Obama Talks Less Of Terror In Outreach to Muslims

April 7, 2010

Author: Matt Apuzzo

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hmaKsSfPsbleEB-Hs16JlU2JCnVwD9EUH4TO4

Less talk about "Islamic radicalism" and a lot more about doing business. In the year since President Barack Obama pledged a new beginning in the relationship with the Muslim world, the White House has begun to change the U.S. focus.

Terrorism still dominates U.S. security concerns, but the White House believes it doesn't have to dominate the conversation. Since Obama's speech in Cairo last year, the White House has tried to talk more about health care, science and education.

It's a strategy based on the belief that the prior administration viewed the world through the lens of terrorism. And when it talked to Muslim nations, it was all about winning the war of ideas.

"You take a country where the overwhelming majority are not going to become terrorists, and you go in and say, 'We're building you a hospital so you don't become terrorists.' That doesn't make much sense," says National Security Council staff member Pradeep Ramamurthy.