Obama, in Cairo:
As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam – at places like Al-Azhar University – that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation.
So far, so good (though I’ve never seen much evidence that he’s really a “student of history”). But this next seems like a stretch:
And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.
Note that he provides no examples of this, and the world abounds with counterexamples to the proposition. For example, I always find it either amusing or appalling that African-Americans who embrace the religion don’t understand that it was Arab traders (Muslims) who sold their ancestors into slavery to the Europeans.
This next bit is even more amazing, though:
I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America’s story. The first nation to recognize 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.” And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our Universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library.
Now, when I see the words “Islam has always been a part of America’s story,” and “Tripoli,” the Treaty of Tripoli is not the first thing that comes to mind. What comes to mind is the Marine Corps anthem, which talks about “the shores of Tripoli.” Because that was the first foreign war in which we engaged after gaining our independence and becoming a constitutional republic — a war against Muslims resulting from their continual piracy and kidnapping of American sailors. And of course, they didn’t restrict their kidnapping to ships at sea — many people (and many women and children) were plucked from the shores of Europe and the British Isles, and sold into slavery. By Muslims. They were equal-opportunity slavers, enslaving both blacks and whites. Perhaps this is what Obama meant by their promotion of “racial equality.”
Anyway, anyone familiar with the actual history of relations between the young United States and the Barbary Pirates would be astonished to read the above paragraph coming from a supposed “student of history.”
Now, I’m not saying that he should have peeled that particular scab off the old wound– just that it’s bizarre to talk about our early relations with Islam without mentioning it. It would have been better to simply avoid discussing that particular period in history at all.
I guess that this must be a result of studying history in the US public school system. Maybe he should have gotten vouchers.
And of course, there is nothing particularly Islamic about wearing a “hijab.” It’s a recent fashion (and part of the religion’s long-time subjugation of women). I hope that he doesn’t plan to have the US government defend the right to cover the face for driver’s license photos, or to not require Muslim nurses to wash their hands before and during surgery, as has occurred in the UK.
What is annoying about this speech (even ignoring the utter whitewashing of the history of Islam), is that he’s once again, or still (though more subtly this time) running against George Bush, with the implication that Bush was at war with Islam, regardless of the painstaking politically correct steps he took to avoid that impression, to the point of having the FBI coordinate and cooperate with the terrorist-sponsoring organization, CAIR. This speech was unnecessary, at least as far as healing our relations with Islam or the world. But it will help reinforce domestically the false history from this “student of history” that the war (when they’re willing to admit that we are at war) is all Bush’s fault.
I’ll probably talk about the section on Israel and the “Palestinians” in another post, when I find time.
[Update a while later]
It’s worth noting, as it is in comments, that the Treaty of Tripoli was one of several, and basically a negotiation of how much tribute should be paid by the US to the Barbary Coast for a guarantee of unhindered passage by American ships through the Mediterranean and near Atlantic, after the loss of protection by first the British and later the French navies. It was basically a formalized extortion racket, which eventually (and it didn’t take long) broke down and resulted in the young US raising a Navy and engaging in the Barbary Wars, to avoid further tribute. Again, it seems a tender issue to raise in a speech addressed to Muslims.
[Update early afternoon]
Andy McCarthy has similar thoughts.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Platitudes and naivete. Robert Spencer dissects. Of course “platitudes and naivete” is a pretty good description of any Obama speech, so it doesn’t really distinguish this one.
I guess that this must be a result of studying history in the US public school system. Maybe he should have gotten vouchers.
That is coffee spewing funny Rand. Tragic, but still funny.
Note also how the student of history conveniently sidesteps the fact that the Treaty of Tripoli was a demand for tribute, and instead concentrates, as a shallow bloviator would, on some bland boilerplate completely tangential to the point of the Treaty.
A tangential but eyebrow-raising side issue: I couldn’t quite believe the claim about nurses, since frequent washing is part of Muslim practice. This isn’t a great source, but it is a start: http://richarddawkins.net/article,2213,-Female-Muslim-medics-disobey-hygiene-rules,UK-Telegraph
The problem apparently isn’t washing per se, but baring your arms in public. Seems like a misinterpretation (after all, a patient has to immodestly bare herself, and doctors will do emergency work on the Sabbath, and so on) but I liked the suggestion that forearm-length sterile gloves might be acceptable to everyone — if it is just as safe for the patients, this is a nice example of modern technology solving problems by changing the game.
That’s weird. If I were an educated Muslim, I’d read that as “we’ve been kicking your ass since the founding of our nation.”
Bush didn’t invent the problems we have in the region. The 9/11 attack wasn’t aimed at him, it was aimed at the U.S. As were all the other attacks. Giving bin Laden or Ahmadinejad a hug isn’t going to solve our troubles. Frankly, I think this overemphasis on the region is a bad sign, especially when it’s clear that Obama, like Bush and Clinton, sees the Middle East as a problem to be solved and has the arrogance to believe that he can do it. There is a problem there, but we’re not the solution. In fact, I think we should stop meddling so much.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Old Man Bush, but there’s something significant, I think, in the fact that we’ve had three presidents in a row who were quite young, historically speaking. Bush was more young in attitude than in biological age, of course, but the lack of wisdom in these three is a big part of our troubles in foreign policy.
As always, one should ask “Who is the intended audience? Who is the actual audience?”
I wonder how much of this speech was broadcast via translation into Arabic and Farsi into the homes of Ma and Pa Sharif?
Let’s see as a student of history (I was a history major) I can tell you that Obama is wrong on several counts. First Morocco was the second nation to recognize American Independence. France was the first. The Bey of morocco did this because his advisor told him the american religion was the closest thing to Islam (gotta love the Puritans). Second, the treaty of Tripoli was signed because immediately after Americans gained independence, Tripoli declared war stating that without a treaty they were in a state of war (as Islam dictates). Third the treaty was indeed bribary. They wanted a new boat laden with things like american pine masts for their ships and tar and sails. we sent the boat, it sank twice en route which is why Tripoli declared war on us. We must remember that one of the most embarrassing incidents of american history came from the barbary rulers of Algeria, who demanded we loan them the US frigate George Washington to them to carry their tribute to the ottomans.
Excellent points, Tyger. I was thinking the same thing about France. Any halfway decent student of history ought to know that France not only assisted with the American Revolution but also that Franklin and Jefferson (and others) spent a lot of time in Paris, lobbying the French on behalf of American interests.
I thought France as well. And sadly, that’s Obama’s destination for the weekend as part of D-Day remembrance. I’m sure Sarkozy will be happy to teach him a little about early American history and France’s role in it, as Sarkozy taught Congress.
Well, my understanding of the Treaty of Tripoli was that the British had been paying tribute (cheaper than war) and we were no longer covered under their tribute. (The French were irrelevant to the deal).
Of course, I think misses the real point – if you’re going to ask somebody to work with you, reminding them of past grievances is probably not a good idea.
Obama is the leader of the world’s strongest nation, with the globe’s biggest economy. Obama leads the country possessing the intellectual spark plug of the world’s science, technology, and medical advances.
Mr. Obama has been in office long enough for smart people to get the gist of what he is about. This speech is just a further unfolding of this man who — despite two autobiographies to cover a still short live — holds his personal beliefs and aims close to his vest.
In other words, the gig is up, the man is coming out of the closet bit by bit. If you have any sense at all, by now you will be converting assets to hard currency and trade items, and stocking up on food and drink. Fine distilled spirits will become particularly valuable.
Think of manufactured items that depend upon an intact economic, manufacturing, and transportation network for their supply. These things will grow more valuable as the underlying infrastructure degrades under the One.
Obama obviously mentioned Tripoli to set up the Adams quote, which asserts that since its earliest days the U.S. has had no official grudge against Islam. This sets us apart from other Western nations, whose state-sponsored Christian churches had gone to war against Islam as a religion, not just against pirates who happened to be Muslim.
I don’t see why this is considered amazing at all in the context of a speech that is arguing we have no beef with Islam, just with criminals/pirates/terrorists.
I guess that this must be a result of studying history in the US public school system.
Seeing as he never attended U.S. public school, I’d say your guess is wrong.
Yes, he probably learned it at the madrassa in Indonesia.
Yes, he probably learned it at the madrassa in Indonesia.
He didn’t attend one of those either; please try again. Eventually you’ll insult Punahou School (the only school in the world to educate both a future president of the U.S. and a future president of China), and (despite being married to a Punahou alum) I have no problem with that :).
Actually, he probably learned it at Harvard. That’s why he refused to release his transcripts… 😉
Ha! That was funny! The wikipedia article on Punhou was impressive — how many schools have an asteroid named after them? Plus I learned about the USS Chung-Hoon (named after a Punhou grad who became a WWII Admiral). Given its name, I like how the Navy sent it to guard an unarmed US spy ship after the ship was harassed by Chinese ships two months ago.
pirates who happened to be Muslim
A tree is known by it’s fruits. In this case, it’s roots.
A tree is known by it’s fruits. In this case, it’s roots.
So in your reality is there such a thing as a good muslim? Obama went to Cairo to tell muslims that the U.S. is not at war with Islam; do you think we should be?
I find it amusing that Jim is reduced to straw men, and seems to have conceded that Obama doesn’t know much about American (or other) history, and is reduced to arguing about just where it was that he mislearned it.
Given that Obama reads whatever is on his teleprompter, I’m not sure we know anything about his knowledge of history. The key datapoint we are missing is this: Did he think as he read it, “Well, that’s not how I learned it”, or maybe, “a bit of a stretch, but it makes my point”?
I don’t think we can tell what Obama is thinking or what he knows by listening to his speeches.
Yours,
Tom
Nor can we tell what he is thinking by what he does. In fact, we can’t tell anything at all — the perfect postmodern President.
I don’t think we can tell what Obama is thinking or what he knows by listening to his speeches.
Do you mean to imply that the first time President Obama sees his speeches is when they appear on the TOTUS live? I suppose that’s possible, but it’s not the way I’d do it…
Jim – Yes, there is such a thing as being a good Muslim. It involves being at room temperature, or spread over several square miles, or both.
Do you mean to imply that the first time President Obama sees his speeches is when they appear on the TOTUS live?
Yes I do. Not because I think it’s true. Because I think it’s funny.
Yours,
Tom
I find it amusing that Jim is reduced to straw men, and seems to have conceded that Obama doesn’t know much about American (or other) history
I concede no such thing. Your post does not point out a single error of fact in Obama’s speech. You seem to have a problem with him talking about different facts than the ones you would talk about in his place; I for one am glad it was him speaking.
But on the subject of ignorance, you’ve twice stated that Obama was educated in places where, in fact, he wasn’t. Do you concede that you don’t know much about where Obama was educated?
Jim – Yes, there is such a thing as being a good Muslim. It involves being at room temperature, or spread over several square miles, or both.
And I wonder why some Muslims are concerned about anti-Muslim bigotry.
> the only school in the world to educate both a future president of the U.S. and a future president of China
Hard to be sure about that, unless you are clairvoyant. 😉
akshully on the subject of hijab I had several Egyptians that I worked with at the time blame it on the depradations of the Ottomans during their rule. IOW hide your women so the Turks don’t see them…
Your post does not point out a single error of fact in Obama’s speech.
For starters, Morocco was not the first nation to recognize the US. But please, continue sawing off the limb.
You seem to have a problem with him talking about different facts than the ones you would talk about in his place
I have a problem with him bowdlerizing and whitewashing history, and making himself look like a fool to those who are actually familiar with it.
Do you concede that you don’t know much about where Obama was educated?
I concede that I was making jokes about where and how poorly he was educated, which apparently you are too immune to humor to get.
” . . .won Nobel Prizes. . .”
Off the top of my head (and perhaps somebody could correct me) the only putative Muslim to receive a Nobel Prize was Albert Camus, and is so identified only because he was born in Ageria. My understanding is that not only did he not adhere to Islam, he (like his sometime associate Sartre) was an atheist.
For starters, Morocco was not the first nation to recognize the US.
Says who?
For starters, Morocco was not the first nation to recognize the US.
Says who?
says me. I wrote my senior thesis on the barbary wars. France was first. Morocco was second.
Then there is the Adams quote. We might want to remember also then what his son (a former secretary of state) thought:
John Quincy Adams who wrote in 1829:
“The precept of the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God. The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet, may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike, by fraud, or by force”.
or how about
Alexis de Tocqueville:
“I studied the Kuran a great deal … I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammed. As far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world, and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion infinitely more to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself.”
or maybe
Gregory Palamus of Thessalonica, 1354:
“For these impious people, hated by God and infamous, boast of having got the better of the Romans by their love of God…they live by the bow, the sword and debauchery, finding pleasure in taking slaves, devoting themselves to murder, pillage, spoil…and not only do they commit these crimes, but even — what an aberration — they believe that God approves of them. This is what I think of them, now that I know precisely about their way of life.”.
People really don’t remember history. On Dec 17 1777 after news of the victory at Saratoga, the French recognized American independence. on Dec. 20 1777 the ruler of Morocco gave instructions that ships hoisting the American flag should be allowed to enter harbor, in effect recognizing American independence. People who claim that Morocco was first do so on the basis that Franklin didn’t hammer out the details of French involvement in the American Revolution until early 1778. France was first. Morocco was second.
It was basically a formalized extortion racket, which eventually (and it didn’t take long) broke down and resulted in the young US raising a Navy and engaging in the Barbary Wars, to avoid further tribute. Again, it seems a tender issue to raise in a speech addressed to Muslims.
Actually, though this is wrong. They declared war on us because the ship we promised them sank twice on the way there. We were still paying tribute (and a lot more of it) to Tunis and Algiers. Tripoli was the smallest Barbary state. The quotation that is often wrongly attributed is “millions in defense but not a pound in tribute” actually came from the XYZ scandal with France. Jefferson actually offered the Bey of Tripoli $10,000 out of his own pocket not to go to war. The Bey refused and we fell into a war with them. I believe we continued paying Algiers until 1829 but that’s off the top of my head.
Rand:
Punahou, which BHO attended from 5-12 grade, is a private school.
Jim:
Your post does not point out a single error of fact in Obama’s speech.
How about the fact that (a) Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, not 1796, and (b) the quote is not from John Adams at all — it is part of the text of the Treaty. Article 11 states, “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext, arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony between the two countries.”
This repudiation of Christianity was language forced on us by the Pasha of Tripoli. I have no doubt that the significance of Obama bringing up Adams’ kowtowing will not be lost on the Muslim dictators to whom he would like the U.S. to bow. Meanwhile, the meaning of Tripoli to most American schoolchildren is the happy ending wrought by the next Administration. Jefferson, unlike Adams, believed in peace through strength….
BBB
Punahou, which BHO attended from 5-12 grade, is a private school.
Yes, as I said, it was a joke, but one apparently lost on “Jim.”
Bruce,
The following is a chronological list of 10 Nobel Laureates from Muslim-majority countries: 3 hard science, 3 Literature, 4 Peace. Except for Camus, all are, so far as I can tell, Muslims.
Albert Camus, Literature, 1957 (Algeria)
Anwar Sadat, Peace, 1978 (Egypt)
Abdus Salam, Physics, 1979 (Pakistan)
Naguib Mahfouz, Literature, 1988 (Egypt)
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Physics, 1997 (Algeria)
Ahmed H. Zewail, Chemistry, 1999 (Egypt)
Shirin Ebadi, Peace, 2003 (Iran)
Mohamed El Baradei, Peace, 2005 (Egypt)
Orhan Pamuk, Literature, 2006 (Turkey)
Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank, Peace, 2006 (Bangladesh)
One can debate whether or not Islam is the “Religion of Peace,” but this list suggests it might be the religion of Peace Prizes. 😉
Dick,
Thanks for the update. In fact, your list jogged my memory – didn’t Yasser Arafat also get one of the Peace Prizes?
Dick,
But in the context of the speech–have there been any American Muslims who have won a Nobel?