Pledging to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and interest with the Muslim world, US President Barack Obama has said
Islamic nations should not consider America as their enemy.In his first full presidential interview to a television channel in the Middle East, Obama attempted to present a humble and conciliatory face of the US to the Muslim world, where there is much resentment and animosity against America.
"I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries... My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that Americans are not your enemy," Obama told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television network, in a move that the mainstream US media quickly termed as his public diplomacy.
"What I've said, and I think Hillary Clinton has expressed this in her confirmation, is that if we are looking at the region as a whole and communicating a message to the Arab and the Muslim world, that we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest, then I think that we can make significant progress," Obama said.
Expressing his determination to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, Obama said it is time for the US to listen and not dictate things.
Obama said he will also address the Muslim world directly in his first 100 days in office from the capital of an Islamic nation.
Obama said the ideas of Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri, who now seem to be nervous, are bankrupt.
"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," he said.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090081544This is very depressing