "terrorism" have become punctuation marks for every Israeli government and became part of the obscene grammar of the Bush era."

Thanks, Jackeens..this is the best analysis of Obama's speech, imo.

[Jackeens]

2. Hey Cha

It's funny, I kind of held my breath before I read the article, I expected Fisk (who I greatly admire) to dismiss the speech on several levels, so I found it really interesting and heartening that he liked so much of it - eg (much the same extracts as you chose):

"The President of the United States – and this was awesome – admitted his country's failures, its over-reaction to 9/11, its creation of Guantanamo which, Obama reminded us all again, he is closing down. Not bad, Obama..."

"More extraordinarily, Obama reminded us that the US had connived to overthrow the democratically elected Mossadeq government of Iran in the Fifties."

"There was one merciful omission: a speech of nearly 6,000 words did not include the lethal word "terror". "Terror" or "terrorism" have become punctuation marks for every Israeli government and became part of the obscene grammar of the Bush era."

Most of all, I loved his description of the speech: "as gentle and as ruthless as any audience could wish for".

And the Churchill quote he used at the end - "Words are easy and many, while great deeds are difficult and rare" - was more than fair. Let's wait and see. But I'm hopeful!

[Cha]

3. I can see why you "held your breath"..

Robert Fisk was never one to mess around or mince words if he thought something was wrong.

He has an invaluble insider's take on the whole current Middle East situation and the history leading up to it.

He would have been a good one to have on American tv for his opinion on President Obama's speech in Cairo as to what it meant instead of liz cheney..or to get a different take than the torturers.

[babylonsister]

4. That was the nicest article from Fisk

concerning Obama I've ever read, even though he got his barbs in.

[Jackeens]

5. Kick - this article is worth reading, trust me!