Obama speech will try to heal rift with Muslims
* U.S. leader will talk about wars in Afghanistan, Iraq
* Palestinian-Israel conflict will be key feature
* Obama to try to reset relations between U.S. and Muslims
By Ross Colvin and David Alexander
RIYADH, June 4 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will try to heal a deep rift between the United States and the Muslim world in an address in Cairo on Thursday that will be crucial to his efforts to win the support of moderate Muslim countries.
Ostensibly his speech is aimed at the ummah, the more than 1-billion-strong global Muslim community, but his choice of Cairo underscores his focus on Muslims in the Middle East, where he faces some of his biggest foreign policy challenges.
Obama is seeking to build a coalition of moderate Muslim governments to support his efforts to revive stalled Middle East peace talks and help the United States curb Iran's nuclear programme, which Tehran says is to generate electricity but the West fears is a cover to build atomic weapons.
U.S. officials told reporters on Wednesday Obama would talk candidly and thoroughly about a range of issues that had "caused tensions between the United States and the Muslim world", and explain his policies toward Afghanistan and Iraq.
The address is part of a broader effort by Obama to rewrite U.S. foreign policy that under his predecessor George W. Bush alienated allies and fuelled a wave of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world, although the president said this week it would not be an apology for the Bush administration's policies.
Obama has vowed to chart a new path in U.S. relations with Muslims, offering ties based on "mutual interest and mutual respect", after the former Bush administration's campaign against terrorism, with its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, was seen by many Muslims as an assault on their faith.
Bush launched what he called a "war on terror" after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States by al Qaeda, whose leader, Osama bin Laden, sought to upstage Obama's speech in comments aired on Wednesday. Bin Laden said Obama had planted the seeds of "revenge and hatred" among Muslims with his support for a crackdown on Taliban strongholds in Pakistan.
ACTIONS NOT WORDS
Obama acknowledged this week that it would take more than a speech to reconcile the United States and the Muslim world.
"There has been a breach between America and the Islamic world and that breach has been years in the making. It will not be reversed in one speech, it is not going to be reversed perhaps in one administration," said senior Obama adviser David Axelrod on Wednesday.
Muslims agree. After watching Obama give his first presidential television interview to an Arab station in a speech in Turkey in April, they say the time for lofty rhetoric is over.
On Thursday, they want to hear the specifics of how he plans to change U.S. policy in the Muslim world that for years has emphasised military assistance to mostly authoritarian governments rather than development aid.
How well Obama's 45-minute speech is received will largely depend on what he says about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the issue the Muslim world cares most about. Muslims view the United States as uncritically pro-Israel.
When Obama steps on to the podium at Cairo University, he will face high expectations from many Muslims hoping to hear him flesh out his vision for achieving Palestinian statehood and take a tougher line with Israel, which has rebuffed his calls for a freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank.
"He will discuss in some detail his view on the conflict and what needs to be done to resolve it. He will discuss both what that means in terms of Israelis and Palestinians and the United States and the Arab states as well," his speech-writer, Ben Rhodes, told reporters on Wednesday.
Obama chose Cairo for his speech, aides said, because it was the heart of the Muslim world. His choice has not been without controversy.
Egyptian human rights activists and others fear it could be seen as an endorsement of long-serving President Hosni Mubarak, whose government has cracked down on opponents. Obama is due to hold talks with Mubarak before his speech.
* Palestinian-Israel conflict will be key feature
* Obama to try to reset relations between U.S. and Muslims
By Ross Colvin and David Alexander
RIYADH, June 4 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will try to heal a deep rift between the United States and the Muslim world in an address in Cairo on Thursday that will be crucial to his efforts to win the support of moderate Muslim countries.
Ostensibly his speech is aimed at the ummah, the more than 1-billion-strong global Muslim community, but his choice of Cairo underscores his focus on Muslims in the Middle East, where he faces some of his biggest foreign policy challenges.
Obama is seeking to build a coalition of moderate Muslim governments to support his efforts to revive stalled Middle East peace talks and help the United States curb Iran's nuclear programme, which Tehran says is to generate electricity but the West fears is a cover to build atomic weapons.
U.S. officials told reporters on Wednesday Obama would talk candidly and thoroughly about a range of issues that had "caused tensions between the United States and the Muslim world", and explain his policies toward Afghanistan and Iraq.
The address is part of a broader effort by Obama to rewrite U.S. foreign policy that under his predecessor George W. Bush alienated allies and fuelled a wave of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world, although the president said this week it would not be an apology for the Bush administration's policies.
Obama has vowed to chart a new path in U.S. relations with Muslims, offering ties based on "mutual interest and mutual respect", after the former Bush administration's campaign against terrorism, with its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, was seen by many Muslims as an assault on their faith.
Bush launched what he called a "war on terror" after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States by al Qaeda, whose leader, Osama bin Laden, sought to upstage Obama's speech in comments aired on Wednesday. Bin Laden said Obama had planted the seeds of "revenge and hatred" among Muslims with his support for a crackdown on Taliban strongholds in Pakistan.
ACTIONS NOT WORDS
Obama acknowledged this week that it would take more than a speech to reconcile the United States and the Muslim world.
"There has been a breach between America and the Islamic world and that breach has been years in the making. It will not be reversed in one speech, it is not going to be reversed perhaps in one administration," said senior Obama adviser David Axelrod on Wednesday.
Muslims agree. After watching Obama give his first presidential television interview to an Arab station in a speech in Turkey in April, they say the time for lofty rhetoric is over.
On Thursday, they want to hear the specifics of how he plans to change U.S. policy in the Muslim world that for years has emphasised military assistance to mostly authoritarian governments rather than development aid.
How well Obama's 45-minute speech is received will largely depend on what he says about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the issue the Muslim world cares most about. Muslims view the United States as uncritically pro-Israel.
When Obama steps on to the podium at Cairo University, he will face high expectations from many Muslims hoping to hear him flesh out his vision for achieving Palestinian statehood and take a tougher line with Israel, which has rebuffed his calls for a freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank.
"He will discuss in some detail his view on the conflict and what needs to be done to resolve it. He will discuss both what that means in terms of Israelis and Palestinians and the United States and the Arab states as well," his speech-writer, Ben Rhodes, told reporters on Wednesday.
Obama chose Cairo for his speech, aides said, because it was the heart of the Muslim world. His choice has not been without controversy.
Egyptian human rights activists and others fear it could be seen as an endorsement of long-serving President Hosni Mubarak, whose government has cracked down on opponents. Obama is due to hold talks with Mubarak before his speech.
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