Few speeches in recent history have been as widely anticipated as the June 4 address of U.S. President Barack Obama to the Muslim world. The speech, delivered in Cairo, was the high point of a four-nation trip to the Middle East and Europe. The speech is intended to signal a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims." But it will take far more than words, no matter how sincerely felt or well delivered, to reset relations between the U.S. and the billions of Muslims who view it with deep-rooted suspicion.
While it is tempting to see the rift between the U.S and the Muslim world as an outgrowth of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it long predates that horrific day. Some Muslims consider U.S. values a challenge to or repudiation of their religion; the heavy hand of Christian fundamentalism that weighs upon U.S. politics contributes to their sense of alienation. Others are angered by U.S. support for Israel and a seeming indifference to the sufferings of Palestinians (many of whom are Muslims, but some of whom are not). Some resent U.S. support for autocratic Middle Eastern leaders who repress Islamic movements. Compounding all those irritants is frustration and loss of status. Muslims remember how they were for centuries the leading edge of modernity; today most of the Islamic world lags the West. That is an enduring source of shame and anger.
Sept. 11 compounded the pain. Few in the West, especially in the U.S., were ready or able to separate the guilty from the innocent. All Muslims were tarred with the stain of extremism. American anger was intensified by scattered applause for the humbling of the U.S. and the failure of many Islamic leaders to unambiguously condemn the terrorists. Talk of "legitimate grievances" widened the gulf between the U.S. and the Muslim world.