Washington: Pledging to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and interest with the Muslim world, US President Barack Obama has said Islamic nations should not consider America as their enemy.
In his first full presidential interview to a television channel in the Middle East, Obama attempted to present a humble and conciliatory face of the US to the Muslim world, where there is much resentment and animosity against America.
"I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries... My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that Americans are not your enemy," Obama told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television network, in a move that the
mainstream US media quickly termed as his public diplomacy.
"What I've said, and I think Hillary Clinton has expressed this in her confirmation, is that if we are looking at the region as a whole and communicating a message to the Arab and the Muslim world, that we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest, then I think that we can make significant progress," Obama said.
Expressing his determination to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, Obama said it is time for the US to listen and not dictate things.
Obama said he will also address the Muslim world directly in his first 100 days in office from the capital of an Islamic nation.
Obama said the ideas of al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri, who now seem to be nervous, are bankrupt.
"There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them," he said.
"In my inauguration speech, I spoke about: You will be judged on what you've built, not what you've destroyed. And what they've been doing is destroying things. And over time, I think the Muslim world has recognised that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction," Obama said.
"Now, my job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries," he said.
Referring to his stay in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, Obama said in his travels throughout the Muslim world, he had come to understand that regardless of faith all people "have certain common hopes and common dreams."
"What I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith -- and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers -- people all have certain common hopes and common dreams," he said.
And thus, his job, Obama said is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.
Conceding that America had made mistakes, Obama said he will try to restore the respect and partnership the US had with the Muslim world some decades back.
"We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But... America was not born a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that I think is going to be an
important task," Obama said.
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