Obama Pledges New Start with Muslims

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO OFFER? A SECOND HIT AT THE PINATA? I JUST DON'T GET ANY PART OF GIVING THEM A SECOND ANYTHING?!!


Obama Pledges New Start with Muslims

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 3:00 PM





WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama promised a new start with the Muslim world during his inauguration address on Tuesday.


"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," said Obama, who became the first black president of the United States.


Obama, a Christian, spent several years of his childhood in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world.


Under President George W. Bush, U.S. relations with Muslim nations often were tense, particularly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.


Many Muslims were particularly angered by the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the opening of a prison for foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, said Obama's words were an important signal of good will to Muslims in the United States as well as the rest of the world.


"I do believe it could undermine recruiting for al-Qaida," he told Reuters, because "their message depends on trying to demonize the United States as a country that is somehow hostile to Islam and the Muslim world."


Ellison said Obama's outreach would make it hard for al-Qaida to sustain its anti-American message.


Many Muslims are excited about Obama, he said.


"If you were to go to Damascus, or Cairo, or Jerusalem today, you could find an Obama tee shirt. People are excited about the possibilities for what this means around the globe."


The population of Ellison's district is 3 percent or 4 percent Muslim, he said. Since his election to Congress in 2006, another Muslim also has been voted in: Democrat Andre Carson of Indiana.






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