Obama Speaks to Muslims

On June 4, Barack Obama will address Muslims in a speech that will make history. The president of the United States has the gift of enchanting the masses – as seen in the massive rallies during the presidential campaign – and he is ready to make the most of this gift with his position as a world leader. It will be similar to John F. Kennedy’s speech given near the wall in West Berlin, when he incited the masses by proclaiming he was a Berliner and that he was not going to leave them to their own fate.

Obama would like to make a similar proposal to the Muslim world: that he is also one of them, because at the end of the day, his father was Muslim and his middle name (although conveniently silenced during the campaign) is Hussein. Obviously he is not going to announce that he has converted to Islam, but that he has come to tell them that he has had a perfectly normal coexistence with the religion of Muhammad, who he knows and respects; and that what’s more, he is a westerner. In other words, he will say that the United States is not the enemy. Better stated, at least under his mandate, he will not apply a hostile policy towards Islamic countries, as was evident during the term of George W. Bush. Bush was responsible for the illegal war against Iraq, the secret jails of the CIA and Guantanamo where Muslim prisoners were tortured, and above all the xenophobic paranoia that settled in the U.S. against anyone with an Arab appearance.

Obama has also not mistaken his choice of country: Egypt. It is not the country with the most Muslims (these are Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran or India), but it is the country most inhabited by the Arab race and the sentimental and cultural heart of a civilization that beats with force from Cairo (The Victorious, The Mother of All Cities). It is the country where Hosni Mubarak governs authoritatively – the first Islamic who dared to sign the peace treaty with Israel, and who has experience mediating the periodic Israeli-Palestinian crises.

For Washington, Mubarak is also a valuable ally because he keeps the expansion of radical Islamism at bay and fiercely pursues Al Qaeda terrorists and related groups.

We still have not heard what Obama has to say to the Muslims, but it would be a mistake to fall into the rhetoric of empty promises. It’s not enough to say “I am a friend.” It needs to be backed up by actions and, without a doubt, the most esteemed commitment would be a pledge that obligates Israel to permit a viable Palestine state, free of Jewish settlements and with a solution for Jerusalem that would be acceptable for both Israelis and Palestinians. The moment has arrived to draw closer to the Muslim people, leaving Osama Bin Laden and his followers no justification to claim that terrorism is the only way out.