President Barack Obama is expected to lay out a new vision for American relations with the Middle East later this week in his first extended remarks on the region since the Arab Spring uprisings and the killing of Osama bin Laden, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday.
The Thursday address at the State Department will be "an opportunity to sort of step back and assess what we’ve all witnessed, the historic change we’ve seen, and to talk about how he views it," Carney said. He added it is a chance to explain the values and principles that will inform the administration's policies and its support for pro-democracy movements in the region.
A senior State Department official familiar with the contents of a draft of the speech said Obama would focus on political and economic reform in the region. Security issues, including Iran's nuclear ambitions and its support of Islamist groups like Hezbollah, will also be touched upon, although it is not expected to be the centerpiece of the address.
"The United States realizes it needs to change the way it does business in the region," said the official, who was not authorized to speak for attribution. The source noted that while the demise of Osama bin Laden has dominated the headlines, Obama will make clear it is time to move on and focus on the future of the region.
Obama is expected to speak for about 45 minutes, a long time by White House standards and a signal of the importance administration officials place on America's relationship to a strategically vital region undergoing revolutionary upheaval not seen since the end of the Cold War.
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