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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090407/wl_mideast_afp/usdiplomacyislammideastlead_20090407165219
Arabs Hail Obama Overture to Muslims
[AFP] Mona Salem - President Obama's efforts in Turkey to repair the relationship between Washington and Muslims won praise in the Arab world on Tuesday, more than seven years after the 9/11 attacks. Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Obama's initiative had put the two sides "on the path towards rebuilding bridges of trust between the U.S. and the world's more than one billion Muslims." Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi compared Obama to "a beacon of light in the obscurity of imperialism....So far his political discourse has been reasonable." Yussuf al-Kuwailit, a senior editor of the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh, wrote: "Obama is a new American phenomenon, who reflects the true picture of America, trying to settle its differences with the world through participation and cooperation, without arrogance and talk of power." Kuwailit said Obama's bowing to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at the G20 summit last week "showed extreme modesty...without undermining his position as the president of the biggest world power."