Muslim World More Anti-American Than Ever

[Geee]

Human Events:


Candidate Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan boasted, “Yes we can.” Then the new President promised a 2009 Egyptian audience “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims,” and in November 2009 he claimed, “We’ve restored America’s standing in the world.” But Obama’s boast, his promise and his claim have crumbled across the Muslim world, and so has America’s influence.

Thirty-one months into Obama’s presidency, relations with the Muslim world are the worst ever. Both Muslim public opinion and the deteriorating situation in most Islamic countries evidence anti-Americanism that screams, “No he can’t.”

Obama obviously can’t transform our relationship with the Muslim world, as evidenced by the state of affairs in three bellwether countries.

First, Egypt is a longstanding ally, but its January uprising puts that relationship in jeopardy. Egyptian public opinion is very anti-American, and the coming election plus current events threaten to turn our bilateral relations on their head.

A July 2011 Zogby International survey of Egyptians found only 5% have a favorable opinion of America, lower than during the George W. Bush administration. And a Pew Research survey taken this spring found that Egyptians overwhelmingly (82%) disapprove of Obama’s handling of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and a simple majority (52%) disapprove of the way Obama handled political change in the Middle East.

Those negative marks reflect displeasure with Obama’s flip-floppinig Egypt policy last January. Initially he backed then-President Hosni Mubarak, but as public cries for change grew, Obama called for Mubarak to step down. Then Obama made the strategic mistake of backing Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s unpopular vice president, to replace Mubarak.

Obama makes another mistake if he expects Egypt’s future democratically elected government to be pro-American. Barry Rubin, the director of the Israel-based Global Research in International Affairs Center, argues in his daily blog that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, that nation’s largest political party, will earn 40% of the parliament’s seats this fall. That political tsunami will result in a move to annul the peace treaty with Israel and impose laws that strictly follow the Koran, Islam’s holy book.

Egypt’s transformation to an Islamic state is already evident on several additional fronts. The Obama administration tried to pour $65 million into Egypt this year to help organize secular political parties, but that effort sparked a powerful backlash from Cairo’s military government and the Muslim Brotherhood, which evidently colluded on plans for the future government.

Egypt also reversed past policy by improving relations with the Muslim Brotherhood’s ally and terror group Hamas, which rules the neighboring Gaza Strip. Cairo now allows arms and money to flow into Gaza and refuses to pressure Hamas to make peace with Israel or stop its regular rocket attacks on nearby Jewish settlements.

On other Egyptian fronts there are increased attacks against Coptic Christians, murders of secularists, and more attacks by Islamists. Recently the terror group Takfir wal-Hijra, a group aligned with al-Qaeda, attacked two police stations in el-Arish.