U.S.: Bush saves millions of Muslim lives and Arab Americans say ABB

BOSTON — Arab-American delegates, attending the Democratic National Convention in their greatest numbers in years, say many in their community will vote for Sen. John Kerry because they are disillusioned with the current administration.

The Arab-American vote went overwhelmingly to George W. Bush in 2000, but unhappiness with the president's post-September 11 policies is turning those voters to Mr. Kerry, the delegates say.
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"He has alienated so many of us," said Newman Abuissa, an Arab-American delegate from Iowa who voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 but became so upset at the administration that he began actively campaigning for the Massachusetts Democrat and eventually ended up here at the convention.

Let's look at Bush's policies post-9/11 which pertain to Arabs: a refusal to ask the world's permission to defend America; a "forward strategy of freedom in the greater Middle East"; a refusal to force Israel to make peace if Arafat and his Arabs don't want it; and, pre-emptive strikes to defend America; peace through strength and force, if the latter's necessary. Bush's domestic policies with which Arabs may find fault are as follows: random screening passengers without regard to their ethnicity, sex, and age; examination of Islamic charities' funding, arrest, and prosecution of many for terrorist ties; invitation to questioning of thousands of Arab males.

Which of these policies do Arabs find so offensive that they reject Bush? Most likely it is his policy position on Israel, Islamic charities, and questioning of young Arab males. In other words, barring Israel, the same policies that have produced actionable information in the WoT. So, what is one supposed to conclude Arabs are saying about America's right to defend herself from attack without and within? Translation: Bush should not have retaliated against the Arab Muslim killers of thousands of Americans. It's okay for them to kill us; the converse is not true, though.

In another part of the story, there is this tidbit:

Many Arab-Americans see themselves as unfairly singled out by the Bush administration in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also disagree with the Iraq war and feel Mr. Bush has not been evenhanded in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ferial Masry, a delegate who is originally from Saudi Arabia and is also running for the California state assembly, said she has seen that shift in the Arab-American community.

"Anybody but Bush," is the theme she hears, said the high-school government teacher who strongly opposed the war in Iraq.

There we go. Never mind the hundreds of thousands discovered in mass graves in Iraq; never mind the hope for a new future that Iraqis feel; never mind the booming Iraqi economy; never mind Iraqis being able to decide freely, for the first time, who will govern them, all that matters is that Arab Muslims see the Iraq war as a war against Islam.

It takes a great deal of nerve and gall for Arabs to say that they "see themselves as unfairly singled out by the Bush administration in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon." Who attacked us on 9/11? It wasn't anybody else but Arab Muslims. Meantime, their brethren in Brooklyn and elsewhere cheered. Therefore, who is the federal government supposed to investigate, especially in light of ongoing terrorist attacks by Arab and other Muslims? Their answer? Not us. Maybe they want the Feds to be looking at the Jews.

I won't comment on the irony of Ferial Masry, a Saudi woman, who can neither show her face, drive, nor vote in her own country, being able to run for office in California. It boggles the mind.

Then there is this excerpt:

And Mr. Salhab, who heads the Florida Arab American Leadership Council, said that while Mr. Kerry "has yet to articulate clear positions" on issues that hit hard in the Arab-American community, there is a "strong anti-Bush sentiment."

Mr. Salhab and three other Arab-Americans from Florida became Democratic delegates after a massive grass-roots effort that bused many Arab-Americans to district caucus sites.

Mr. Abuissa — who emigrated from Syria, became a U.S. citizen 12 years ago and works for the Iowa State Transportation Department — said former Democratic presidential candidates Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and Vermont governor Howard Dean closely match his own strong antiwar views.

But he said the Kerry-Edwards team is "a strong ticket," and Mr. Kerry "is the man for us."

What are the issues that hit hard in the Arab community in this country, apart from Israel and the U.S. right to defend itself against all attackers, whatever their ideological stance? The war policy of Kucinich and Dean would leave America vulnerable to the further depredations of terrorists. Is this what Messrs. Salhab and Abuissa want? If they do, then their concern is not for the U.S. but for some Islamic agenda that would be furthered by American weakness.

Finally,

[Claudia Baba's] father donated to Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign but probably won't support him this time because he feels Mr. Bush hasn't supported Palestinians in the Middle East.

Ms. Baba — who was asked by the Arab American Institute to attend the convention after the Kerry campaign specifically requested an Arab-American woman from Texas — initially favored Mr. Dean, but, like Mr. Abuissa, became convinced that Mr. Kerry was the man who could win.

Mr. Zogby said Arab-Americans think like all Americans when it comes to concern for the economy, health care and education, but simply have a stronger emphasis than others on foreign policy and civil rights issues.

In what other ways do these Arabs in America want the U.S. to support "Palestinians," apart from helping them to destroy Israel, I mean? Nobody can say. The U.S. has plowed billions into the corrupt "Palestinian" Authority, from which Yasser Arafat has drained funds to enrich himself and his wife, Suha, in Paris. Moreover, while Suha Arafat lives the good life in Paris, ordinary Arabs in Gaza, Judea and Samaria are living hellish lives because of the 'intifada' he brought upon them instead of abiding by the Oslo accords and because he chose, at Camp David, to walk away from 95% of that for which his people had asked. What has Arafat offered besides terror, blood, and death? What have his policies, in conjunction with Islam, bred in those lands but a culture of death and a ghoulish adoration of body parts? What more can the U.S. do, in the face of Arafat's insistent refusal to make peace? Arabs would like the U.S. to force Israel to annihilate itself or be annihilated so the entire Mid East region can be one Arab Muslim zone of despotism, corruption, and backwardness. When "Palestinians" have demonstrated that they love their children more than they hate Israel and desire to kill Jews, then they will make peace. Until such time, every American administration should follow the course of the Bush one, defund them, ignore their terror-thug leader Arafat, and wait for the people to come to their senses.

On another note, why the hell should the U.S. support the "Palestinians" who rejoiced and danced in the streets after 3,000 Americans died on 9/11? Yet, the U.S. does. Why support a people whose expressed desire is the destruction of the U.S. -- once they've accomplished their goal vis-a-vis Israel? Out of some sense of human compassion, the U.S. continues to ... even though Americans bringing scholarship to Arab children in Gaza are blown up by the Arabs.

Zogby is right that Arabs have a stronger emphasis on foreign policy and civil rights issues. How else are they to help their Islamist brethren destroy the U.S. if the government's foreign policy remains a strong one and its domestic security insists on looking closely at those within who seek to destroy her?

In the final analysis, one cannot help but conclude that America's self-interest is of no interest to Arabs in the U.S. As long as their allegiances lie without this country, as long as they hold to ideologies that are hellbent on doing this country harm, they remain a threat to America. What this story demonstrates is their willingness to utilize the openness of the American democratic system to further an agenda that is inimical to the U.S.