President to Renew Muslim Outreach, giving Mideast speech soon

President to Renew Muslim Outreach
By JAY SOLOMON And CAROL E. LEE

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is preparing a fresh outreach to the Muslim world in coming days, senior U.S. officials say, one that will ask those in the Middle East and beyond to reject Islamic militancy in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and embrace a new era of relations with the U.S.

Mr. Obama is preparing to deliver that message in a wide-ranging speech, perhaps as early as next week, these officials say. The president intends to argue that bin Laden's death, paired with popular uprisings sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, signal that the time has come to an end when al Qaeda could claim to speak for Muslim aspirations.

"It's an interesting coincidence of timing—that he is killed at the same time that you have a model emerging in the region of change that is completely the opposite of bin Laden's model," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser at the White House, said in an interview.

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Bin Laden's death gives Mr. Obama a chance to underscore the belief among many administration officials that the terror leader's relevance had already begun to diminish during the so-called Arab Spring. Mr. Obama, who has made outreach to the Muslim world a cornerstone of his presidency, plans to describe the Islamic world as at a crossroads, said U.S. officials, making the case that bin Laden represented a failed approach of the past while populist movements brewing in the Middle East and North Africa represent the future.

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Obama giving Mideast speech soon
By MATT NEGRIN | 05/11/11 12:40 PM Updated: 05/11/11 12:46 PM

President Obama will give a speech on the Middle East in the 'near future.'

President Obama will give a speech on American policy in the Middle East in the “relatively near future,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday.

Carney, speaking to reporters at the White House, refused to say precisely when Obama would speak about the Middle East. He said the speech will have a “broader audience than just the Arab world.”

“I don’t have a date to announce,” he said in his briefing.

Obama plans to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu next week, as the Israeli prime minister visits Washington to speak to Congress.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0511/coming_soon_cac2e2f7-43cb-436d-ba84-743318ae34e2.html