Americans are not your enemy Obama tells the Muslim world

Published on Tuesday 27 January 2009 20:59

BARACK Obama announced his determination to engage with the Muslim world by choosing an Arab TV station for his first full interview since being inaugurated as US president.

The decision to give the interview to Dubai-based al-Arabiya was designed to send a message that his administration intends to break with the policies of the Bush administration, presenting a new, listening America.

In the broadcast, screened yesterday, he told interviewer Hisham Melhem that he wanted to tell the Muslim world "the Americans are not your enemy" and that the United States stood ready to support peace efforts in the Middle East.

"The most important thing is for the United States to get engaged right away," he said, adding that his government would start by listening, "because all too often the US starts by dictating".

The al-Arabiya interview marks a view in the new administration that US foreign policy priorities are rooted in the Muslim world, in an arc spanning the Arab-Isaeli conflict, Iran's nuclear programme and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"This is one of those instances where the medium is the message," said James Pinkerton, of the New America Foundation, a Washington think-tank. "It is a watershed moment in policy-making, the guy at the top is definitely different."

Mr Obama did not mention the Gaza conflict by name, but promised support for a new Middle East peace process.

"Ultimately, we cannot tell either the Israelis or the Palestinians what's best for them," he said. "But I do believe that the moment is ripe for both sides to realise that the path they are on is not going to result in prosperity and security for their people. And that, instead, it's time to return to the negotiating table."

He sought to tread a fine line in the Gaza situation, insisting that Israel's security was paramount to the US, while also expressing the hope that a fully functioning Palestinian state would become a reality.

He said: "It was possible for us to see a Palestinian state – I'm not going to put a time frame on it – that is contiguous, that allows freedom of movement for its people, that allows for trade with other countries, that allows the creation of businesses and commerce so that people have a better life."

The interview followed comments at last week's inauguration, in which Mr Obama promised to reach out to ordinary Muslims, while taking a hard line against terrorism. "I cannot respect terrorist organisations that would kill innocent civilians and we will hunt them down," he told al-Arabiya. "But to the broader Muslim world what we are going to be offering is a hand of friendship."

Regarding Iran, he said: "It is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress."

Underlining his resolve, Mr Obama sent his Middle Eastern envoy, George Mitchell, one of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process, to Egypt yesterday on an eight-day tour that includes Britain, France, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

And Mr Obama underlined his view that the Muslim world's problems are interlinked. "I do think it is impossible for us to think only in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not think in terms of what's happening with Syria or Iran or Lebanon or Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Asked about the sharp verbal attacks on him by al-Qaeda leaders behind the 9/11 attacks, he said it showed "that their ideas are bankrupt".

He said: "In my inauguration speech, I spoke about, 'You will be judged on what you've built, not what you've destroyed'. And what they've been doing is destroying things. The Muslim world has recognised that that path is leading no place except more death and destruction."

BACKGROUND

PRESIDENT Obama has set about radically changing perceptions of America in the world following the Bush administration's "go it alone" attitude. With the proposed closure of Guantanamo, the effective ending of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" programme, a more neutral stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a much more conciliatory attitude to Iran, Mr Obama is trying to make a clean break with the "war on terror" era.

Some things, however, are easier to shake than others. US drone aircraft in Afghanistan have fired on targets in Pakistani territory since the new president took over – a continuation of the previous administration's policy.