Obama's Giving Osama A Taste Of His Own Medicine
Barack Obama struck a note of foreign policy confidence Monday night, telling an Arabic news station that al Qaida leaders and Osama bin Laden "seem nervous" now that they don't have George W. Bush as a recruiting tool.
In his first formal interview since taking office, the president spoke with the Dubai-based station Al Arabiya on topics pertinent to the Arab and Muslim worlds...
"Their ideas are bankrupt," he told host Hisham Melhem, when asked to respond to recent audio clips from al Qaida leadership calling him various epithets. "There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."
Pressed later in the interview to comment on Bush's use of the term 'War On Terror,' and the implications that the phrase held, Obama once again distanced himself from his White House predecessor.
I think that you're making a very important point. And that is that the language we use matters," he said, according to a transcript provided by the White House. "We cannot paint with a broad brush a faith as a consequence of the violence that is done in that faith's name. I cannot respect terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians and we will hunt them down. But to the broader Muslim world what we are going to be offering is a hand of friendship."
threeup_js('World', '161087', '2');
document.write('Your request is being processed...');If Obama's discussion on terrorism were marked by tones of firmness, his positions on other Middle East issues seemed defined by fresh thinking and inclusiveness. At one point he did something that would have been anathema on the campaign trail: he touted his hereditary and biographical links to the Muslim world.
"I have Muslim members of my family," said the president. "I have lived in Muslim countries."
I'm real curious if these words will mean anything to the Muslim extremists? I sincerely hope so. Obama seems to be giving Osama Bin Laden a taste of his own medicine.
During the Inauguration Obama warned the extremists that they will be remembered, not by what they tear down; but by what they build for their people.
Obama's reversing what Osama's been preaching for years.
Thanks for the story! Finally, a president who has the brains and sense to portray Al Qaeda as what they are - an isolated bunch of criminals, cynical agents of destruction who are ultimately impotent because they offer nothing. What a contrast to the way Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld touted Bin Laden and company as a threat to the very existence of civilization. By trying to scare our pants off with stories of Al Qaeda stopping at nothing to violently establish a worldwide caliphate, they implied that the Muslims worldwide might seriously see this as an attractive option. By doing so, they achieved a double fail by demonizing Muslims and providing a massive PR campaign to a bunch of criminals hiding in caves.
January 27, 2009 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld team's handling of the wars and Al Qaeda reminded me of an original Star Trek episode called "Day of the Dove". The storyline was about an entity (B/C/R) that got into the Enterprise and caused the crew and Klingons also on board to fight incessantly. When Kirk figured it out, everyone made nice and forced the entity to flee the ship.
B/C/R have fled Spaceship Earth. Maybe now we can get something constructive done.
January 27, 2009 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did you study startrek in lieu of world history?
January 27, 2009 9:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
No; I just have a semi-eidetic memory, a curse I've learned to live with.
January 27, 2009 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
And what did you do instead of learning about life and the world? Did you get slapped up side the head every day by your papa? Is that why you are such a bitter, sick puppy?
January 27, 2009 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are right on the mark ttarleton!
January 27, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
From my understanding, so far the Middle East is cautiously optimistic but expects nothing new from the Obama administration -- even in light of the change in rhetoric and how he casts militant extremists. He still supports Israel, still re-enforces that Israel is and will remain a US ally, tries to engage with Abbas/Fatah (who are basically dead in the water at this point), has refused to call the Gaza bombings a genocide, etc.
That's the general Arab mainstreet view, so take what you will from it on what the extremists might be saying.
As an American, I certainly see the change in language and there's a lot to be optimistic about. I hope that he can follow through on some of his goals for the region and perhaps prove himself to the doubters. I don't think extremists will ever find much to like in an Obama administration. I also don't think that, even after 8 years, the Arab world as a whole will totally warm up to him. I do think that he is on the right track so far, though -- and any incremental change in US policy today is a net gain for US policy tomorrow, and ultimately a start towards reconcilliation in the Middle East.
January 27, 2009 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
As Reza Aslan noted on CNN, Obama used the word "respect" a dozen times in his 20-minute speech. That's a word the Arab/Muslim world hasn't heard from a U.S. leader in eight years, and it will resonate.
As for changing the dynamic in Israel-Palestine, I too worry that Obama may try building a peace strategy around Mahmoud Abbas who, especially in the wake of the Gaza "war," is finished.
But George Mitchell has a nose and an eye for political realities. I suspect he'll conclude Palestinians need new elections, new leaders and a unity government.
January 27, 2009 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I too worry that Obama may try building a peace strategy around Mahmoud Abbas who, especially in the wake of the Gaza "war," is finished
What's interested me is the recurring element in Team Obama's rhetoric of speaking about peace as not being a process between Israel and Palestine, but between Israel and the Arab world as a whole. I wouldn't really know but it seems like approaching the conflict in this way would provide a way of working around Palestinian leadership who are weak or uncooperative.
January 27, 2009 7:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
*Shrug* Let's not forget that he built the Northern Ireland peace around the SDLP and UUP, who effectively became non-entities there following the end of the active conflict. Instead the extremists, Sinn Fein and the DUP, took over and things have been pretty calm. That's not to say it'll be as easily done in Palestine, because AFAIK there's no Gerry Adams in Hamas (Yassar Arafat was the equivalent, the leader of a terrorist organization who realized that they couldn't win that way and steered it from the top to a more peaceful path). But it is possible.
January 28, 2009 8:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
"I'm real curious if these words will mean anything to the Muslim extremists?"
Although that would be great, if so, I doubt and don't think it matters so much whether Muslim extremists are moved by Obama. If Obama is able to neutralize those that might be turned to Muslim extremism or those who would support Muslim extremists then I think he would have achieved a great deal.
January 27, 2009 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Coonsey, great post!!!!
If we just sit back with the belief that all Muslims are barbarians, where does that get us?
We believe in free speech because deep down, we believe that the best argument will out.
That is not always the case. But we have a leader who is saying to hundreds of millions of people, we care about you, we care about your health, education and welfare. And the real barbarians do not.
What on earth have we risked as a nation to send out such a fine message; all coming from the best speaker we have had in generations?
January 27, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about those drones he sent into Pakistan which knocked out some al Qaeda and also killed innocent women and children! Go Obama!
January 27, 2009 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, go and suck your thumb. Bush's drones never bothered you. You are such a hypocrite, how can you look at yourself in a mirror?
January 27, 2009 11:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course the drones never bothered me. I'd rather use drones than put American soldiers' lives at risk. That last post was a joke. But you can't take a joke. Who taught you the "go and suck your thumb" line? Sounds like you're still in 2nd grade or you've been hanging out with OGD too much
January 27, 2009 11:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
January 28, 2009 8:46 AM | Reply | Permalink