The next US president is uniquely placed to bring change, hope and peace to a troubled world, and to do so must begin in the Middle East, writes Aijaz Zaka Syed* Dear Mr Obama, Salaam. I am not sure if this will ever pass your eyes. At a time when the whole world is excited about your landmark election and everybody who is somebody is talking about your meteoric rise, this letter is likely to be dismissed as just another outpouring of emotions from the Middle East. But write I must. And I hope to God it does find its way to your table. Even if it doesn't, I'll at least have the consolation of having tried to persuade you what the world, especially the Middle East, expects from you and what a great opportunity you have of changing it for the better. I may be ridiculed for my naïve idealism and for daring to hope that the agenda of the reigning superpower could be influenced by individuals sitting thousands of miles away in Dubai. But there's no harm in trying, is there? Besides, after your own incredible victory riding on a wave of idealism and message of hope, no one can ever suggest idealism doesn't work. You wouldn't be where you are today without idealism and faith and the incredible power of dreams. It's this power that can take a "skinny guy with a funny name" to the White House. By now you must be conscious of the impossibly high expectations the Americans and the rest of the world have of you. These hopes are only natural considering what the world has been through over the past eight years under the incumbent president. Your predecessor has somehow managed to rile up the whole world against America, a feat that eluded even Richard Nixon. From the total destruction of Iraq to the shame of Abu Ghraib, from spying on Americans to the abduction of innocents by the CIA, and dumping hundreds of civilians as enemy combatants down the hole called Guantanamo Bay, this administration has never been short on new ideas for violating human dignity. But to give your predecessor his due, he's been equally indifferent to the business of governance at home. So while New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, was being ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, the leader of the free world went biking. Ditto the current economic crisis. George W slept while Wall Street burnt. Dear Mr Obama, the Americans have elected you hoping you could put out the Bush fires. They believe you can clear up this spectacular mess. By electing you they have in one stroke changed global perceptions about America, restoring the world's faith in the land of the free. At heart we are all Americans and love America and all that it stands for -- or once stood for. Your election proves, as you argued in the thrilling election night speech in Chicago, that all things are possible in America. But if your victory was groundbreaking, the hopes and expectations it has generated in and outside America, and the consequent challenges you face now, are equally formidable. But if anyone can meet these daunting tasks confronting America and the world at large, it's you. Your unusual life story is a celebration of the "Audacity of Hope". You are after all the blessed one. Barack in Arabic, as you must know, means blessing. So perhaps there's a design in your being chosen for this most difficult of all jobs. I am sure you can, and will, successfully negotiate your great country through the minefield of difficult times ahead. But your responsibility does not end with America. There's a message in the frenzied adulation for you and celebrations around the world over your victory: the world sees you as its leader and expects leadership from you. Which is why it's heartening to see you move with remarkable alacrity to put America back on track. Even though you are yet to formally take over from Bush, you already have your team in place and are taking steps to reverse the divisive and most disastrous policies of his administration. The world is already delighted by your decision to shut Guantanamo Bay and either set free the detainees there or try them in US courts. This is something that your heroes Lincoln, Emerson and Martin Luther King would all approve of. But in all honesty, most of those in Guantanamo have already suffered enough for crimes they did not commit. Did you know that one of them, Omar Khadr, was captured in Afghanistan during the US invasion in 2001 when he was only 15? He has spent six years of his life in a hole. His crime? Being the son of parents who had been working in Afghanistan. There are hundreds of Omar Khadrs out there. And all of them deserve justice. Others who demand your attention are the Palestinians. They too have been paying for crimes they did not commit for nearly seven decades. Or rather, they've been paying for someone else's crimes. The Palestinians are being victimised for Europe's crimes against Jews, as Iranian President Ahmadinejad says. Today, prisoners in their own land and their ghettos, they are fighting for survival, literally. Throughout your campaign, you've talked of hope and change and America believed in you. It has embraced you because it knows it needs someone like you to bring it the change it badly needs. Mr Obama, we in the Middle East believe in you too. I know there are some who are already nervous about your choice for White House chief of staff. But I would rather look at the big picture. A Jewish chief of staff doesn't necessarily mean you are anti-Arab or anti-Muslim. What matters is the general direction and outcome of your policies. I still believe that if anyone can bring hope and change to the world's most volatile region, it's you. With your unusual background, representing both Christianity and Islam, black and white and East and West, you are uniquely placed to bring hope and change to the region that has been the cradle of civilisation and the three great faiths. And you must begin this mission right away, before you get used to power; or power and its compulsions get the better of you. The Middle East, and more specifically Palestine, is the key to world peace. From the war in Iraq to militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, everything is linked to Palestine. You bring peace to the Middle East and the world will find peace. You change the Middle East and you'll change the world. * The writer is opinion editor of Khaleej Times.
