By KUNA,
Kuwait : US President Barack Obama stressed Monday he will fulfill the promises he made during his presidential election campaign on improving US ties with the Muslim world.
In his first interview with an Arab television station, with Al-Arabiya, Obama told the Muslim world “Americans are not your enemy”.
“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 added.
“And my job 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. My job towards the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.
“We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as 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, ” he added.
Obama also stressed on the importance of the US-Israeli ties, saying “Now, Israel is a strong ally of the United States. They will not stop being a strong ally of the United States. And I will continue to believe that Israel’s security is paramount”.
“But, I also believe that there are Israelis who recognize that it is important to achieve peace. They will be willing to make sacrifices if the time is appropriate and if there is serious partnership on the other side,” he added.
He further said he thought it was possible to see a Palestinian state.
Obama said US troops are going to withdraw from Iraq “so that Iraqis can start taking more responsibility.” On the war against terrorism, he said “There are extremist organizations — whether Muslim or of any other faith in the past — that will use faith as a justification for violence. We cannot paint with a broad brush” based on the violence done with faith as pretext, he pointed out.
The US president emphasized that the US Administration will distinguish “between organizations like Al-Qaeda — that espouse violence, espouse terror, and act on it — and people who may disagree with my administration and certain actions, or may have a particular viewpoint in terms of how their countries should develop.” The US President further noted it was important to use all the tools of US power, including diplomacy and dialogue, in managing the relationship with Iran.
“The Iranian people are a great people, and Persian civilization is a great civilization,” he said.