Obama in Cairo

When Barack Hussein Obama was asked why he stopped in Saudi Arabia before making his much anticipated keynote speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, he gave the following answer:

'I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty's counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East.'

This tells us an awful lot; it tells us that whilst playing peacemaker, Obama isn't really interested in peace. He is interested in how he can surrender whilst saving the most face and still having the opportunity to be elected for a second term. Who, serious about pursuing peace and freedom, would seek the counsel of one of the bloodiest despots the modern world has known?

What were we treated to when he got to Cairo?

The sight of Hillary Clinton, who merely a year and a half ago was apparently pushing the envelope for women's rights by attempting to become the first female President of the United States, simpering in a hijab.

The British media fawning over the sight of armed, masked Palestinian militants, the likes of which have been responsible for the deaths of countless innocents, watching Obama's speech on the television.

We were also, predictably, treated to apologies, lies, distortions and revisionist history, but we will come to the actual speech in a moment.

Obama apparently fancies himself as a peacemaker. Many feel that his vision is the way forward. The point which he is unable or unwilling to grasp is that you cannot make peace of any kind with those who wish to fight you, who are determined to cause you harm.

You can lay down your arms, plead and beg, refuse to hit back - but if your assailant is determined or aggrieved, it will simply not work. In the case of the clash between the West and the Muslim world, our deference makes many Muslims feel more aggrieved, not less - by admitting to mistakes we haven't made and apologising for things we haven't done, we only pour fuel on the fantasist flames of injustice.

For all Obama has done today, selling out his allies, apologising for the history and achievements of America and the West in general - Islam and many Muslims won't hate us any less. They will simply scent victory.

As Obama arrived in the Middle East, Osama bin Laden released an audio tape condemning him for sowing hatred in the Arab world, and urging all proper Muslims not to be fooled by his talk of peace.

That aside, you would think that a fortnight which has included a plot to bomb synagogues and shoot down military jets, plus the killing of an American soldier, all on American soil might make Obama think - America may not be at war with Islam, but many Muslims seem very much under the impression they're at war with America - even the American ones.

The speech was an elaboration on the one he made to the Turkish parliament back in April. I very much doubt anyone would want to sit through 55 minutes of it, but I will present the full video anyway:

A full transcript can be found here.

The speech itself is, quite simply, shameless. We get treated to a list of grievances the Muslim world has against the West at 'this time of tension' - but of course, no mention of Jihad, of Islamic expansion, piracy and slavery, no mention of the desecration of the sacred sites of other religions.

Of course, there is no mention at all of the gifts which Western civilisation has given the world.

Obama is also desperate to draw attention to his own links to Islam - with no mention at all of the silence such links received during the election campaign:

Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

This would presumably be the same dignity and peace which led to the Sears Tower plot, would it not?

We then are treated to a series of lies about the 'gifts' Islam has given our civilisation; almost all are based on half-truths and distortions. One of my favourite lines, however, is:

And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.

Oh yes. It certainly has. The idea that blacks are inferior, Jews and Christians apes and pigs who deserve second class status, Hindus and Buddhists must be destroyed - what a truly glorious set of tolerant values. You can still see those values in operation in places as diverse as Kosovo, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Sudan and Israel.

Not to mention nearly every major Western city!

I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognise my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, 'The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.'

Yes, it has always been part of America's story. Wasn't the U.S. Marine Corps founded to fight Muslim Barbary Pirates?

Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state of our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That is why the U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.

So let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America.

The freedom to oppress your wife or daughter. I'm sure that is exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

He goes on to insist that whilst Islam will be respected and tolerated, 'violent extremism' will be confronted at all costs, as well as highlighting how much money will be wasted in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Then we move on to the more interesting subject of Israel. Here the speech descends further into double standards, downright falsehoods and absurd moral equivalencies.

For a good breakdown, see this article from Jihad Watch. Needless to say, it's nothing that hasn't been said before - calling on the Palestinians to renounce violence and the Israelis to give up the more tangible prize of land and defences, without learning from history.

The speech goes on to Iran - Obama states that no nation has the right to decide whether or not another can have nuclear weapons.

For all the talk of peace at any price:

Obama made sure that Muslim Brotherhood members attended this speech. Yet the Brotherhood is dedicated, in its own words, to "eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."

He seems to desire the abject surrender of the West; Western leaders must 'educate' themselves about Islam (presumably not to the extent of Geert Wilders), we must open our countries up more to Muslim ideas and colonisation whilst prosecuting those who object or tell the truth, we must abandon our allies when it becomes a little tricky - and all Muslims have to do is bide their time and not be too blatant about their goals.