I found this incredibly encouraging.
I think it
incredibly important to make overtures of friendship to the Muslim world. Many of these people are NOT our enemies. I refuse to categorise all Muslims as extremists who only want the downfall of the West: I think that is flat out wrong and not accurate at all. A perceived war between the West and the Muslim world only
encourages extremism. And, I would add, it is perfectly possible to criticize the West
without seeing it as the 'great Satan'.
I say this as one who is also sympathetic to Israel.
The crazies are out there and they are not going away. I hate al-Quaeda fundamentalism with all my heart. I detest everything the Taliban stand for: I loathe their ugly, misogynistic, violent religion and the way they cynically use that religion. I do
not automatically lump all Muslims in with the Taliban's perversion of Islam. The irony is that the West
enabled the Taliban to gain power because we ARMED these guys against the Soviet Union, back in 1979 and 1980.
Britain has a Muslim minority population of about 1 million. It is not in our interests to behave as if our fellow citizens are aliens within our midst. It is not in our interests to cultivate a culture of paranoia which would make another 7/7 possible (God forbid). And yes, of course I am thankful for the vigilance of our intelligence and security services. (And we don't want another needless tragedy like that of poor Charles Menenzes either.
)
So, yes, I think making friends within the Muslim world is a very important thing. There are those within the Muslim world who will hear and appreciate what President Obama was saying.