Thank You Barack Obama, for Ending ‘September 11 Era’: Al Madina, Saudi Arabia

In complimenting Barack Obama, Muhammad Khodr Aarif of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Madina may inadvertently provide fodder for the president’s political adversaries, even as it shows support for him in the Muslim world.

For the usually U.S.-unfriendly Al Madina, Khodr Aarif compliments the White House for acknowledging the importance of Islamic charities and expresses gratitude for Washington’s decision, outlined in the new U.S. National Security Strategy, to rescind accusations of terrorism leveled at them during the Bush years. But not until he equates U.S. assurances that America isn’t at war with Islam with an admission that during the ‘September 11 era’, it was.

For Al-Madina, Muhammad Khodr Aarif writes in part:

“The White House announced that part of its new strategy is that, “the United States doesn’t consider itself at war with Islam.” The issuance of this strategy is an implicit admission that the United States was at war with Islam. … We consider one of the most important items to be the Obama Administration’s review of charitable and Islamic humanitarian relief organizations, after they were unjustly accused of supporting terrorism during, if we might use the term, the “September 11 era.”

The American and European press used the attacks that destroyed New York’s twin towers to persecute – without evidence – Islamic humanitarian organizations and institutions.

The Obama Administration understood that reducing the resources of these organizations and even allowing them to dry up would necessarily worsen the desperate conditions under which the vast majority of the world’s Muslims live, namely: poverty, ignorance and disease.

The new U.S. administration knows that Islamic relief organizations contribute greatly to reducing terrorism in all of its forms, because they raise awareness, education and understanding among Muslims. They also quell hunger and stabilize living conditions in every aspect of people’s lives, thus preventing them from becoming easy prey for extremist elements, as occurred during the era of the Bush’s regime.

As it was before the so-called September 11 era, this new U.S. strategy will help Islamic relief organizations and institutions resume their role helping the needy, mentoring orphans, supporting widows, spending on the poor, promoting education and providing training for disadvantaged people in the Islamic World – and the rest of the world as well.

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