Obama in Cairo

Barack Obama wasn’t there for a routine visit. He didn’t go to Cairo, one of the most prestigious metropoles of the Middle East, to throw out the globe-trotting diplomat’s usual pleasantries. For his visit to Cairo this June 4th, the American president had the intention of developing one of the fundamental axes of his foreign policy. His speech at Cairo University was, then, a major political act.

It was the third time since his election that the Democrat has spoken to the Islamic world; there was, just before his inauguration, the interview given to the Al-Arabiya network, then his visit to Ankara in mid-April. Each time, there was a single concern, a single goal: to promulgate a fresh image of America. The issue is strategic. Mr. Obama estimates that one of the keys to the present geopolitical situation concerns two images: the one that the Islamic world has of the USA and the one that the Americans have of Islam.

The president has his work cut out for him. The Bush administration gave the impression that it was reacting to the September 11th attacks in demonizing Islam. From the Iraqi prison Abu Ghirab to the cells of Guantanamo, and its attitude on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it upheld the image of an America at war with Islam. Whatever its intentions, the Bush administration thus fed militant Islam, which thrives on the idea of a “clash of civilizations” against the West, primarily represented by the America.

In Cairo, as during his two preceding speeches, Mr. Obama shot down the caricature representations of Islam and denounced the common stereotypes of Muslims. He did so, all the while critiquing the stereotypes of the USA upheld by the Islamic world. He spoke of breaking “a cycle of suspicion and discord” and seeking “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect, and on the idea that America and Islam are not exclusive.” This involves a new foreign policy in the Middle East, concerning Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, yet to be put into motion. It also involves words, those which allow us to leave behind reciprocal prejudices and preconceived notions. Mr. Obama has found them.