Secretary of State Clinton addressed the Seventh Annual U.S. Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, yesterday. This report in the Washington Post notes that it was seen as a follow-up to President Obama’s Cairo speech and promised renewed efforts to maintain the momentum generated by that speech:
In what aides billed as a sequel to President Obama’s speech in Cairo last June, in which he called for ending the “cycle of suspicion and discord” between the United States and the Muslim world, Clinton on Sunday delivered a lengthy speech before the U.S.-Islamic World Forum here that essentially pleaded for patience even as many of the administration’s initiatives on Middle Eastern peace, and on outreach to Iran, have faltered. Clinton acknowledged concerns in the region “that the U.S. commitment is insufficient or insincere, that we have not fully embraced the spirit of mutual respect and partnership that the president described, or that we will fail to translate that spirit into the concrete steps needed to achieve real and lasting change in the world.”
The report goes on to note skepticism in the region over U.S. efforts to broker Mideast peace and deal with the rise of Iranian power. U.S. efforts to promote freedom of religion, freedom of expression and women’s rights are also briefly noted. The video of Clinton’s comments follows in which she discusses U.S. relations with Iran, the sanctions issue, and fears that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship:
