You mention the caveats but tend to gloss over what are the more serious of them, for example the backing of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, an arch-antisemite - banned from entering Britain - who would be delighted to see Israel demolished.

Secondly, Obama wishes to engage in face-to-face dialogue with Iranian despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who continually reiterates his boast to wipe Israel off the map and - ignoring futile sanctions - continues to develop a nuclear arsenal, putting up two fingers to the toothless UN.

Obama may well "abhor Hezbollah and Hamas", yet the latter wish to see him "ensconced in Pennsylvania Avenue" (quote). With what motive, I wonder?

He may also be opposed to mass repatriation of Palestinians and, yes, he can afford to be "sensitive to Israel's security needs". When you are competing for presidency of the most powerful nation in the world and need every vote, you can be all things to all men.

Regarding America being Israel's greatest ally, of course this is true. We have seen this over the past decades and Obama certainly does not want to upset the applecart as every single vote of the two per cent Jewish population is vital.

But as the article by Daniel Pipes suggests, the Islamic nations expect Obama to "produce the goods" and to deliver in their name.

As Pipes says, "Muslims rarely see him as Christian but usually as Muslim" (or ex-Muslim).

In Judaism, if your mother is Jewish, so are you. According to Islamic law, as his father was Muslim, so is he.

For starters, Egypt, Indonesia and Libya all apparently claim him as such. Thus most Muslims expect Obama to stand up and be counted when the Palestinians proclaim their territorial aspirations and the Lebanese air their grievances.

He may see himself as Christian - "I am not a Muslim" (quote). Yet as you say, one Arab analyst declares that "Muslims are eager to count him as one of their own", whether he wishes to admit to it or not. To all intents and purposes, through birth he is one of them.

Therein lies the conflict. Only when (and if) he is elected will we be able to make our own assessment of his sincerity. Until then, as the saying goes, talk is cheap. Let's wait for the deeds.

R L Miller,
Leeds.

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