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Did Obama Administration Heed a Somali Voice

April 7, 2010   ·   130653 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2Fobama-changing-terminology-of-terror-fight-13065Did+Obama+Administration+Heed+a+Somali+Voice2010-04-07+22%3A38%3A31Hassan+Alihttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D13065

(SomalilandPress)-Did Obama Administration heed a Somali’s advice on changing political terminology?
In a piece I wrote on PostGlobal on January 23, 2010, I advised President Obama to change his political language and distance himself from the political discourse of George Bush’s administration.

In the piece entitled “Obama, Watch Your Words”, I wrote that “The biggest political mistake that Obama could make during his honeymoon would be to follow the same political discourse of the Bush Administration. Bush was plagued with language disaster. One of the first slips of the tongue was describing the war on terror as crusade. This was a loaded word that inadvertently Samuel Huntington’s ill-conceived clash of civilizations and invoked a legacy of horrors in the Muslim world.

“Other fluid generalizations and arrogant expressions such as a war on terror and Islamic terrorism, ‘wanted: dead or alive’, ‘We shall nuke them out’, have only further intoxicated the political atmosphere between the Bush administration and the Muslim world.

“Precision of political language is therefore as important as precision of smart bombs. Any misstep in any of them will end up in dire consequences.”

He further wrote : “Language is not only the key to mutual human understanding but it is the key to either healing old wounds of inflicting new ones. In order to avoid any pitfalls, Obama should therefore use a language that heals the deep wounds caused by Bush administration’s vitriolic language. In the same way that he united the American voters behind him and gave them hope and faith, he should also use the same rhetoric that could spread hope across the world.

“The Muslim world in particular will be watching the langue of Obama’s foreign policy and how he chooses his language will either repair or deepen the political fractures left behind by Bush administration.”

Now, I am amused to see what seems to be a direct response to my mentioned piece and others in which I talked about the need of having an impact on the socio-economic development of Muslim people in conflict zones such as Afghanistan (Talk to Tribal Chiefs) and Palestine (Marshall Plan for Palestine) and elsewhere.

In the following story, (Obama changing terminology of terror fight), Obama’s advisors are reported to be working on a plan aimed at changing the administration’s foreign policy terminology as well as initiating a policy which is focused more on development and rapprochement.

My aim therefore is not to tickle my ego and pat myself on the back but to show my fellow Somalis and other readers and writers as well that the written word is never lost and one would get the satisfaction one day of seeing what one writes and publishes finding its way to the ears and eyes of decision makers. This again shows that Somali websites should not belittle the role they play in shaping the policies of the worlds’ globalized view. Read the story here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_terrorism_rhetoric )

Bashir Goth
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By Hassan Ali

Tags: Al shabaab, President Obama, Somalia, Somaliland, Terror Fight Obama Administration