Seymour Hersh: Obama 'Only Hope' for US-Muslim Ties
The following piece is part of an ongoing series of OffTheBus reports by citizen policy experts critiquing different aspects of Campaign 08.
Barack Obama represents "the only hope for the US in the Muslim world," according to Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. Because Obama's father was a Muslim, he "could lead a reconciliation between the Muslim countries and the US." With any of the other candidates as president, Hersh said, "we're facing two or three decades of problems in the Mideast, with 1.2 billion Muslims."
Hersh, who writes for The New Yorker about the Bush Administration in Iraq and Iran, spoke to my history class at UC Irvine on Tuesday. In Obama's 2006 book The Audacity of Hope he wrote that his Kenyan father was "raised a Muslim," but says he was a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met. His parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced.
Of course if Obama did win the nomination, one can only imagine what the Republicans would do with the fact that his father was a Muslim. We've already had Mitt Romney smiling next to a campaign sign in South Carolina that said "No to Obama Osama."
Hersh did not hold out much hope for improved relations between the US and the Muslim world. "The only good news I can bring you is that tomorrow morning there will be one less day of the Bush presidency," he told an overflow crowd in a public lecture at UC Irvine. Bush "doesn't care about" his low standing in the polls, and as a result "he's going to keep going until 11:59 a.m. on January 20, 2009."
Even after Bush's term ends, "much of the damage is yet to come," Hersh said. "The problems for the next president may be intractable."
"They say the surge has worked," Hersh said. "But do you think someday we will get an oil deal in Iraq? They'll burn the fields first. We're hated in Iraq."
As for Afghanistan, "we became more of a threat to the people than Taliban," Hersh said. We're "losing the war there," he said, and concluded that "Afghanistan is a doomed society."
Hersh said he had just returned from Syria, where he was working on his next New Yorker piece, on the mysterious bombing carried out by the US and the Israelis. "The Syrians have a much longer-term perspective than we do," he said. "They say 'we've been here for 10,000 years; we're not going away.'"
As for the short term, Hersh said, "Cheney thinks war with Islam is inevitable, so we might as well have it now." Administration plans for bombing Iran call for targeting the Revolutionary Guards. Iran's response, Hersh said, is likely to be "asymmetrical" - instead of striking back directly at the US, they will "hit the oil" in the Gulf. The result will be oil prices of "$200 or $300 a barrel," double or triple the current price.
But will Bush bomb Iran? Hersh's answer: "How the hell should I know?"
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The Knights Templar were the Crusader's crusaders. The Pope and King Phillip the Fair of France took out the Order on Friday the 13th, accusing them of among other thinks - "understanding the Arabs. Phillip also coveted the lands of the Order - the high grounds in every major European city - and their gold.
A bridge was forming between East and West. The Knights Templar were impressed in some way with the Arab culture, its architecture, mathematics, and science.
Those in the Moslem world take the long view. Obama is a bridge-builder. Maybe his idea of reaching out to the right-wingers is crazy but he just might be able to bring these worlds - East and West together. White men have never been able to do it. Seymour Hersh probably has some experience and reasons in this area to come up with that concept. I have new found respect for Obama.
Dick Cheney won't be around for the fruits of his labor since his blood may clot (or mine may curdle). His solutions are are short-sighted and wrong-headed, if not self-interested. Even Dick Cheney cannot exterminate 1.4 billion people, so he had better learn to share the planet with the Muslim population - especially since he wants their oil.
Obama will be better for foreign policy period! That's just his personality, regardless of religion. I believe he can be persuasive with foreign leaders. That's his background, bringing together people with different goals and philosophies. He's able to see things from someone else's point of view. He's the opposite of Bush.
Um, why waste another copper penny on the
middle east? They have enough of our money
to do three laps around the planet and THEN
connect up to the other end of Stevans' 'bridge
to nowhere', so....I don't know what Barack
is selling, but I'd like to see Ron Paul.
I just read that Lou Dobbs, TV guy, is
running for office too, and Kucinich fully
has my support for bringing forward the
House resolution to impeach Dick Cheney.
If you really wanna end the oil war, then
you gotta not pick the candidates that'll
continue it. But, so far, I don't see
Obama running around with that kind of
message, and there's some kind of question
about some sort of real estate thing,
so, yeah, I'm sticking with Ron Paul,
let's have OUR Constitution upheld and
start having some of these foreign countries
show the Independent(wink wink, nudge nudge,
hint hint) initiative to start working
on their OWN civics instead of trying to
vote themselves into the United States.
Like Mexico wants to. 50 states, balanced
budget, hand up, not handout, pretty straightforward. If that means horses, not
cars, then start splitting fence rails...
While I agree that Obama would be well-suited to improve our image in the Islamic world, I don't think he is the only candidate who could do so despite my strong belief that, if he is elected, the moment he is inaugurated many people in the world will look at the U.S. in a new way. (Of Course, just getting W. out of there is a big positive in that area, among most others). I do think that while our next President can affect a big change in relations with certain governments and certain populations in the Muslim - and that is a necessary prerequisite to eventual victory in the so-called "war against terror" - the notion that he (or any candidate for that matter) will change the minds of people who have already become terrorists is naive. They are not amenable to negotiation and Obama himself has repeatedly recognized this.
I've been on the sitting on the fence regarding Hersh for some time now. He acts like he's trying to save the world from WWIII, but he also seems to be too insiderish and relies on some of the same fear tactics the beltway elite like to use, including Obama.
Now that Hersh has signalled support for one of the insider candidates, I'll know from now on where his boogity-boogity comes from.
Seymour Hersh, you are dead to me.
My father was aethiest, I'm Christian, it happens all the time. Many kids don't adopt the religion of their parents. But the fact that Obama has Muslim ties through his ancestry is a good thing. After all, we live in a country where people of many religions exist, so having one or two or three up in dealing with people in your own backyard and around the world is absolutely a plus. It is only the jealous Obama haters who will try to turn this into a negative, which they already have been trying to do, with Mitt Romney, a supposedly American, and running for president of the U.S., leading the pack of lies about Obama. But Obama would certainly reach across more divides than the Mormon Romney or any of the other candidates.
Hersh doesn't care how ridiculous the things he says are as long as it gets him in the headlines. This is almost a new low for him.
Does he really think Muslims are so stupid that having somebody in the White House whose father was a Muslim will make them suddenly love us and do what we want them to do? They'll be judging any US president by his actions, not his family background.
If anything, I'd be worried about Obama over-compensating to prove that he won't show favoritism. Every new US president gets a reality check when world events overtake his campaign speeches. That will be the real test of Obama or anybody else.
Hersh's inflammatory, dubiously-sourced articles are a disgrace to The New Yorker. It's about time they dumped him.
I see the only way to peaceful relationships in the Middle East, respect from around the world is to Hand Bush, Chenney, Wolfowitz, and the bunch over to the Hague. Allow them to prosecute and convict for crimes against humanity.
Then We The People can ask the world for forgiveness and demonstate that those calling the shots legally or illegally are not the American people by and large. For those that believed the president's lies and supported this mass murdering, counceling to undo the brainwashing.
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Obama lose his favorite son status in Kenya based upon his Bush-style cowboy diplomacy telling Kenyans how to live right???
"Kenya has stepped up criticism of US Senator Barack Obama, seen here on 28 August 2006, accusing him of insulting the Kenyan people and trivializing their achievements during a visit to his father's homeland."
C'mon, I like Seymour Hersh, but he is flat out wrong on this one. What we need is a candidate with a substantial amount of foreign policy experience. I'm sorry, Obama's problem in Kenya is is a MAJOR red-flag that he doesn't have enough foreign policy experience to mend fences in the Middle East.
Source: Topix.com (Critical Obama loses 'favorite son' status in Kenya, Forum:Nairobi, Kenya, Aug 31, 2006)
http://www
How many Muslim countries choose (Muslims choosing is an oxymoron) their governments to please the U.S.? Even if Hersh is right, why should we please a president to please Muslim countries?
Zawahiri doesn't want to be friends with us. Dinnerjacket doesn't want to be friends with us. Hezballah doesn't want to be friend with us. Obama or not.
Hersh is bent on groveling before Islam for peace, and he's welcome to do that... Most Americans will fight when a fight has been picked.
Submission. Now that's a bit of a problem...
"But do you think someday we will get an oil deal in Iraq?"
Do you think we SHOULD get an oil deal in Iraq, after what we have done to their country? after we tried to STEAL their oil. And, oh yes, it is not over. We are still there in Iraq trying to steal their oil.
USA OUT of IRAQ NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
No, Obama is not our only hope for better relations with the Muslim world. Our real hope is for American leadership that is fair and respectful in its dealings with the Middle East and does not base policy simply on an imperial hegemonic dominance of the region's peoples and resources. We need to start doing the right thing. We need to stop bullying and stealing.
No doubt he's the only candidate with the cred and the diplomacy chops to bring some peace to the mid-east. And I agree, he should be more aggressive in articulating this. But, his main focus right now is finishing strong in IA, NH and SC...I don't these folks are overly concerend about bringing harmony in the mid-east, even though what's happening over there is directly and negatively impacting theie lives...G'
Global statement that can easily be contested no. 1:
Most people don't really consider the challenges of a modern campaign --not only staying on top of false accusations and unfair characterizations but to be ahead of the game and carefully time your position statements so to maximize impact. (Jackson-Jefferson event last Saturday.)
In this regard Obama measures up as an exceedingly ethical and principled human being. He is doing well considering the B.S. that is flying around on major media.
The country is in bad shape, bu9600, because someone fell asleep during the seventies, eighties and nineties and didn't particpate in politics.
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