Sunday, August 23, 2009 WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has issued a special Ramadan message to the Muslim World, expressing hope for a more peaceful and secure world. In a video message to Muslims, Obama said the US was committed to keeping its pledge to build a safer world, end the Iraq war and isolate violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "All of these efforts are part of America's commitment to engage Muslims and Muslim-majority nations on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect," Obama said in the message posted on the White House website. "And at this time of renewal, I want to reiterate my commitment to a new beginning between America and Muslims around the world." "We are also committed to keeping our responsibility to build a world that is more peaceful and secure," he said. Obama also mentioned the common Muslim-Christian principals and rituals, saying that people of the both faiths are in search of "advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." He said that the US would help recognize the rights of Israelis and Palestinians for them to live in peace and security. Since taking his oath of office in January, Obama has tried to reconcile US relations with the Muslim World, which were soured after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 20003. The US President visited Turkey and Egypt, telling both Muslim audiences that "America is not - and never will be - at war with Islam." Ramadan, the ninth month on the Islamic calendar, is a time for Muslims to fast from dawn to sunset and focus on their faith, self-accountability and self-restraint. Muslims believe it was in this month that the first verse of the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH).
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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