Obama tells Arabic network US is 'not your enemy'

EGYPT: President Barack Obama told Arab television viewers that "Americans are not your enemy" in an interview aimed at repairing relations with the Muslim world that were damaged under the Bush administration.

Obama's choice to give his first formal sit-down television interview as president to Al-Arabiya signaled a new American approach in the region.

In the interview, broadcast Tuesday, Obama said the U.S. had made mistakes in the past but "that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that."

The new president also condemned Iran's threats against Israel, pursuit of nuclear weapons and support of terrorist organizations, but said "it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress."

Obama's predecessor, former President George W. Bush, launched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that prompted a massive backlash against the United States in the Muslim world. During his eight years in office, relations between the U.S. and Iran also grew increasingly tense - with the Bush administration often singling out Iran as the most dangerous in the region.

The interview on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya 24-hour news channel aired as Obama's new envoy to the region, former Sen. George J. Mitchell, began the administration's first Mideast peace mission. Mitchell arrived in Egypt on Tuesday for a visit that will also take him to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

In contrast to the enthusiastic reception Obama's victory has garnered around the world, the Arab world has been more cautious about the new U.S. president - with most skeptical that American policy in the region will change substantially.

"I can't be optimistic until I see something tangible," said Hatem al-Kurdi, 35, a Gaza City engineer who saw parts of the interview. "Anyone can say nice words, but you have to follow with actions."

After earlier dismissing Obama as following the same policies as Bush, officials from the militant Palestinian Hamas group, which rule the Gaza Strip, softened their stance.

CAIRO,

Wednesday, AP