Obama and the Middle East

Yesterday President Obama gave his first one on one interview. The reporter was not from Fox, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC or CSPAN. The reporter was Hisham Melhem, who works for
al-Arabiya TV, headquartered in Dubai, but evidently funded by backers in Saudi Arabia.

Needless to say this was a real coup and an indication that the Obama White House will be going to the foreign press to reach a more diverse audience with his message.

Obama stated that he had Muslim relatives in Kenya, that he had lived in the most Muslem populated country in the world (Indonesia) and that he felt all religions had a place in the world. The president stressed that the America's war on terror was against fanatical Islamic fundamentalist, not the majority of believers.

It will be interesting to see what effect the interview will have for the Muslim viewing public. Hopefully, Obama set the right tone and the majority will allow his Administration to pursue its goal towards a lasting Middle East peace.

Also heard from yesterday was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. Without mentioning President Obama's name, he stated that the USA needs to withdrawal all support of any kind from Israel and apologise to the Iranian people for all of the negative things this country has said about Iran.
Fat chance buddy!

Finally, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden let it be known that if the USA removed its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan immediately and destroyed Israel, that would be proof that the USA was a friend to the Muslim world.
Nothing like thinking you can dictate world policy from a cave somewhere in the middle of no where.

As time progresses we will see how the Obama Administration deals with the Middle East. Obama is to meet with Secretary of Defense Gates and the Joint Chiefs later today to no doubt discuss Iraq and Afghanistan and the preparedness of the USA military to continue war operations indefinitely. With the current financial situation just how much can be spent to arm and support our troops in combat?

Reports are that a new group has started trouble in Gaza and the Israeli military has reacted. George Mitchell was in Egypt yesterday and Israel today. This new outbreak could mean that he will not get to the West Bank or Gaza, what will that mean for any peace accord?

We will continue to wait and watch to see just what real changes the Obama Administration will bring to USA foreign policy.

Let's see if the Obama team is up to really bringing about a lasting peace.