American Foreign Policy and the Continuing Struggle against Anti-Americanism in the Muslim World

Abstract

This chapter is a commentary on how President Obama’s foreign policy underwent transformation from a promise of change, to moments of euphoric optimism, and then to drab pragmatic realism. In his campaign, candidate Obama promised that he would change America’s foreign policy and restore the moral basis of America’s engagement with the world. He promised to shut down the prison at Guantanamo, a global symbol of how America was violating international law and ethical norms of warfare in its war on terror. He promised to end the war in Iraq, a war that has become a symbol of American hubris and unilateralism in the post-9/11 world. He promised to engage with Iran to emphasize the end of the widely perceived bellicosity of the Bush era. He also promised to bring peace to the Middle East, a key issue that continues to shape U.S. relations with the Muslim world and perceptions of the United States in the Muslim world. The Bush administration tried briefly to address this issue and then abandoned it, signaling that the United States was more interested in using force rather than peace and diplomacy in dealing with anti-Americanism in the Muslim world. Candidate Obama promised to be tough on extremism and terrorism, to focus on al-Qaeda (the more relevant threat to American security), and above all, to bring sanity and order to international relations by reviving respect for international law in the conduct of American foreign policy.