President George W. Bush tried in his State of the Union address last night to reach out to a skeptical Islamic world, saying the United States had a duty to lead the world toward the values that will bring lasting peace.
Addressing Congress, Mr Bush said his leadership on the path to peace would be guided by values such as religious tolerance, respect for women and the rule of law, which he said are shared by Muslims and Americans alike.
"America will take the side of brave men and women who advocate these values around the world - including the Islamic world - because we have a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment," Mr Bush said. "We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror."
The United States has fought an uphill battle to rally public opinion in the Islamic world to its cause in the war on terror, with many Muslims complaining about unequivocal US support for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.
A spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic relations said he was encouraged by Mr Bush's words but said he hoped all of the things that the president mentioned would be widely applied and include Palestinians.
"What we see often is that these American values are promoted, but are promoted only in certain circumstances. We just hope that the things that he mentions will be applied across the board, not just in selected cases," Mr Ibrahim Hooper said.
Mr Bush in his address said: "All fathers and mother, in all societies, want their children to be educated and live free from poverty and violence."
He pointed to the reactions of Afghans to the toppling of Afghanistan's former hard-line Taliban government and to Islamic history to make his point that the values are shared.
"If anyone doubts this, let them look to Afghanistan, where the Islamic 'street' greeted the fall of tyranny with song and celebration," he said. "Let the skeptics look to Islam's own rich history - with its centuries of learning and tolerance, and progress."