Barack Obama's American admissions

by Mark Silva

When all is said about what the president has done with his address to the Muslim world, it's perhaps most remarkable that a new American leader has admitted, for all the world to hear, what some of his predecessors have done really wrong.

President Barack Obama's admissions about what he perceives as the errors of the Bush administration's policies and practices - the "war of choice'' in Iraq, as Obama put it in Cairo this week, and the anti-terrorist tactics of the Bush administration following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which Obama maintains violated American "traditions'' and "ideals'' - as well as his recognition of a longer American history of meddling in the internal affairs of other nations, pointing to Iran, and today his commitment to reengage in Middle East peace talks that languished too long, have not gone unnoticed in the world, or back home in the United States.

One easily conjures an image of Dick Cheney, the former vice president who has publicly contended that Obama is making the nation less safe with his approach to terrorism, punching holes in his kitchen wall.

But one didn't have to imagine anything this week. Liz Cheney, the daughter of the former vice president and assistant secretary of state in the Bush administration who has come to the defense of her father and the former president in a series of interviews since Obama stirred a debate over the terrorist interrogation tactics of his predecessors, is making her dismay known in calm and reasonable - and also powerful - terms.

"I, as an American, find it troubling to have our president go onto foreign soil and talk about our reaction to 9/11 as somehow abandoning our ideals,'' Liz Cheney told NBC News' Andrea Mitchell. "I think it's a pretty serious thing for an American president to say that America abandoned American ideals, and to say that on foreign soil just strikes me as doing a disservice, frankly, to the people who kept us safe after 9/11.''

This is what Obama said in Cairo:

"9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable. But in some cases, it led us to act contrary to traditions and our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited torture by the United States and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo closed by next year.''

This drew applause from the president's Egyptian audience - an ironic setting for such applause, considering Egypt's own role in the handling of terrorists taken there under "rendition'' from the United States. We remember, vividly, a minister of the Egyptian government telling us over breakfast once that there were probably fewer than 100 captives in such rendition in his nation, but it wasn't those prisoners we should worry about, he said - "It's the ones we don't have.''

Obama said this about Iraq:

"Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be."

And, in the discussion of his insistence that Iran abandon its plans for nuclear development and his hope that the situation can be resolved through diplomacy, he said this about past U.S..and Iranian practices in the strained relationship of the two.

"In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians. This history is well known. Rather than remain trapped in the past, I have made it clear to Iran's leaders and people that my country is prepared to move forward. The question, now, is not what Iran is against, but rather what future it wants to build.''

Obama said this about the Middle East today in Dresden, Germany:

"You've probably seen more sustained activity on this issue in the first five months than you would have seen in most previous administrations... The reason we are doing that is that not only had talks ground to a halt ... but there was a sense that all sides were getting so dug in and so cynical ... you might reach a point where you could never get the parties back at the table. We've at least created the space, the atmosphere at which talks can restart."

Cheney, calling Obama's Muslim address "a very well delivered speech,'' said, "It was a good gesture to make a speech from Cairo.'' She also found more than a few problems in that address. The discussion of Iran, she suggested, smelled of "moral relativism... a little dangerous... a little naïve.''

"I did think it was interesting that when he made those points about Americans reaching out unconditionally to Iran... that there wasn't any applause in the auditorium,'' Cheney said, suggesting the audience is acutely aware of the hegemonic ambitions of Iran's leadership. "It's important for us not to be sort of led down a path here where we think that by simply being kind to Iran we can get them to give up their nuclear weapons.''

Obama is killing no one with his kindness, but he is getting plenty of people at home and abroad to pay close attention to his admissions and intentions.

Christi Parsons contributed to this report from Dresden.