Obama heralds ‘new era’ of US diplomacy

FEATURE

02/27/2009

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday heralded a new era of US engagement with the world, vowing to seek peace in the Middle East and step up the fight against extremism in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“In words and deeds, we are showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun,” Obama told a joint session of Congress, little more than a month after he took office.

“We know that America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America,” he told assembled lawmakers, members of his Cabinet and Supreme Court justices.

“We cannot shun the negotiating table, nor ignore the foes or forces that could do us harm. We are instead called to move forward with the sense of confidence and candor that serious times demand.”

Obama highlighted his appointment of Middle East envoy George Mitchell, saying his administration would “seek progress toward a secure and lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors.”

Mitchell, a former senator and architect of the Northern Ireland peace process, has already embarked on his second tour of the Middle East.

The envoy’s frenetic schedule marks a change from the previous administration of President George W. Bush, who did not actively engage in Middle East diplomacy until late in his tenure.

The Obama administration this week is also holding three-way talks with Afghanistan and Pakistan, hoping to chart out a new strategy to fight extremists in the region.

Obama has pledged to send another 17,000 troops to Afghanistan as the United States winds down its controversial troop presence in Iraq.

“With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat al-Qaeda and combat extremism,” Obama said.

“I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens half a world away.”

Obama, as one of his first acts, ordered shutting down the “war on terror” detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, a lightning rod for criticism both at home and abroad.

“I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists — because living our values doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger,” Obama said.

“That is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture,” Obama said to rousing applause.

Authorities this week transferred out of Guantanamo the first prisoner since Obama took over — Ethiopian-born British resident Binyam Mohamed, who alleged he had been “tortured in medieval ways” in his four-year-plus incarceration at the naval base in Cuba.

Obama was an early critic of Bush’s invasion of Iraq and is planning to shift the military’s focus to Afghanistan. The US military expects to pull combat troops out of major Iraqi cities by the end of June.

“I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war,” Obama said.

Saluting the service of the Armed Forces, Obama said he would increase the number of soldiers and Marines to ease the pressure on the stretched US military. AFP

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