That is why Obama, in another speech at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara two months earlier, had felt the need to declare, “The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam.” The fact that he received much applause for those words was a testimony to the need for that simple truth to be affirmed.
At Cairo, speaking to a large audience, Obama said even more to reach out to the Muslim word. He quoted the historic words of the second U.S. president, John Adams, who avowed back in 1796, “The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.” Obama then noted the great contributions of the Islamic civilization to the Western one. “It was Islam,” he rightly said, “that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment.” He also reminded us that “Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.”
The speech had many other good points which makes it notable, if not inspiring, to read even after 15 years. However, it did not really initiate much of a “new beginning” between the United States and the Muslim world, as we can also see today.
One big reason for this is that the Obama administration simply did not deliver the peaceful era that it seemed to promise. Sure, the United States reduced its military presence in Iraq, but as observed in 2015 by Human Rights Watch, his tenure “has been one of disappointment for those who had hoped for a more consistently rights-respecting approach to combating terrorism.” His eight-year term was also marked by drone strikes, which killed 391 civilians in nations like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia. Western sources often mentioned these tragedies in passing, as unfortunate “collateral damage.” But for people who lost their families and children to rockets and bombs, and many others who felt their pain, such fancy military terms do not offer any solace.
Also, the Obama administration hardly delivered on one the promises of that Cairo speech: the “commitment… to governments that reflect the will of the people.” Instead, when the waves of the Arab Spring hit the shore in 2011, the Obama administration quickly reverted to a bad old Washington tradition: keep the authoritarian regimes in power, as long as they serve your interests. A private joke Obama made to his entourage in 2016 was probably telling enough. “All I need in the Middle East,” he reportedly said, “is a few smart autocrats.”
But looking back, none of these are probably more tragic than the stark gap between the promising comments Obama made in Cairo about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the horrific reality of today. In that speech, after reminding us of the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security, Obama had uttered these important words:
“Let there be no doubt: The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. And America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.”
This was added with another bold message: “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements,” and it was “time for these settlements to stop.”
In the real world, however, those settlements never stopped expanding, and Palestinians never got close to “dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.” Meanwhile, U.S. administrations wrongly assumed that Israel’s peace agreements with distant Arab nations would somehow magically render the plight of the Palestinians irrelevant. But instead, the inevitable resentment of the Palestinians, combined with the inexcusable militancy of Hamas and its ilk, erupted with the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023. Then, Israel’s ferocious response created one of the worst human tragedies of this century, sending shockwaves around the whole Muslim world.
So, today, there seems to be no good “new beginning” between the United States and the Muslim world. Instead, as I warned elsewhere, the United States is even losing Muslim liberals, who typically admire the United States’ values and prefer U.S. power to its alternatives in the world, such as China, Russia, or Iran.
This is not because U.S. values are just American—and others, especially Muslim societies, don’t get them—as some seem to believe. On that point, Obama was quite right in his Cairo speech, when he said:
“The ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. These are not just American ideas; they are human rights.”
Amen, I would say, as well as many other Muslims that I know. But those Muslims would not be sure, at best, whether U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East really helps advance these human rights. Many of them rather see the United States through the prism of diplomatic hypocrisies, military occupations, and deadly bombs—either by the United States itself or by its much-favored allies. And that ugly record very much overshadows the more beautiful America as the beacon of liberty and opportunity for all.
Perhaps the best route for all of us—the United States, the Middle East, and the broader Muslim world—is hinted by Thomas Jefferson, whom Obama also quoted in his Cairo speech: “I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be.” The past 15 years—and the past seven months—suggest that the United States has rather used too much power and did not achieve much greatness. The beginning of wisdom, therefore, could be finally considering doing the opposite.
