Obama: "Season of progress" in Middle East continues

(CBS News) Striking a hopeful but serious tone about the future of the Middle East, President Obama at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday called on his international counterparts to directly and honestly confront the sources of unrest in Muslim countries, as well as the tensions between the West and the Arab world.

At the same time, he urged world leaders -- and, no doubt, an American electorate -- to "remember that this is a season of progress."

Mr. Obama hailed the political progress in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, as well as developments outside the Arab world, as in Somalia and Burma.

"Around the globe, people are making their voices heard, insisting on their innate dignity, and the right to determine their future," he said. "And yet the turmoil of recent weeks reminds us that the path to democracy does not end with the casting of a ballot."

Beginning and ending his nearly hour-long remarks by invoking the memory of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was murdered along with three other Americans when the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya came under attack, the president laid out the values that America stands for -- the values Mr. Obama said the nation would continue to promote around the world.

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"We believe that freedom and self-determination are not unique to one culture," the president said. "These are not simply American values or Western values - they are universal values. And even as there will be huge challenges that come with a transition to democracy, I am convinced that ultimately government of the people, by the people and for the people is more likely to bring about the stability, prosperity, and individual opportunity that serve as a basis for peace in our world."

Mr. Obama touted the United States' support for the different democratic movements that unfolded throughout the Middle East over the past two years, glossing over inconsistencies in the level of support his administration showed for protesters. He noted that the U.S. "insisted on change" in Egypt and was "inspired by the Tunisian protests that toppled a dictator," while failing to mention the United States' lack of support for pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain.

Mr. Obama said, "Just as we cannot solve every problem in the world, the United States has not, and will not, seek to dictate the outcome of democratic transitions abroad, and we do not expect other nations to agree with us on every issue."

Nevertheless, the president declared, "America will never retreat from the world."

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Mr. Obama's remarks came just a day after his presidential opponent Mitt Romney charged that the United States' international influence has waned under Mr. Obama's leadership. The president's speech was his last international address before Election Day, and he used the opportunity to highlight ways in which he's advanced American interests on the international stage.

"It is because of the progress I've witnessed that after nearly four years as president, I am hopeful about the world we live in," Mr. Obama said. "The war in Iraq is over, and our troops have come home. We have begun a transition in Afghanistan, and America and our allies will end our war on schedule in 2014. Al Qaeda has been weakened and Osama bin Laden is no more."

Taking an assertive tone against Iran without dictating a specific deadline for action, Mr. Obama warned that the United States would eventually look past diplomacy for a way to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"America wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy, and we believe that there is still time and space to do so. But that time is not unlimited," Mr. Obama said. "We respect the right of nations to access peaceful nuclear power, but... the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

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On Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad maintained his country's project to enrich uranium is only for peaceful purposes. Ahmadinejad expressed optimism that Iran could reach a diplomatic resolution with the U.S., but he also berated the U.S. for defending Israel, referring to Israel as a nuclear-armed "fake regime."

Mr. Obama on Tuesday also took the Assad regime in Syria to task, charging, "In Syria, the future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his people."

He said the U.S. will work for "sanctions and consequences for those who persecute; and assistance and support for those who work for this common good. Because we believe that the Syrians who embrace this vision will have the strength and legitimacy to lead."

Mr. Obama called on all world leaders to reject political violence and extremist views.

"The impulse towards intolerance and violence may initially be focused on the West, but over time it cannot be contained," he warned. "The same impulses toward extremism are used to justify war between Sunnis and Shia, between tribes and clans. It leads not to strength and prosperity but to chaos."

He specifically decried the violence across the Muslim world sparked by an American-produced, anti-Islam video. The president clarified that he considered it a "crude and disgusting" video and that it had nothing to do with the views of the U.S. government but noted that "Americans have fought and died around the globe" to protect free speech.

"I know that not all countries in this body share this understanding of the protection of free speech," Mr. Obama continued. "Yet in 2012, at a time when anyone with a cell phone can spread offensive views around the world with the click of a button, the notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete. The question, then, is how we respond. And on this we must agree: there is no speech that justifies mindless violence."

[chevyhotrod]

Obama: "Season of progress" in Middle East continues


By progress, does he mean more dead Americans or more dead Muslims?

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

Mr. Obama hailed the political progress in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, as well as developments outside the Arab world, as in Somalia and Burma.

---

No such praise for Israel, I'll note.

Wonder why?

Probably because Israel wants the status quo ad infinitum rather than progress.....

[Paulytical]

Ambassador Chris Stevens trusted his President to protect him.

We must not make the same mistake on November 6.

It's time for some R&R.

[theZengerite]

On this day, September 25, in 1789, The Bill of Rights was ratified at Federal Hall; not far from where Obama gave his speech in front of the UN.
Today's speech promotes The Bill of Rights, especially Freedom of Speech, but for Obama, they are merely words on a teleprompter; his actions during this American crisis prove otherwise. POTUS chose to encroach on the Freedom of Speech of the man that produced the video, that POTUS keeps mentioning, by having him removed from his home in the middle of the night to be greeted by lights, cameras & tyrantical action.
POTUS can't come to grips with the reality that the video didn't cause the attack, torture, and slaughter of Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The terrorist attack in Lybia was the result of letting our guard down in Lybia. Al Qaeda has not been weakened, contrary to Obama's claim in his speech.
Federal Hall was also the prison of John Peter Zenger, a man that also had his Freedom of Speech encroached upon. His trial and subsequent acquital for seditious libel are the cornerstone of Freedom of the Press in America.
Zenger shared a warning to anyone in the press that would be discovered to be gov't sycophants by the commonwealth. It can be read in the November 12th & 19th, 1733 copies of the New York Weekly Journal. It boils down to: people won't buy (literaly) the lies and omission of news, offensive to gov't, anymore. They will see the gov't as "guity & weak" and instead of silencing critics it will cause them to become "turbulent & seditious". Hello, T.E.A. Party!

[bbsnews]

So for you, yet another wingnut who tries to re-write history, it is perfectly fine to yell "FIRE!" in a crowded movie house. Not so for the majority of Americans buddy. We won't want our loved ones trampled by the likes of foreign policy disaster Mittens Romney and lyin' Ryan.

Nope, that's why President Obama will handily win re-election in November, that and the fact that he is one of the most outstanding US Presidents in modern times.

You betcha!

[nearl451]

Yes. it is a "Season of Progress" considering several brutal dictators are out of power and peoples have a chance at self governance.

Can anyone really say they want the Ghadaffi's back in power?

Besides, the remainder of his speech was dead nuts on center: Free Speech is protected, violence is never justified.

And yesterday Mitt fell just short of promoting new "Strong Men" govts to "lead" or influence direction in the Middle East.

[CuriousServant]

So many of you are missing the bigger picture. Anger toward the president, or anger toward his opponent, are not American values. Disagreeing, honestly, respectfully, is. Partisanship is tearing our country apart. Eisenhauer was long courted by both parties before he chose to run as a Republican. The party did not matter. Why should Libya become democratic? Certainly not because of our example, for we are a poor example of democracy, for we have become so divided, so extreme, that we spew vitriol from our keyboards onto these little missives, tearing each other down, vilifying, hating. Let us disagree, then agree to civilly disagree but respect and follow whatever leaders we choose. Let us show what democracy means.

[bbsnews]

michael, let me help. I can see you are yet another wingnut who is contextually challenged:

CS wrote in part: "...Why should Libya become democratic? Certainly not because of our example, for we are a poor example of democracy, for we have become so divided, so extreme, that we spew vitriol from our keyboards onto these little missives, tearing each other down, vilifying, hating..."

CS DID NOT WRITE "we are a poor example" alone as you falsely claimed. Next time do include the context or expect to be called out as a fool again...

[USSAmerikan]

I think a little History might go a long way, my friend, as you seem to think the hatred and contempt are something new... You see, in the 1791, Thomas Jefferson secretly hired Philip Freneau to run the National Gazette, which was used to attack President Washington directly and indirectly. A little later, during the 1800 elections, Jefferson used the same tactics against Madison, hiring a hatchet man, James Callendar, who slandered Madison. Jefferson won, but Callendar went to jail and when he got out, he let everyone know about Jefferson's affair with his slave girlfriend.

[firebase-gloria]

Words that should have been heeded - Bush 41 said as Desert Storm was winding down - paraphrased - "We will not continue combat, as Iraq's total defeat and occupation will destabilize the Mideast Region".
He said the same thing to Bush 43 before he invaded. "41" was right.
"Of all the sad words of tongue or pen, thesaddest are these 'it might have been'."
Moving right along, after thousands of Americans died ...

[DOGGYPANTS]

In Truth, the middle east is now so unstable, that it is susceptible to Pan-Arabism under the control of Iran or Al Qaeda. Americans continue to die at a record settong pace since 2008, and Al Qaeda has retreated until we leave. How woul dyou lik eto be a citizen of Israel with Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt as neighbors, and with Iran working steadily toward a nuke. Obama never studied hard stuff in school like math and world history. He took diversity courses where you could call your neighbor a racist and get an A.

[cubscout09]

Arabia is going to unite, under Iran? You might want to check a map.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Arab_relations

Now, wrap your head around this concept, Iran isn't Arabian, it's Persian.

The dominant forces in the Middle East are the US Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and the US Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.

[alanrobisch]

Fascinating we are making progress in the middle east. Is he on drugs or just living in an alternate universe. Iran will soon have an atomic bomb or we will be in the middle of a major war if the Israeli's who feel their existence is on the line attack Iran and try to destroy the nuclear facilities there and the president is making every attempt to avoid discussions of these issues while still trying to blame the libya terrorist attacks and the riots on a movie.

it was a device used by terrorists to get the crowd angry in the middle east. A little like the boston massacre in the revolution where british soldiers fought to defend their own lives and the rioters were called heroes and their deaths were used to urge on a revolution.

The american rebels used it to get support for their cause even though the soldiers did no wrong. The maker of the film broke no laws and he had a right to free speech.The president went their to apologize for an individual in this country for exercising free speech.

Where is the ACLU when we need them defending the film maker.lol

[alanrobisch]

ksm I hope you get canned for your last comment. I said what I feel and you made no comment on what I said just attacked me and used foul language. I am sure you are glad you made the comment since it rises to such a substantive level

[alanrobisch]

What has this to do with bush? Blame the other guy.

[Repubs_R_Fiscal_Liberals]

by Untrustworthy-Media September 25, 2012 7:25 PM EDT
From seeing your biased liberal posts, you are always attacking the GOP and defending Obama and the Democrats.
Even your your user name proves that.

---------

My name proves that you are a fiscal liberal if you're a Republican. Do you think I'm excluding Dems???

Regardless, you just responded to a comment I'd made in which I was blaming Carter for the Iran Hostage crisis and praising Reagan for ending it.

Try to pay attention next time, hack.

[bbsnews]

epubs_R_Fiscal_Liberals as a moniker is also a true statement. And it is a matter of GOP policy. It's loosely translated as the "kill Santa" policy. The GOPers noticed that Democrats kept showering their constituents with government largesse and therefore garner votes.

So the GOP adopted the policy as well to win votes in the short term but then be able to force the Democrats to kill Santa Claus because the debt would get so bad.

The GOP used to be fiscally conservative but that was decades ago.

Now it's all about getting into your bedroom, telling Americans what to do with their bodies, especially women, getting us into insane wars of choice, interfering in the sanctity of the separation of church and state and on and on with the tea bagger agenda.