On June 4, 2009, Barack Obama brought the vast promise of his young presidency to a stage at Cairo's Al-Azhar University for a much-heralded address to the Muslim world. In stirring language , Obama vowed "to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world." But as some commentators noted — and I noticed myself, sitting in that grand auditorium — Obama's Egyptian audience offered a surprisingly muted reaction to his speech, responding mostly with polite but quiet applause.
Perhaps it was a cultural thing. Or maybe it was an omen. One year later, Obama has made precious little progress toward his goal of improving America's standing in the Muslim world. A new Gallup survey of several Muslim-majority nations finds that in Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Egypt and the Palestinian territories, America still has a dismally low standing, one that ranges from approval in the mid-teens (among Palestinians) to 30% (in Algeria). (The lone happy exception among those surveyed is strategically inconsequential Mauritania.) Worse, after rising in mid-2009, perhaps on the early excitement around Obama's arrival and George W. Bush's departure, all those numbers have dropped again to roughly Bush-era levels. And in other crucial Muslim-majority nations not polled by Gallup, such as Turkey and Pakistan, there's scant evidence that America is held in much higher regard.
Meanwhile, the fire of radical Islamic hatred for America burns strong. That much is clear from the attempted terror attacks of Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Najibullah Zazi and the would
Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2010,© Bienvenu sur Babilown
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