Obama's speech in Egypt will seek to mend fences

[Leafless]

U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver a much anticipated speech to the Muslim world in Egypt next month, seeking to repair ties that were severely damaged under his predecessor George W. Bush.

Many Arab and Muslim nations were angered by the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo, abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Bush's initial reluctance to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice gave a major policy speech in Egypt in 2005 at a time when U.S. popularity was seriously dented by the Iraq war.

Rice's speech was part of the Bush administration's "democracy agenda." She urged reforms across the region, specifically targeting her host, which drew anger from Cairo. However, the new U.S. administration has dropped the previous government's focus on building democracy and Obama's speech will likely be more conciliatory.

The Muslim world will be watching to see his approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Most Muslims believed Bush's policies were biased in favour of Israel.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Obama+sp...8820/story.html

What can President Obama possibly say without undermining U.S./Western values and counter the fact that, YES, the U.S. did take oppressed Israel under it's wing from Arab/Muslim aggression.

This should be interesting.

[Borg]

Seems to me the potential for weakening fences will be rather high

Borg

[Guest George]

I agree with you!