Jim Hoagland commends President Obama for his extended hand to the Muslim world, but cautions that this in no way spells an end to the war on terror:
President Obama repeatedly extended his hand to the world’s Muslims in his first 10 days in power. His respectful tone and gestures toward Arab states in particular were as welcome as they were deft. But it would be a mistake to conclude that the gears of history have shifted and what Americans have come to call the “war on terror” is over.
Let’s be clear: Americans did not initiate the conflict with al-Qaeda and other Muslim extremists, and Americans will not be the ones to declare an end to the struggle against violent extremism practiced in the name of jihad.
That is a task that falls to Muslims themselves. At its core, this struggle is over the future of Islam. Obama must work hard to make sure that his well-intentioned gestures of comity do not obscure this reality—and do not provoke a new whiplash of resentment and doubt if they do not bring the results he wants.
Read the full article here, and be sure to see posts on the ramifications of Obama’s interview with Al Arabiya written by John Esposito, Jen’nan Ghazal Read, and Gil Anidjar on the front page of The Immanent Frame.