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Arabia

Obama heads for Qatar to boost ties with Muslims

2010-02-12

12 February 2010 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama's charm offensive on Muslim states comes to a weekend forum in Qatar, where he will send a video message and his chief diplomat will give a speech, organizers said Thursday. Obama will deliver his message to the seventh annual US-Islamic World Forum in the Qatari capital, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend Sunday with other senior US officials, The Brookings Institution said.

Maybe Bambi can visit Baghdad and celebrate Joe Biden's victory in Iraq ...

The gathering organized by the think-tank's Saban Center for Middle East Policy and Qatar's foreign affairs ministry brings "leaders from across the Muslim world for an intensive three-day dialogue with key US officials, societal leaders and policy experts," Brookings said.

"With President Obama determined to turn the page in America's relations with Muslim communities around the globe, this year's Forum will examine how to craft more robust partnerships that can help repair the deep divisions our societies," Brookings President Strobe Talbott said in a statement.

Talbott, who was a key diplomat in president Bill Clinton's administration, is also due at the forum, along with Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan and Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry.

Brookings said Clinton will join Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar who doubles as foreign minister, in delivering a speech, but no further details were immediately available.

The chief US diplomat is due to arrive in the tiny Gulf state of Qatar on Saturday, where she will also hold talks with the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and leave for Saudi Arabia on Monday, the State Department said.

Posted by:Steve White

#6 I can't wait to find out what we'll be apologizing for this time. The Qataris must be excited to learn what other Muslim and Arab knowledge and inventions have contributed to modern civilization without anyone noticing until BHO came along to fill us in. This promises to be an interesting trip, one we can expect to accomplish nothing much at all.

Posted by: Baba Tutu 2010-02-12 23:04

#5 Um,UH,UHM mm,Um,Uh, I see why he needs the teleprompter.

Seriously doesn't Harvard offer classes in public speaking?

Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-02-12 13:59

#4 Take the UN with you, and don't forget the regional coding when handing out speeches.

Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-02-12 12:49

#3 Dialogue! More dialogue, yep. That's the ticket.

Posted by: lex 2010-02-12 08:24

#2 This is how the President saw himself before the election in 2008. Possibly this is what is going through his mind today.

Posted by: Bill Ulomogum4205 2010-02-12 05:02

#1 He's only polling above 50% on foreign policy, so I guess he's decided to make the best of it.

He'll tank there sooner or later, as well.

Posted by: Gomez Threter7450 2010-02-12 00:33

00:00