Flattery, history and religion – keys to speech
Posted: Friday, June 05, 2009 12:17 AM
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Kabul, Afghanistan
By Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent
KABUL, Afghanistan – President Obama's address in Cairo sounded even better in Arabic translation, which after all was the point.
From my hotel room in Kabul I listened to Obama’s speech as it was broadcast on the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera. Often accused in Washington and by U.S. military commanders of having an anti-American bias, Al-Jazeera dedicated "special events" coverage to the Cairo speech. The network, the leading Arab broadcaster, had correspondents posted around the world to gather reaction and ran highlights of Obama’s address in every newscast.
Its reporters described Obama’s appeal to open a new page in relations with Muslims as a possible "turning point." The speech will be the focus of Al-Jazeera’s Friday analysis program Aktar Min Rai, "More Than One Opinion," which is similar to NBC’s "Meet The Press."
This is a huge break from the past. Former President George Bush was Al-Jazeera’s bête noire. Yesterday, one of the network’s guests remembered Bush as "a warmonger" who spoke "in a language of blood and killing." Another analyst compared the former president to Osama bin Laden.
"I don’t see much of a difference between Bush and Bin Laden," he said. "Both say, ‘You are either with us or against us.’"
In contrast, Al-Jazeera described Obama’s speech as "honest," "historic" and "deeply respectful."
I suspect a main reason Obama was so well received was that he – either by design or coincidence – successfully used the tools of Arabic rhetoric: flattery, history and religion. Simply put, Obama translated well into Arabic.
On religion
The Cairo speech was peppered with religious references. This is de rigueur in all important addresses in Arab and Muslim countries. I lived in Cairo for four years. Most important meetings in the Egyptian capital begin with an incantation from the Quran. Quoting the holy book, seen by the majority of Egyptians as a literal guidebook to life handed down by God, adds not only an air of importance, but divine gravitas.
But Obama didn’t just quote the Quran, he called it the "Holy Quran," as it is known in Arabic, the Koran al-Karim. If he had not used the word "holy" and simply said "the Quran," the omission would have been offensive to many listening in Arabic.
Obama had a similar cultural and linguistic sensitivity when he discussed the "sons of Abraham," which every Egyptian knows refers collectively to Jews, Christians and Muslims, the "people of the book." To stress unity, the president talked of commonalities among the monotheistic faiths and their prophets when he said:
"Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together. As in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus and Mohammed – peace be upon them – joined in prayer."
The key phrase here is what may seem in English to be a throwaway line, "peace be upon them." The four words are essential. In Arabic, it is offensive and socially incorrect to mention a prophet by name without following it with the respectful "peace be upon him." For religious Egyptians, to utter aloud the name of Mohammed or Jesus and not say "peace be upon him" is a form of blasphemy.
But Obama’s highlight, at least in Arabic, was his closing line, "Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you." Speeches in the Arab world nearly all end the same way. It went over very well.
On location
Cairo was an astute choice for this address to the Muslim world. Every country in the Middle East has unique strengths. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, because of their vast wealth, can often drive sensitive policy and backdoor diplomacy. Iraq, because of its Shiite holy sites and Shiite majority, is a bridge, often broken, to Iran. Egypt, home to the Arab world’s printing presses and movie studios, sets public opinion in the Middle East.
It was mainly out of Egyptian tabloids and magazines that the conspiracy theory that the 9/11 hijackers were Jews dispatched by the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, and the CIA spread across the Muslim world, a myth Obama addressed directly on Thursday.
If Obama can win over Egypt, and Thursday was a major step in that direction, he will win many hearts and minds in the Arab and Muslim worlds.
Still a long way to go
But the speech was light on details. It was hopeful, but offered no new initiatives. Simply giving a sophisticated speech isn’t enough.
Thursday, I was racing on bumpy dirt roads from Afghanistan’s Kapisa Province so I could make it back to Kabul to watch the president’s speech. I’d spent the day with U.S. troops training Afghan police in a poor farming community. As I pulled into Kabul I was told by a source that three soldiers had been killed not far from where I’d been.
I called the commander of the American soldiers I’d just left. Luckily his men weren’t involved in the attack. They were fine. But another American convoy – just as Obama was about to speak – had been hit by a roadside bomb in Kapisa and then ambushed with automatic rifles.
Words will not change the most violent radicals still at war with America, no matter how popular Obama may be in Cairo this week.
