Cairo: One year later

One year ago this month, President Obama addressed the "Muslim world" from Cairo, Egypt. Some saw that speech as unnecessary groveling. Critics---and I am among them---think such displays communicate weakness and only encourage those who wish to damage our economy and kill our people. Supporters of the president's speech think he did the right thing and that his attempt to reduce tensions between the U.S. and Muslim world can only bring positive results.

National Public Radio recalled the Cairo speech with two Muslim guests, Reza Aslan, author of Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization, and Ahdaf Soueif, an Egyptian novelist and political commentator. Neither saw the speech as having made any difference. Both incorrectly centered the problem between the U.S. and the "Muslim world" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This serves as a distraction from much larger problems in the Middle East that have to do with suppression of women's rights, intolerance of any religion except Islam, and dictatorships.

Mr. Aslan called the president's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian problem "disastrous," but that usually means the president has not succeeded in forcing Israel to make more unilateral concessions.

Ms. Soueif expressed the paranoia one often sees in that region of the world when she claimed, "There is no way that the U.S. administration now would really like to see a democratic Egypt because a democratic Egypt could not toe the line with regard to American policies concerning Israel and with regard to Israeli policies in the region." This depends on what one means by "democratic." Too often in that region, the first election can be the last election.

While this post-Cairo analysis was taking place, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued building nuclear weapons with the clear intent of obliterating Israel. President Obama's outstretched hand toward Iran has not and cannot work because Ahmadinejad is a true believer in the worst sense of that word and has no intention of compromising with "infidels."

Having sponsored a flotilla of boats containing activists with ties to known terrorist groups, Turkey, a member of NATO, appears intent on embracing Islamic radicalism. It is hosting this week in Istanbul a summit featuring several Asian leaders the goal of which is to, "increase security and trust on the continent." Ahmadinejad, Palestinian Authority Leader Mahmud Abbas, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are among the participants. Not many in the West would feel secure around, let alone trust, this bunch. Separately, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited a Hezbollah leader from Lebanon.

London's Daily Telegraph reported last week that British security services are concerned that a new generation of British extremists is being radicalized by Anwar al-Awlaki, the al-Qaeda preacher born in America but hiding in Yemen, from which he has inspired the accused Fort Hood shooter, the Christmas Day bomber, and the Times Square bombers. British security is concerned that Awlaki's followers might unleash a wave of guerilla-style terrorist attacks, similar to the Mumbai massacre.

In the United States, the construction of mosques continues rapidly. There is already one major mosque operating in Manhattan, another in Brooklyn, and another has been approved for construction adjacent to the location of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001 by people who claimed to be acting in the name of their god. Last week, several hundred people packed a Staten Island civic association meeting to oppose plans to convert a Roman Catholic convent into a mosque.

According to The New York Times, protests against construction of mosques have also occurred in Brentwood, Tenn.; Sheboygan, Wis.; and Dayton, Ohio. No reciprocal rights have been granted to Jews and Christians to build synagogues and churches in Muslim countries, nor has President Obama called for such reciprocity.

A year after the president's Cairo speech, there is no evidence anything has changed. Radical Muslims are intent on changing us and they will not stop until they've reached their objective.

© 2010 Tribune Media Services Inc.