An Update on President Obama's Mideast Visit

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sticking with me after that last post. It's always hairy dealing with subjects like that. You never know who will agree with you and who will react violently. These issues often lend themselves to fiery arguments that make great fodder for the news, rather than the kind of thoughtful talk that these issues deserve. But thanks for sticking with me. Anyway, today's matter will be a little more promising.

To start off, though, there some alarming news. In North Korea, two journalists from San Francisco, I think, were captured. They were charged with illegal entry into the country, and with an "unspecified grave crime" (don't know what that means, although in North Korea, just calling Kim Jong-il a "loser" would constitute a grave crime).

The Obama administration has said it will do whatever it has to not only to get the two journalists free, but also to keep North Korea from exporting missiles and other nuclear weaponry to other places. The North Korean government has said that any attempt to board their cargo ships and search would be considered "an act of war." Luckily, when it comes to the hostages, that American journalist that was captured in Iran has now been released and is back in the US. But this missile situation is eerily similar to the Missile Crisis of 1962. So stick with me here.

Anyway, on to some more heartening news. I presume you have all seen at least part of President Obama's speech on Middle East peace in Cairo. If you have not seen the speech, you can watch the whole thing here. So I will give an overview of the visit, and the speech.

This may not have been his best speech, but this is Barack Obama. It's nearly impossible to pick the best of his speeches. But I thought this was among the best. I thought he touched on all the notes that need to be touched on when it comes to the Mideast peace process. Addressing the Invasion of Iraq, laying out the new strategy for success in Afghanistan, addressing the plight of the Palestinian people, countering stereotypes of Arabs, Jews and Americans. Also, and these are the issues that need to be addressed in the Middle East, curbing extremism, advocating democracy, and promoting women's rights. These are all things which, in my outsider's view, are a crucial part to establishing peace.

The President started out by noting the significant, but largely unnoticed, contribution to America's history. He noted that tere are about 7,000,000 Muslims living in the United States. According to the speech, there is at least one mosque in every state in the Union(even Wyoming and Alaska?). He also noted that, following a Treaty from Morocco recognizing the US as a country, Thomas Jefferson kept a Qu'ran in his library. It was with this same Qur'an that the first Muslim to become a Congressman, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, was sworn in to his office. When I first watched it, I wasn't quite sure of it. Next day, when I was at Borders, I picked up a history book, and, sure enough, Jefferson had obtained a copy of the Qur'an, and kept it in his library.

Iwas very pleased to see that the President had gone into depth as much as he did on this. If you've been a reeder here with me, you'll know that I believe that this issue is one of great complexity. I noted in my post about the 2008-2009 Conflict in Gaza that I believe that both sides will have to make some concessions if we are to come together. This was the tone that I got from the speech in Cairo. The speech took place, first off, in a University in Cairo. This is indicative of Obama's emphasis on the younger generation as the best hope for peace.

This speech was similar in tone to the famous "A More Perfect Union" speech during last year's primary. When Jeremiah Wright's infamous "God Damn America" remarks inflamed tempers on both sides, then-Senator Obama gave an extensive speech addressing the sensitive issue of race, at the same time condemning Wright's remarks while not disowning Wright himself. Looking back, it was probably just the right tone to strike. I think we can all figure out if the speech worked for him.

So can this same tone, one that acknowledges rights and faults on both sides, and seeks unity over division, work when applied to an international context. Well, it's been a few days since the speech, so let's look at the reaction. The visit and the speech was received pretty well in the Muslim World. In Lebanon, there was an election the day after the speech. The polls indicated for weeks before that the hard-line, pro-Hezbollah faction would win. The day after, the more moderate, pro-US party won in an unexpected upset.

Joe Scarborough, a fomer Republican congressman from Florida and the host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, said, "Barack Obama could be the biggest challenge to Osama Bin Laden since he was being chased out of Torah Borah. This is a real threat to the continued expansion of Al-Qaeda." Scarborough is a key conservative voice at the moment.

Tellingly, at the same time that President Obama was speaking in Cairo, Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenant, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, each released audiotapes attacking the President and urging Muslims everywhere to battle the infidels and their allies. This is because Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other such groups offer no future to the people of the affected areas. They have only an extremist ideology and they use the despair of the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and beyond to build their membership, and forward this hateful ideology that leads nowhere.

If the United States offered to help build a stable future, which is what President Obama, and a key general (I forget what his name was) say needs to be done to succeed in Afghanistan, Al-Qeada would lose all their recruiting tools, they would lose their base, their mission would collapse. Hearteningly, in the Pakistani tribal areas, villagers have started to kick out Taliban warlords. Interestingly enough, most people in the Muslim world were listening, except for in Iran. It seems that the Iranian government jammed the communication lines so that people of Iran could not hear the speech, or the part that was addressed directly to Iran.

The next day, President Obama stopped in Germany. in the speech, Obama had repudiated those who denied the Holocaust, plainly stating it was wrong to do so (interestingly enough, some criticized him for denying the Holocaust). So, this day, last Friday, President Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust and the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1986, visited Buchenwald Concentration Camp (the video is available in three parts 1,2,3). The appearance was extremely moving. I was unable to watch it, or even read the remarks, without getting tears in my eyes. Listen to the remarks, or read them, and tell me if you were as moved by them as I was.

In conclusion, I would like to again offer my hope that the process of peace can begin now. I believe that people here in America, overin Germany, and in the Middle East, are increasingly tired of the other option and are ready. It feels profane to offer a quote from the orchestrator of that most evil thing in our history, Hermann Goering, whose ideas and methods are wholeheartedly detestable. But he did say something that is worth noting here.

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country and it is a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

This perpetrator of the greatest evil in human history understood that people are not born or given to violence and evil. It must be driven into them. Driven by cold, dark minds. Minds that are angry, alienated, and ultimately afraid. As Goering said, it is only when people believe that the other group is attacking that the leaders can move in, dehumanize the other group, and work their violence on the other. This has been seen everywhere from Germany to Kosovo to Rwanda to Sudan.

It is this that the President was trying to avoid with this visit to Cairo. It was appropriate that he, along with a man who survived that infinite nightmare and went on to become among the best advocates for peace, and with the current leader of Germany, now a peaceful and prosperous ally of the US, returned to pay tribute to this. Too few world leaders, in my mind, have taken this lesson to heart. One leader in particular, President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of Iran, denies that the event even happened. Mr. Ahmedinejad continues to promote such an inhuman attitude that builds walls between peoples and can ultimately leads to this pain. As we commemorate six words that shook the world 22 years ago this week, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," we all must again quote President Ronald Reagan and say, "Mr. Ahmedinejad, tear down these walls."

This is the Daily Reeder, Over&out.