The challenge of Cairo

With President Obama set to deliver a major address on American foreign policy and Islam in Cairo on Thursday, a number of pundits and politicos have offered some advice. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the president is unlikely to announce major policy changes with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan huffing along, Pakistan […]

With President Obama set to deliver a major address on American foreign policy and Islam in Cairo on Thursday, a number of pundits and politicos have offered some advice.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the president is unlikely to announce major policy changes with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan huffing along, Pakistan approaching a major crisis and the Holy Land in all too familiar turmoil.

Instead, Albright says, “Obama must persuade Muslims abroad to view our existing policies in a new light. That is no small job. It requires separating the rationale for contemporary actions from the long history of clashes between Islam and the West, and it requires overcoming the resentment caused when Muslim noncombatants are killed as a byproduct of conflict.


The more direct the president is in acknowledging these problems, the more likely it is that Muslims will think objectively about his words.”

Over at the New Republic, Wiliam Galston asks what Obama will say about the autocratic regimes in the Middle East, whose blatant corruption often seems to foment militant Islam. Obama and his Sec. of State Hillary Clinton have been hit by human rights groups for seeming to downplay rights in favor of economic cooperation with other nations, so it will be interesting to hear what Obama has to say in Egypt, a country not known for a flowering democracy, says Galston.

And the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in an open letter to Obama, also says that Obama must champion human rights abroad.

“For too long, we have claimed to be champions of freedom and democracy, while turning a blind eye to repression, occupation and authoritarian rule. We must hold every nation, even those we regard as allies, to a uniform standard of justice and equality. No other action will do more to restore America’s international reputation,” said Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director.

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