The New Nation - Internet Edition

President-elect Barack Obama is reported to have said on Sunday night that upon taking office he would close Guantanamo Bay and ban torture by the American military.

Obama had originally promised to shut the US prison in Cuba while on the campaign trail, but his comments were the first confirmation of his intentions since the November 4 election.

The US President-elect is also promise-bound to withdraw American troops from Iraq.

Obama has been quoted to have told the CBS programme 60 Minutes: "I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that.

"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture.

"And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world."

As the new US leader vows to regain America's moral stature, time is probably ripe to tell him that he may also seek to help end anti-US terrorism by some elements which are not essentially anti-American. Muslims have been reacting to policy of war and torture pursued by successive US administrations.

Ali Imron, one of the convicts of the Bali blasts of 2002 which killed 202 people - mostly foreign tourists - testified that the bombing was in revenge for Muslims being killed by Americans.

Three bombers - Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron - were executed on November 9 morning on a prison island off Java after years of delay because of government fears of a violent backlash. Ali Imron managed to escape the death sentences given to his co-convicts because he repeatedly apologised for his role in the bombings. They admitted to have Al-Qaeda links.

While nobody would oppose the punishment of those who would be found guilty of killing innocent people by way of terrorism, it may be good to listen to those people who have chosen the path of suicide bombing, in other words, opted to kill themselves to 'revenge mistreatment.' Many international affairs experts have asserted that anti-Americanism among a section of Muslims is the offshoot of the West's policies in the Middle East of blindly supporting Israel which is accused of carrying out state-terrorism for decades not only against the Palestinians but also against its Arab neighbours.

Since the US President-elect has made clear his plan to close Guantanamo and withdraw troops from Iraq, cannot dialogue with Al-Qaeda leaders be also a wise option to see whether hostilities could be brought to an end through talks.

Now even Israeli leaders have realised the need for having talks with their Syrian counterparts. Military commanders of the coalition forces in Afghanistan have underscored the need for dialogue with the Taliban leaders. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also promised full security to Taliban leader Mollah Omar if he comes for peace talks to Kabul.

Analysts from all over the world have indicated that the key for the US to having good relations with Muslims is a just solution of the Palestine problem, which made the Palestinian people to suffer physically, and bled the hearts of Muslims in the rest of the globe for full six decades. Former Birtish prime minister Tony Blair who is now working as the international community's peace envoy to the Middle East echoed this last week when he sought Obama's strong commitment to bring peace to the region.

Israeli analyst David Kimche wrote on Monday in the International Herald Tribune, "Every American president since Truman had to deal with the Israeli-Arab conflict. Now that the transition from the Bush to the Obama presidency is underway, Washington must recognise that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is in a race against time.

"The concept of a negotiated two-state solution - a Jewish state of Israel living in peace and security alongside an independent, economically viable Palestinian state - that has been widely accepted for more than 15 years is disappearing before our eyes."

The cause of terrorism among Muslims against USA is mainly for US-backed Israeli policy of state sponsored terrorism against Muslims. At present, all Muslim countries are hopeful that Bush's policy of supporting terrorism and torture against Muslims will be rejected boldly and fearlessly. Obama should know that Muslim countries are America's best friends. It has to be understood in what sense Israel is America's most dependable ally. By pursuing a policy of terrorism against Muslims in the Middle East, Israel has done more harm than good to America's moral stature in the world.