NEW YORK: Despite his own surging unpopularity in the Muslim world US President George W Bush tried to reach out to Malaysia’s moderate Muslim leader Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi by assuring him that the Pope was sincere in his regret over his remarks on Islam.
Angry Muslims living in Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and Iraq say that Pope Benedict’s regret for the reaction to his remarks that linked Islam to violence do not go far enough. Malaysia is one of the countries pressing for a full apology.
Bush and Badawi discussed the flap over the Pope’s remarks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“The President noted that the Pope had made some apologies for his remarks and the President believes that the Pope was sincere in those remarks,” Dennis Wilder, senior director of the US National Security Council’s East Asian affairs, told a press conference in New York.
