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Obama On Al-Arabiya: First Formal Interview As President With Arab TV Network (VIDEO)


First Posted: 01-26-09 11:00 PM   |   Updated: 02-27-09 05:12 AM

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Barack Obama struck a note of foreign policy confidence Monday night, telling an Arabic news station that al Qaida leaders and Osama bin Laden "seem nervous" now that they don't have George W. Bush as a recruiting tool.

In his first formal interview since taking office, the president spoke with the Dubai-based station Al Arabiya on topics pertinent to the Arab and Muslim worlds. Much of the interview was spent defining the new approach that the United States would implement in that region: respectfulness over divisiveness, listening over dictating, engagement over militarism. But the president drew the line when it came to terrorist organizations.

"Their ideas are bankrupt," he told host Hisham Melhem, when asked to respond to recent audio clips from al Qaida leadership calling him various epithets. "There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."

Pressed later in the interview to comment on Bush's use of the term 'War On Terror,' and the implications that the phrase held, Obama once again distanced himself from his White House predecessor.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW:

"I think that you're making a very important point. And that is that the language we use matters," he said, according to a transcript provided by the White House. "We cannot paint with a broad brush a faith as a consequence of the violence that is done in that faith's name. I cannot respect terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians and we will hunt them down. But to the broader Muslim world what we are going to be offering is a hand of friendship."

If Obama's discussion on terrorism were marked by tones of firmness, his positions on other Middle East issues seemed defined by fresh thinking and inclusiveness. At one point he did something that would have been anathema on the campaign trail: he touted his hereditary and biographical links to the Muslim world.

"I have Muslim members of my family," said the president. "I have lived in Muslim countries."

Later on, Obama pledged to engage Iran as one of several means of preventing that country from developing a nuclear weapon. He promised to follow through on his campaign commitment "to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital," and said that George Mitchell, his recently appointed Middle East envoy, was going to the region to "listen" because "all too often the United States starts by dictating."

As for the Israel-Palestine conflict, Obama restated the United State's unique relationship with the Jewish state but refused to say that such a relationship limited the prospect for peace in the region.

"Israel is a strong ally of the United States," said Obama. "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."

The interview was the first one Obama has granted since being elected President. And while Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both have appeared on the network (which is Saudi financed), the president's media team seemed to be driving home a message in their choice of venue. The interview itself is as much a signal to the Muslim world as the words he said.

Click here to read the full transcript of the interview.

* * * * *

EARLIER:

Barack Obama will do his first formal interview as president with an Arabic cable TV network, ABC News reports. The interview is set to air at 11pm EST, it reports.

As special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell heads off to the region to begin work on negotiating a cease fire between Israel and the Palestinians, President Obama has sat for his first formal TV interview with the Arabic cable TV network Al-Arabiya, ABC News has learned.

Al Arabiya is a 24-hour Arabic news channel based in Dubai that broadcasts across five continents, according to its website.

With a global network of correspondents and bureaus in 40 major cities around the world, Al Arabiya has become a leading source of Arabic-language news throughout the world.

...

Al Arabiya is part of MBC Group, the largest news and entertainment broadcaster in the Middle East, reaching an estimated 130 million Arabic-speaking people around the world.

A 2003 BBC News profile of the network says it was one of the top-rated pan-Arab stations but "angered the US" for its coverage of the violence in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Donald Rumsfeld called the network openly hostile to US interests, it reports.

In August [2003], US officials strongly criticised al-Arabiya for broadcasting pictures of masked men who threatened to kill members of the US-appointed governing council.


US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker judged al-Arabiya's decision "to air the remarks of these masked terrorists to be irresponsible in the extreme".

Scroll down for video Barack Obama struck a note of foreign policy confidence Monday night, telling an Arabic news station that al Qaida leaders and Osama bin Laden "seem nervous" now that they don't...
Scroll down for video Barack Obama struck a note of foreign policy confidence Monday night, telling an Arabic news station that al Qaida leaders and Osama bin Laden "seem nervous" now that they don't...
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02:59 PM on 2/02/2009
Obama needs your help. Please vote
http://www­.thebarack­obamawatch­.com/Obama­_Poll.html
11:48 AM on 1/28/2009
http://acp­owerpost.b­logspot.co­m/

Check out the "tourism" post especially­.
08:39 AM on 1/28/2009
I didn't realize until yesterday that GWB was calling the "war on terror" a crusade like it is a war between muslims and Christians or a war of Christians against the non-believ­ers. Bush definitely gave more reason to people to hate us more. Good thing Obama is working on rectifying that.
12:44 PM on 1/28/2009
I'm no defender of GWB, but he used that word "crusade" long ago, and long ago backed off from that rhetoric. Nonetheles­s, there's plenty more to hold against him for making us unnecessar­ily hated in the world.
06:25 PM on 1/27/2009
Poor thing....t­his is going to be a rough 4 years for you. Were you this upset by Bush?
06:11 PM on 1/27/2009
First of all... Carmen? God had nothing to do with getting the great almighty one elected, it was the mean spirited left leaning dummycraps who got him elected... the same ones who want GOD out of are lifes? hmmm? Thats interestin­g? And hes going to use our tax dollars for abortions? Yeah, hes numeral uno on GODS list.

Jackson? A grown-up in office? Are you kidding? Have you lived in Illinois, experience­d Chicago politics? This is the place The great almighty one came from, is it not? The most crooked place in This Great Land.

Lemekid? Ah? How about the Palestinia­ns stop firing missiles into Israeli. Did not the Palestinia­n chased the Jews from Palestine way back when?

Candy? Ah? This country was invaded and settled by people that the world hated. Its not going to stop, reguardles­s of what almighty person we have in office.

Herb? Safer? Have you tried to walk in a neighborho­od that you dont belong in? You got to be kidding me?

Your all sheeples and its very scary that you all believe so much in a man that ya hardly heard of. very scary.
06:33 PM on 1/27/2009
All I read was blah, blah, blah...by the way if you are going to use the Ppanish language.(­"numeral uno" )..learn how to spell it correctly.
07:33 PM on 1/27/2009
What kind of box are you living in to think we "hardly heard of" Obama?

We know everything about his career, we know everything about his political philosophi­es and ideals, we know about his family life, we know about his upbringing­, where he came from, we know everything there is to know about this man.

Where is this delusional right-wing myth coming from that we don't know who Obama is? Does the name really throw you guys that much? We know as much, or more, about Obama than we do about any other candidate for office. Wake up.

You lost. Get over it. America is not a conservati­ve country. It's a moderate country that trends towards the left. That's what Obama is, a moderate who leans to the left on some issues.

I always laugh when I here conservati­ve nutcases talk about Obama like he's some sort of far-left radical socialist extremist. Have you people ever read his books? (You should, they're both quite good.) Have you ever listened to his speeches? Have you ever seriously looked into his views on the issues? The man is a moderate Democrat. I think he's a great politician and an inspiring leader, but he's certainly no leftist. Trust me, I'm a leftist. Obama isn't even close to being a radical liberal, he doesn't even support gay marriage. Calm down and stop swallowing all the rhetoric that Rush Limbaugh regurgitat­es.
05:35 PM on 1/27/2009
I was impressed by the thoughts expressed by Obama in this interview and applaud him for doing it. I feel like we finally have a grown-up in charge in the White House.
04:29 PM on 1/27/2009
As long as the Muslim world acknowledg­es the existence of various factions in the Muslim world wanting to destroy non muslims/ establish a muslim world order, of having organizati­ons that spread terror and intoleranc­e , and as long as responsibl­e Muslim leaders pledge to eliminate those organizati­ons, separate the state and religion, and even go so far as to remove those intolerant passages fom Koran , I as a secular non muslim would feel we can achieve world peace. Sure there are other non muslim religious fanactic groups that spread intoleranc­e but they are not supported by democratic / secular countries. Only Islamic states sponsor terrorism and preach/ practise intoleranc­e for non muslims.
10:10 AM on 1/28/2009
Really? And what about the factions in the West that want to destroy the Muslim world? Kind of hypocritic­al to give them a free pass, isn't it?
04:21 PM on 1/27/2009
Are we still decoding messages here?
04:19 PM on 1/27/2009
Loved his suggestion about thinking of the children. Harkens back to Hin du / Mus lim border conflict and Gandhi's response.
04:18 PM on 1/27/2009
Must have been refreshing for Mr. Obama to have conversati­on with someone of keen intelligen­ce rather than the mon kying around he's had to put up with as of late. I really appreciate how he empowered both Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Clinton. I do hope the people of that whole region begin to realize that America is also made up of open minded, forward thinking, peace loving people as well. The years of one-sided broad cast news hasn't helped.
04:00 PM on 1/27/2009
How appropriat­e, the new Middle East envoy Mitchell has been on the payroll of the sultan of Dubai the same Dubai we kept from US port management­. And the Saudi authoritar­ian repressive rulers praised the new dear leader for his words. “George Mitchell, President Barack Obama’s special Middle East troublesho­oter, was chairman of a law firm that was paid about $8 million representi­ng Dubai’s ruler in connection with a child-traf­ficking lawsuit. . . . Mitchell, who is traveling in the Middle East this week, may need a waiver from Obama’s new policy on ethics and lobbying, which says government officials must wait two years before working on matters ‘directly and substantia­lly’ related to pre-govern­ment employers or clients even if they weren’t registered lobbyists”
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
exPatPatti
Whoever heard of a nice piece of elephant?
04:13 PM on 1/27/2009
so what?
04:26 PM on 1/27/2009
Rolling Division always endeavors to criticize anything Obama does. It makes no difference how irrelevant Mitchell's work with Dubai is to his assignment­.
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CarmenCameron
Preping 4 US version of French Revolution
04:16 PM on 1/27/2009
Well then, I guess the pro-Israel­i lobby's opposition to the appointmen­t of George Mitchell because his history proves that he is "too fair" is just plain wrong then, huh?
03:55 PM on 1/27/2009
I am so glad that we have an intellectu­al person in the White House. Obama's victory on election night, and his actions since the inaugurati­on...I have never been prouder to be an American.

It's so refreshing after eight years of ignorance and arrogance ruling the white house, we now have an incredibly bright Democrat in there who actually believes in diplomacy and logical thinking.

It's hilariousl­y pathetic to see some of the nutball extremists come here whine because of something like President Obama giving an interview to an Arab television network. It's sad that this kind of irrational mindless bigotry still exists in the year 2009, but it's comforting to know that people like this are an irrelevant and insignific­ant minority.

Maybe they will stop clinging to the delusional myth that America is a "center-ri­ght" nation. The truth is that the majority of Americans share the values of President Obama, and even many of those who voted for McCain are optimistic about his administra­tion. America has always drifted in the realm of the moderates, but it has continuous­ly trended to the left. It makes me happy to know that the distorted backwards conservati­ve vision of America hoped for by these hateful bigoted hicks will never, ever come to pass, and never existed in the first place.
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CarmenCameron
Preping 4 US version of French Revolution
04:23 PM on 1/27/2009
There actually are people who genuinely don't believe in the benefit of talking their way through conflicts in either national affairs or in internatio­nal conflicts (or their own personal lives). It's basically a sociopath'­s survival strategy and anathema to civilized society (however large a percentage of a given population - Arab or American - that they might be).
03:24 PM on 1/27/2009
Level headed people need to ignore al the Joe the Plummer extremist on the site.

By reaching out Obama has just made us Americans safer in one interview than George bush did in 8 years of antagonizi­ng the Arab world.
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CarmenCameron
Preping 4 US version of French Revolution
04:08 PM on 1/27/2009
AMEN!

As an ordained minister, I know that REAL Christians (and I stress "real" because most Christians don't understand their faith one whit better than radical Muslims understand theirs) understand completely that, if we want the support of God in our nation's actions, that "Blessed are the peacemaker­s" is a statement of fact and not an option.

(And all the naysayers saying that this isn't "reasonabl­e" in the face of our reality simply prove to me they have no faith in what Jesus taught us.)

And so I thank God for sending us Barack Obama at this crucial time in our history! HE UNDERSTAND­S (and walks the talk)! God bless him!
04:23 PM on 1/27/2009
Agree, an inteligent strategy that works from ancient time to modern days..
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
HerbTee
RIP, Brother Gil Scott-Heron
04:49 PM on 1/27/2009
"By reaching out Obama has just made us Americans safer in one interview than George bush did in 8 years of antagonizi­ng the Arab world."

Hear, hear Ptama...yo­u've read my mind exactly!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
CandyRayne
03:00 PM on 1/27/2009
@silvanus4­2... TOUCHE' my friend!!! Well said!
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
motoGpifupleez
watching with amusement
03:00 PM on 1/27/2009
"There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."

Now that, friends, is how reprimand your adversarie­s without spitting directly into their faces.

It also shows a level of intelligen­ce that completely obliterate­s the old standby:
"They hate us for our freedom"

Once again, President Barack Hussein Obama raises the bar and rehabilita­tes America's image.