We may have made some "mistakes": Obama tells Muslim world

WASHINGTON: Accepting that the US may have made some "mistakes" in the past while dealing with the Muslim world, President Barack Hussein Obama has assured them that "Americans are not your enemy" and expressed his determination to resolve the Palestinian problem and diplomatically engage with Iran.

Reaching out to the Muslims, Obama said he was taking a number of initiatives to bring America's relations with the Islamic world as they were 20-30 years ago.

"We sometimes make mistakes -- we have not been perfect," Obama said, exuding confidence that Americans would restore the same respect and partnership they had with Muslim world years ago.

Choosing an Arabic satellite TV network to send his first formal message to Muslims worldwide, he said, "My message to the Muslim world is to communicate that Americans are not your enemy."

"I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries... My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that Americans are not your enemy," Obama told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television network, in a move that the mainstream US media quickly termed as his public diplomacy.

Obama's comments reflected the new administration's resolve to repair relations with the Muslim world that received a setback during the previous Bush administration.

He called for a "new partnership with the Muslim world based on mutual respect and mutual interest" and to press his point, Obama in the interview, talked about his growing up in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.