Obama vows ‘new beginning’ with Islam
Published: June 4, 2009
Updated 5 months ago
CAIRO (AFP) — US President Barack Obama on Thursday vowed to forge a “new beginning” for Islam and America in a landmark speech to the world’s Muslims, evoking a vision of peace after a smouldering cycle of “suspicion and discord.”
In what may be a defining moment of his presidency, Obama laid out a new blueprint for US Middle East policy, vowing to end mistrust, forge a state for Palestinians and defuse a nuclear showdown with Iran.
“So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace,” said Obama, who was greeted with a standing ovation as he stepped up to the podium at Cairo University.
Obama’s long-awaited speech fulfilled a campaign promise and came after he held talks in Saudi Arabia Wednesday with King Abdullah and Thursday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak aimed at reviving Middle East peace moves.
In the university’s imposing domed Great Hall, Obama said the US bond with Israel, the source of much Arab distrust of the United States, was unbreakable, and rejected “ignorant” rants by those who deny the Nazi Holocaust.
But, breaking from policies of his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama also rebuked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to halt West Bank settlement expansion and reiterated his backing for a two-state solution.
“I have come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world,” Obama said in a speech targeting the globe’s 1.5 billion Muslims on television, the Internet and on social networking sites.
“This cycle of suspicion and discord must end,” said Obama vowing to fight “negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.
“But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America,” he said, and touched on contentious regional like democracy and women’s rights.
Quoting the region’s three holy books, the Koran, the Torah and the Bible, he evoked a future of “mutual interest and mutual respect, examing all sources of tension between America and the Muslim world.
The US president, laying out an ambitious foreign policy, to match the audacity of his domestic program, spoke directly to Muslims on their arguments with America.
In so doing, he was attempting to cleanse the soiled US image in the Muslim world, including in over the Iraq war, the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal and the Guantanamo Bay war on terror camp.
Specifically targeting young Muslims, Obama said “I know there are many — Muslim and non Muslim — who question whether we can forge this new beginning.”
“Some are eager to stoke the flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress. Some suggest that it isn?t worth the effort — that we are fated to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash.
“There is so much fear, so much mistrust. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will never move forward.”
Obama called on Israelis and Palestinians to revive stalled peace talks, demanding Palestinians halt violence and Israelis to ease the plight of those in the occupied territories.
“Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed.”
“America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own,” Obama said, calling on both sides to live up to obligations under the stalled “roadmap” for Middle East peace.
“The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.”
The US president also renewed his offer for dialogue “without preconditions” with arch-US foe Iran after a decades-long Cold War style conflict.
“It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve,” Obama said.
“It is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point,” he said warning a regional arms race would be a “hugely dangerous path” but saying Iran had the right to nuclear peaceful power.
Obama also weaved his own biography, with Islamic lineage among family members in Kenya, and several years growing up as a boy in Indonesia, into his search to pick out a new path for the United States and Islam.
And in his own warning to the Muslim world, Obama said United States would “never tolerate” violence, citing the trauma of the September 11 attacks in 2001, though saying his country lost its way with harsh war on terror tactics.
A complete transcript of Obama’s prepared remarks is available here.
This video is from ABC’s Good Morning America, broadcast June 4, 2009.
Download video via RawReplay.com
(with wire reports)
27 comments
Printer Friendly |
Email
| Get breaking news alerts: Email/mobile |
There, he said it; a sprinkling of seeds of truth. Now watch the weeds (Republicans and Israel, and al-qaeda….the axis of evil) choke it out before it even begins to sprout. Those who have the most to lose by peace will be the first to speak out against what Obama said.
This is really quite simple. If Obama is to be taken for his word, then the best way for the United States to make a new beginning with Islam is to start withdrawing all of its forces from the Middle East. Obama is not going to win many friends when countries in the Middle East constantly see so many American soldiers along with the plethora of American military bases in the region. If the United States, with Obama as its leader, wishes to be taken seriously with this statement, then another effective way for Obama to make more allies in the region would be to institute deep cuts in the military aid that it gives to Israel. It is very difficult to believe that Obama does not seem to comprehend that Israel, with anywhere from 200 to 300 nuclear weapons, is more than capable of taking care of itself without any financial help from the United States. Furthermore, if Obama wants to be seen as acting in good faith, he can start by leaving the less than democratic country of Egypt and start walking around the devastated areas of Gaza which were decimated by the rockets and missiles of Israel in order to finally express some sympathy for the people of Gaza and attempt to understand the suffering that they had gone through and continue to go through at the hands of Israel.
Well said.
Man, who is this wingnut, Rory Cooper of the Heritage Foundation? Every political pundit, political analyst or noted educator in international affairs queried by the media gives President Obama strong ratings for his speech in Cairo, except Cooper! He give Obama an F- grade! Is this guy on the same planet as the rest of us…or is he someone the Secret Service should be watching closely. …..whoa, wacko….
ps…OB…excellent speech
This is a new beginning. But it is rhetoric.
It will be prophylactic ideology unless and until we follow up with good deeds.
there’s the key word, bro — WE. We have a responsibility as well as he.
GOOD.. Finally, Obama does something un-bush like. This is exactly the right move.
This country is positively drowning in anti-arab, anti-muslim xenophobia. Some of this is understandable, as people always fear what they do not understand. The really baffling part is the Christian community. I’ve never seen Christians act so un-Christ like in my entire life. Ya know, who would Jesus water board?
Some facts Christians should know about Islam.
1 No one knows exactly how many Muslims exist, but best estimates are between 1.3 and 1.6 Billion. Roughly equal to every man, woman and child in China. We only have problems with a tiny, tiny percentage of them and historically, they haven’t been treated so good. Frankly, some of their hatred and their actions are completely justified.
2 Forget about killing Muslims to defend the so called “Holy Land” for Jesus. Fact, Jesus never laid a finger on the Romans who were occupying Israel. He even healed the Roman soldier Peter struck with his sword in a fit of rage. Jesus never persecuted anyone for their disbelief. While HE DID however, save his harshest words for the Religious leaders of the day and their violent, underhanded, self serving practices. Don’t give me the old testament either. Jesus said to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He did not, ever, sanction a jihad on Muslims… Constructing flimsy, non-scriptural arguments to persecute them won’t get you into heaven. Sorry.
3 Christians and Muslims ARE NOT natural enemies. In fact, Muslims BELIEVE IN JESUS. Muhammad wrote that he was a prophet of God, a holy man and and that he was to be respected as such. Muslims even believe in his virgin birth. They have rioted on numerous occasions when Jesus was portrayed in a negative light.
4 “Allah” is a word used by Muslims and many CHRISTIANS ALIKE in the Middle East to refer to God. Christians should remember that before mocking them..
None of this means it’s a good idea to import Muslims by the truck load. I remember Britain’s resident genius, Tony Blair, having a literal fit over the way Islamic women dress. (Which, frankly isn’t much different from a Nun’s habit.) He hated it and just couldn’t understand why they didn’t divorce their husbands, grab a g-string, go clubbing and then get a few abortions like normal British women. The point here, which was apparently lost on Mr. Blair, is that you control Islam demographically, or you don’t control it AT ALL. While this is obviously a divergence from contemporary values, it hardly makes us natural enemies or does it constitute the apocalyptic clash of civilizations so many paranoid pseudo- christian ministers carp on endlessly about.
We don’t need to resurrect the crusades, we need to realize our differences, respect them, and act in good faith toward one another… for a change.
Excellent comment!
1. Something that escaped my notice about the ear of Malchus: Jesus’ response to the use of a sword was to heal the damage. Brilliant observation. That sword, which Jesus referred to in Luke 22:36 “and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” is a favorite amongst the bloody minded. But if they would study further, it was necessitated only by prophetic requirement, as told in the following verse: “For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, ‘And he was reckoned among the transgressors’: for the things concerning me have an end.” The “Christians” of today reckon him among the transgressors, i.e., themselves. They took the bait.
Apparently it was necessary that the “Christians” of today should be among those who totally missed His message. Welcome to Laodicea — enjoy your stay.
——————————–
2. “Allah” is not Islamic — it’s simply Arabic, or in a more general sense, Semitic, meaning “God”. The Hebrew cognate is El, which is used in the dual (plural?) number in the OT, “Elohim”. My guess is, discussion of the gods of Rome or Iceland would use the same word. (I haven’t any examples, but that’s my guess).
I am very disappointed that he didn’t take advantage of this opportunity to make a defining and more incisive action. He shouldn’t have hedged but instead show what he can do to break this deadlock, risking Israeli displeasure. Make ONE positive move. Telling the Israeli’s that America wants them to stop settlements is not good enough. Some ultimatum? I think the world wants that, not more promises and more ideals. The world was ready, but he let slip this chance.
I think it’s brilliant.
What he’s done is expose the “peace process” as the slow motion genocide-come-land grab we all know it to be.
When Israel flat refused to stop their illegal settling, that said it all.
In fact, the worst thing that could happen to Israel is for Obama to claim the effort isn’t being seriously undertaken, wash his hands of the entire affair and simply quit trying to negotiate.
In a second, he could strip away the last veneer of legitimacy Israel has… Or think they have.
The result - Overnight pariah.. Not a good position to be in when you’re effectively a welfare state, dependent on the US for your survival.
I think you meant “genocide cum land grab”. cum is the Latin word for “with”, or “in combination with”.
But I agree with your take. He did more than any president before him in defying the encroachment, but so clearly stating that “Israel isn’t going away”. The best of all is the — ach! so obvious need for Jerusalem — “City of Peace” — to fulfill its name and be the capital of all three religions equally. These are blockbuster steps. The earth is still trembling from those words!
I’m dizzy with the echoes, wandering around the house.
for “ach” read “oy!” or your choice of interjection.
Did you ever see the PBS show, “Danger UXB” about unexploded bombs and their disposal in London during the Blitz? You remind me of a kibitzer bothering a busy bomb-squad technician. Try to see the bigger picture.
Obama would get a far more valuable response from Muslins
IF OBAMA PROSECUTED THE Bush-Cheney Members
of the Republican Muslim Torture Program.
That alone would make a huge difference.
Muslims will not believe he is different from Bush
If Obama Does Not Prosecute the
Americans that Tortured THEM!
TORTURE ! IS A FEDERAL CRIME
SEE http://tinyurl.com/besdd3
It is Never Debatable and Never Morally Correct.
IT is a heinous Federal Capital Crime.
WHY IS OBAMA PROTECTING BUSH AND CHENEY?
They obviously violated Federal Law.
If you do nothing else for your Country today,
SIGN THE PETITION To Prosecute Them For Torture
http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG
Over 250,000 have signed
Join them and call yourself a Patriot
.
“Obama would get a far more valuable response from Muslins” if he would wash them in cold water. Get it? Muslins?
Sorry — as a hopeless pun-addict I couldn’t resist — it was torture. You don’t know what it’s like for us . . . .
Oh wow.. The Jews aren’t taking this well AT ALL.
Check this out.. They got him dressed up like Yassir
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244034988150&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Consider the guts, poise, and brilliance that it took O to pull this off!
A very subtle, simple, but devastating move of the rook.
“and historically, they haven’t been treated so good….”
Phhht! Islam hasn’t treated anyone good themselves. The Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa were all captured after bloody wars. Over a quarter billion Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus have been slaughtered vsince the inception of Islam. Islam is less a religion and more of a psychotic political philosophy veneered with religion. The Crusades were merely a delayed response to the violent aggression of the Islamic hordes.
If Hitler and Stalin had been smarter, they would have gilded their ideologies with religion.
Until Islam is reformed rather dramatically, there can be no peace with the “Religion of Hate and Violence”.
Now all you good dhimmis come out sobbing and cursing “that it just ain’t true.
That’s what war and empire will get you, allot of bad blood.
Keep screaming at the sky and pretending that we can, or should, keep 1.6 billion people under our heel for the sake of the empire and our “ally” Israel… “the only democracy in the mideast”
It’s time to move forward..
This needs to be said, and is not unfair. Charles Martel saved Europe from the Moors at Tours; Attila and all the Central Asian hordes had ravaged Eastern Europe to within an inch of their life, and found their way into the history books of the time, e.g., the Nibelungenlied and Volsungasaga.
Still, there was a grudging respect for the “Musulmen” as early as 1200 in the Parzifal of Wolfram von Eschenbach, where the hero is half brother to a Moorish hero, Feirefiz. This uncanny friendship is evidence that peace has been a hope and goal for a long time.
Let bygones be bygones. “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:1 (one of the verses missing from Bush’s Bible). “Lull the devil to sleep rather than awaken him.” Hazrat Inayat Khan. “Charge it to the dust and let the rain settle it.” My Mom.
Encouraging peace is more useful than stirring up hatred. (duh . . .)
Story on UK Reuters, Obama publically reaches out to Muslims. What’s the result? Osama disses him and starts screaming about “infidels”
If anyone still believes Osama Bin Laden’s addresses are anything more than carefully timed and poorly executed (Mossad?) propaganda, I have some credit default swaps on the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you.
The guy is dead.. They keep waggling him around to try to influence public opinion when the chips are down.
zackly — but I would append “/CIA”
You could well be correct..
I sort of hope not because it implies rogue forces at work in our intelligence community, operating outside the President’s control.
Not that it would be anything NEW, mind you..
After watching this astonishing event, I am revising my highly critical position regarding his failure to fulfill particular promises.
His reneging on the promise to release the 44 additional detainee images was a hard pill to swallow, but it was apparently at the plea of Maliki. Many other recent disappointments too numerous and complex to list here, I now see differently. This man’s work must be viewed in the largest context, i.e., as a whole, not in several parts. If stoic and stubborn adherence to a particular promise ultimately ruins a greater overarching accomplishment for good, that was a sophomoric miscalculation.
If Democrats like Max Baucus and Ben Nelson are pulling against him, he is far from all powerful. If there is disappointment amongst us, his early supporters, let us do what he asked us to do, quoting FDR’s words to A. Phillip Randolph, “go out and make me do it!” Only a groundswell of us in great numbers, putting our money and time where our whining is, could conceivably accomplish such a radical change in this country.
Generals don’t win wars: Armies (led by generals) win wars. It’s a group effort. So it is with peace, too.
It’s our job, too.
SUMMARY: Judge Obama on the whole of his work, not small parts disconnected, and calculate as well the obstacles he faces in that whole work. Yes, continue to complain, and increase. But realize that that is no more than our part of his great work.
And he will welcome it, is my guess.
Deeds, not words Mr. Obama.
I wrote like six paragraphs about this and erased it all. It’s easier to put it this way:
Obama is full of shit.
PS:
I’ve spent all day now listening to right wing radio hosts do nothing but scream about this speech..
There is palpable anger out there, primarily among supports of Israel and the status quo, but also among strident Bush supporters and admirers.
The latter I find especially ironic, because those are the very people who brought this speech about.
Prior to Bush’s needless war, NO ONE CARED. Americans were self absorbed, concerned with small things and domestic priorities. Few people gave a damn about the goings on of the entire region, except to the extent that it affected energy prices. Comparatively few knew much about modern day Islam, Iran, Iraq or Palestine, fewer still cared much one way or another. American society was largely introverted and self absorbed.
However, little Georgie’s snipe hunt brought attention to the region like a laser beam. It has remained there ever since. He brought it there by blaming Saddam for 9/11 and he’s kept it there via the invasion and the constant harping about the supposed danger posed by Iran.
Israel would be free to bump and bam the Palestinians all they wanted. Americans would still confuse Muslims with Sikhs and the national debate over the war and our conduct abroad would never have occurred.
But that’s not the way it went.. Thanks to some neo-con geniuses, we’re here now, with an American President apologizing to Muslims and extending his hand in friendship. The whole world is watching that region, and it is because of George W Bush’s misguided policies that this is so.
So, if the likes of Rush Limbaugh and and grinning dumbass, Hannity, wish to throw dirty looks around, I would strongly suggest throwing them in the mirror… BECAUSE IT IS YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT.
It was TOOOOOOO MUCH to simply concentrate on American issues and American prosperity. Oh no! We had to go mind everyone’s business but our own.. and now they’re pissed at the way things have turned out. Reap it, neo-cons. I care not.
A pox on all of thee.