Obama's first 100 days in the Muslim World

"United States of America is not at war with Islam" president Obama boldly declared in Ankara, Turkey and went on to visiting the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, one of the largest of its kind outside the Arab Peninsula.

The president's strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world is off to a good start.

Here's the Good Start:

In his inauguration speech the President stressed the use of"mutual respect," as a key phrase with a culture that has been feeling demonized for many internal and external reasons.

The first interview he gave to and an international TV network, was with Al-Arabiya a moderate network (dare I say pragmatic) that counteracts the sensationalism and inflammatory reporting of Al-Jazeera (however, al-jazeera produces excellent documentaries on the Muslim world). Obama's interview was well received, and promised to "not only promote an American Agenda, but also to help develop the region." Leaders and pundits in the Arab world praised him, but had a wait-and-see attitude. His Nawruz address to Iran was a good conversation starter with the Iranian people, especially the majority that opposes Ahmedinejad's reckless statements and governing style.

Realizing that Pakistan presents more of an explosive problem than Afghanistan, his administration along with the Japanese secured $ 5 Billion in commitments to Pakistan "to bolster the country's economy and help fight terror and Islamic radicalism" within the country.

Closing Guitmo, was not only an ethical decision based on the Geneva convention and that "the US does not torture," but also a winning strategy against Al-Qaeda's propaganda machine.

Here's where more complexity is needed:

His promise to pull out from Iraq in mid 2010 might be a clever message that might appease the fears of Iraqis and the Arab world, but is not a realistic strategy according to many generals in the Pentagon and in view of a weak Iraqi government and an escalating conflict between Iran and Israel. To most Iraqis this government is considered an American puppet and if history of Iraq tells anything, the power lords in Iraq will not rest until they are ruled by an iron fist. My hope is that any autocratic regime that will appear when the US leaves will be one that is more open to the West.

Sending 18 or 20 Thousand more troops to Afghanistan without systemically addressing the complex underlying problem, will never produce the intended results. The build up in troops must be equally and systemically accompanied by efforts to strengthen the government and security forces while building the culturally-fit institutional, educational and economic infrastructure. Short of doing that, we will repeat the same mistakes that the Carter administration committed in that country.

In their testimony on the Hill, four veterans who served in Afghanistan and managed to establish good relationships with the tribes, complained about the rotation issue of the soldiers. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Genevieve Chase, who served as an intelligence soldier with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan in 2006, said troops should be allowed to extend their tours, if requested.“In a culture where a man’s trust and respect is earned with time, loyalty and devotion to a cause, we rotate out units every six to 12 months,” she said.

The other major issue for that country is that the Afghan security forces' loyalty is to their tribes and clans not to an almost non-existing nation; which makes it harder for our troops to train them.

Obama's administration does not yet have a comprehensive plan on how to address the Swat Valley issue in Pakistan and now the spread of Taliban in the Punjab province - the most economically viable province in Pakistan with half of the Pakistani population living in it. I did not expect our president to find immidiate solutions to such a gynormic problem in the first 100 days of his presidency. However, I did expect to see a systemic framework that includes simultaneous strategies to help resolve this pressing challenge. (I will explain the difference between Systemic, strategic and tactical process in future blogs).

Calling on Muslims to Protest Against Those Who Hijacked Islam

Many successful initiatives are led by Muslim visionaries all over the world to bring forth the true face of Islam as a religion and of Muslims as economists, educators, business people, journalists, inventors, mothers, fathers and just good abiding citizens. Efforts to reform Islam internally and reverse the stereotypes is gaining momentum, but not fast enough to counteract the violent mindsets that are destroying the Muslim culture from within. Unfortunately, Violence spreads much faster than pragmatism. The 24 hour news media feeds on such sensational stories, but will feature once a month a short segment about a positive projects led by a Muslim woman or man.

A story last week about another beaheading in a public square in Afghanistan motivated me to call on Muslims to protest against the hijackers of Islam from within.

I was in Dubai when Muslims banded together and rose to the occasion to protest the Danish Cartoons which they considered blasphemous. Many of my Muslim Colleagues were deeply hurt and outraged and decided to write articles to educate the West on why this act would be offensive to their religious sensitivities. In case that didn't work, they studied strategies on how to boycott Danish products and send an economic message that the West will understand. I completely respected their thinking, since this was a pragmatic way to deal with a potentially danger situation.

Alas, back then the pragmatists' voices disappeared and the flamethrowers fanned the violence and manipulated the masses leading narrow minded people in demonstrations and in burning of Western flags. An act of violent anger that never produces positive results; on the contrary it makes the Muslim world look like a monolithic entity of ignorance and barbaric reaction. Which is NOT a true depiction of reality.

With the news of this beheading, I ask: Why don't the pragmatist in Islam rise against such inhuman act and create the strategies to counteract the unhealthy tribal values of Taliban and defend Islam?

In the same spirit of defense of Islam that made the irrationals protest with violence, I am calling on the pragmatists to defend the spirit of Islam by demonstrating and protesting against the archaic treatment of women in the Taliban society. This story of Taliban executing an Afghan couple that eloped, brought back memories of beheadings in the public square that was practiced for more than a decade in Afghanistan...

The AP reports "A Taliban firing squad killed a young couple in southwestern Afghanistan for trying to elope, shooting them with AK-47s in front of a crowd in a lawless, militant-controlled region, officials said Tuesday.The woman, 19-year-old Gul Pecha, and the man, 21-year-old Abdul Aziz, were accused by the militants of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided that the two should be killed, officials said." Later the Telegraph reported that the girl was 14, and the young man was 17 years old!

Wouldn't you want to protest against such an inhuman act?


In the next few posts I will outline a MeshWork(TM) of solutions that will help in creating a Tipping Point for the emergence of the Muslim world. This MeshWorks is informed by systemic thinkers in the Muslim world, and designed according to the processes and principles of Large Scale Psychology.