By Sheriff Kora

As much as I hate the segregative term the "Muslim World", I can't be any happier than President Obama's indirect gesture of extending a brotherly hand to the ill-perceived Muslim population. After nearly a decade of perpetual fear mongering and war evangelism by the Bush administration, Obama's surprising gesture of appeasement will undoubtedly be a topic of discussion at all media outlets and probably, drawing more scrutiny than objectivity. The conservatives and war hawks will be busy at their clarion call again for more attempts at changing public opinion and sentiments on Obama.

It is common adage that campaigns are run in poetry, and governments in prose. But by contrast, and barely a week in office, Obama has already demonstrated his steadfastness to honoring his campaign promise - change. A campaign that stood on the premise that change is what we all aspire - an aspiration abundantly manifested by the outcome of the past election.

Despite all the criticism and rhetoric, the pundits will lash out at Obama for initiating his first public interview with an Arabic news channel and of course extending the olive branch to the Muslim World. It is imperative we ask ourselves these questions; are we going to continue another trend of being a nation bent on alienating our adversaries and pursuing a policy of disengagement instead of leadership? Are we going to embrace the ideals of our founding fathers; ideals that have firm roots in the belief that it is the responsibility and manifest destiny of the United States to ensure freedom to all; a duty that calls for protecting liberty and justice at home and elsewhere in the face of abhorrent evil and helplessness, or are we going to sacrifice those principles under the guise of protecting ourselves?

Liberty, freedom, peace and Justice are what America stands for, and not the contrary. We have stood by the oppressed and freed the repressed in the course of unforgiving history. We fought and defeated Communism across every corner of the globe, tore down the Berlin Wall, and through a gradual process ensured that the people of Eastern Europe enjoyed the full measure of their divine rights. This is the true meaning of America, a land of the peace lovers and the benevolent - a people that embrace liberty, justice and freedom in the hardest and most excruciating test of time.

If we can defeat an ideology that has for decades been defended and championed by the protection of nuclear arms, largely through peaceful methods, what makes it impossible to defeat the ideologies of a band of misinformed thugs through peace and love?

Besides, abiding by the principles and beliefs that make America the greatest nation, and obviously the last beacon of hope for mankind outside divine quarters, the world now orbits on the axis of globalization. Thus, it is in the vital interest of the United States to make more friends than foes in the global arena. It is undoubtedly a fact that we have enormous threats that lie ahead - threats, which require us not to rest our guard, nor be complacent and neither should we step on more toes as we pursue those who test our resolve.

The friendship and diplomatic ties the United States has with the Muslim World spans centuries. For those uninformed or misinformed skeptics on Obama's interview with Al - Arabiya television network, please note that “the longest and oldest unbroken foreign treaty" of the United States of America is with the Kingdom of Morocco, a Muslim nation in North Africa.

When the 13 separate states of America declared themselves the United States, the Moroccan Sultan Sidi Mohammed was the very first sovereign leader to recognize the new American nation. The greatest heroes of American early history were the strongest proponents of friendship with Morocco. The treaty of friendship between our nations was urged on Congress by Benjamin Franklin, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, signed by John Adams and affirmed by George Washington in a letter to the Sultan. The treaty of American-Moroccan friendship is the oldest American treaty of its kind which is still enforced today. The oldest property owned by America on foreign soil is one of the most beautiful buildings in Tangier, Morocco; a gift to America from Morocco.

Sheriff Kora is a Master's Degree Candidate in Public Administration at the University of Texas, Tyler.