June 4, 2009
By Arsalan Iftikhar
Special to CNN
Editor’s Note: Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and contributing editor for Islamica magazine in Washington.
(CNN) Opening the Muslim-world leg of the “Audacity of Hope” world tour with the universal Islamic greeting “Assalamu alaikum” (May peace be with you) to thunderous applause, President Obama began his long-awaited major address by going straight to many of our pressing geopolitical issues.
He spoke from the hallowed halls of Cairo University in the heart of one of the largest Islamic capitals in the world.
From beginning to end, President Obama’s speech was a concert of enlightenment compared to President George W. Bush’s famous farewell news conference in the Muslim world (which resulted in two Iraqi size-10 shoes being boomeranged toward his head).
From the issues of violent Muslim extremism to the growth of the neo-racism known worldwide as Islamophobia; from Israel-Palestine to his overall Iraq and “Af-Pak” (Afghanistan-Pakistan) strategy, President Obama successfully used his Cairo speech to lay out his framework for several key foreign policy issues.
Additionally, with major sections of his address covering women’s rights, democratic reforms and nuclear weapons, President Obama devoted much of his 40-plus-minute speech to offering concrete and tangible policy initiatives that he plans to implement in the near future.
Continue Reading Arsalan’s June 2009 CNN Column Here…
