SHOOT: You can turn a terrorist into a friend by simple virtue of posting a friendly message on the internet. This can save lives. Bush had it wrong with his cowboy diplomacy. The way to defeat terrorism is not through war but through telling the other guy you understand his problems, you respect his views and by appealing to his better nature. You do this even if you consider yourself omnipotent. Why? Because even the most ordinary citizen now has access to benign or diaboloical information. And today a grain of sand can break a machine.
Officials said Obama also wouldn't flinch from difficult topics, whether it's the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the goal of a Palestinian state or democracy and human rights. Obama has been criticized for setting the address in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak has jailed dissidents and clung to power for nearly three decades.
The White House is going to extraordinary lengths to make sure the speech is heard throughout the Muslim world.
Gibbs said the speech will be posted on the White House Web site, along with links to fully translated transcripts in 13 languages. He said it also will be posted on social networking Web sites like Facebook, My Space and Twitter.
In addition, Gibbs said the State Department is registering callers from around the world who want to receive text messages about speech while it's being delivered and provide feedback, which will be posted on the department's Web site.
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