By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : A former CIA analyst and a key adviser to Barack Obama on his Afghanistan-Pakistan policy has hailed the US president’s direct attack on “Al Qaeda’s argument for terror” calling it a key to the terrorist outfit’s defeat.
“One of the most important points Obama made in his speech today was to attack directly the narrative and ideology of Al Qaeda,” said Bruce Riedel now senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“For too long the war of ideas was ceded to Al Qaeda. By explaining his view of Islam, his vision of Arab-Israeli peace and other key issues the president took on Al Qaeda’s argument for terror,” he said in his first reaction to Obama’s highly anticipated address to the Muslim world.
“It is no accident Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri issued statements just before Obama spoke – they know the battle for the soul of Islam has now been joined and they are fighting back. The president is right to take on the enemies narrative as that is key to its defeat,” Riedel said.
Several other US experts also generally welcomed Obama’s speech, but said actions more than words would be needed to change perceptions of the US in the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world.
Stephen Grand, Fellow and Director, Project on US Relations with the Islamic World at the Brookings, called it a “masterful speech” but said it will be up to his administration to flesh out “a new beginning” with “tangible
policies and programmes that address the major conflicts roiling the Middle East region and creating divides between the American and Muslim peoples”.
“The president must also find a means of supporting change in Muslim majority societies that face profound crises of governance. Only time will tell if the United States can pursue policies vis-�-vis the Muslim world that live up to its values while at the same time advancing its interests,” he said.
Shibley Telhami, senior fellow, Saban Centre for Middle East Policy said: “In the end, it was an important forward step but it only raised higher expectations in Muslim-majority countries especially in the Middle East.
“The pressure will mount for moving beyond words on the core issues and emerging American credibility will be tested early.”
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])