Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Thoughts on Obama’s Outreach to the Arab World

In an interview with AlArabiya.net POMED’s Director of Advocacy, Stephen McInerney highlighted the significance of Obama’s interview last week with Hisham Melhem. He explained how “this sends an important signal about the new administration and its desire to directly engage the people of the Middle East and the Muslim world. For too long the American administrations have focused too much on relationships with Arab governments rather than Arab people.”

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In an interview with AlArabiya.net POMED’s Director of Advocacy, Stephen McInerney highlighted the significance of Obama’s interview last week with Hisham Melhem. He explained how “this sends an important signal about the new administration and its desire to directly engage the people of the Middle East and the Muslim world. For too long the American administrations have focused too much on relationships with Arab governments rather than Arab people.”

On the other hand, David Satter from the Hudson Institute, has a different take. Arguing that the objective of such an interview is to undermine the appeal of al Qaeda, he feels that Obama’s remarks “concede the question of moral legitimacy [and]…attaches far too much importance to the mood of the Arab street, rendering U.S. policy dependent on their judgement rather than ours.”