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- by Ray Hanania
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- Arabs and Muslim voters have yet to
understand the most basic principle of the American political process: Candidate's lie and
say anything to get elected.
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- The most bruising example for Arab
Americans will be the next four years of the administration of George W. Bush as president.
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- Although Bush received the backing
of a Muslim "voting bloc"
- and support of Arab American groups
acting independently throughout the United States, the new president intends to pursue policies
that openly contradict Arab
American and Muslim interests.
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- That should not be surprising to
those who carefully monitored Bushes' campaign rhetoric or who recalled the policies of his
father, former President George
Bush who served from 1988 until 1992.
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- And while it is still early to make
firm predictions, the early signs are
- very troubling to Arab American and
Muslim interests, possibly misled by inexperienced individuals who still view politics as
if they were back home in the
"Old Country."
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- The first clue of trouble should
have been Bushes' selection of Dick Cheney as his vice presidential running mate. Cheney was
Secretary of Defense under George's
father, and directed the brutal military campaign against Iraq.
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- But, it has been 10 years and you
can't fault someone for forgetting the suffering and misery of the people of Iraq after so
many years of neglect.
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- The Bush election victory was
finally confirmed Dec. 18 by a vote of the "Electoral College" and it didn't take Bush
long to show his true colors. His
first appointment is Colin Powell for Secretary of State, a
position that is instrumental
in directing all American policies toward the Arab World. Powell served as Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff during the brutal 1991 war against Iraq.
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- Powell was initially a
"pacifist" when it came to sanctions against Iraq
--arguing most recently in his1995 autobiography ("My
American Journey") that "sanctions
rarely work against them (dictators)" but instead only tend
to harm the civilian population
brutalized by a dictator like Saddam Hussein.
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- Today, however, he has experienced a
change of heart. After Bush announced that he would be the first formal cabinet
appointment, Powell immediately announced
that he would push for both enforcement and extension of the
sanctions against Iraq.
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- According to Powell's aides, the
Secretary of State nominee believes that the sanctions, which have resulted in the death of more
than 500,000 Iraqi children and
more than 2 million Iraqi adults, is necessary to
"contain" Saddam
Hussein.
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- Do you think it has anything to do
with the fact that Bushes' father, the former president, still harbors a personal resentment
against Saddam Hussein, who is
an unrepentant barbarian and murderer?
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- It was there for all to see, but too
many Arab Americans and the so-called "Muslim Voting Bloc" could not see beyond
their inert hatred of Al Gore because
Gore named a Jew as his own running mate.
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- Certainly, Senator Joseph Lieberman
cannot be described as being pro-Arab. Nor could we have expected Lieberman to abandon his blind
loyalty to Israel had he and
Gore won.
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- However, Gore did come out of an
American administration that was the most pro-Arab ever in the history of the United States.
Outgoing President William Clinton,
despite his own personal failings, did all he could to open the
door of the White House and his
administration to a wide spectrum of often rival Arab and Muslim organizations.
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- Do not expect the president-elect to
stop at Powell, who will certainly
- reinforce the hard-line Republican
driven policies that have sought to
- destroy Saddam Hussein at the
expense of millions of innocent Arabs in Iraq.
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- We are too often quick to forget
those glory days, or the practices of
- previous presidents, including
former President Bush, who refused to take campaign contributions from Arab
Americans suggesting that the money was "tainted."
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- And, surprise, surprise. Who do you
think president-elect Bush plans to give a cabinet post?
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- Top on his list to serve as
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the one and only Congressman Rick Lazio.
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- You remember Lazio, don't you.
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- Lazio is the man who challenged
Clinton's wife, Hillary, in the highly
- publicized race for New York
Senator. It was attacks from Lazio claiming that money from Muslims and Muslim organizations
was "tainted."
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- Lazio even described some of the
contributors as "Arabs" so
- clearly, he was appealing to the
anti-Arab and anti-Muslim audiences in New York. Hillary Clinton did return the money to remove
the controversy from the news
and she was blamed for giving in. But why should she listen to the
Arabs and Muslims when they
were openly condemning her husband and calling for the election of George W. Bush?
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- Lazio is the choice over Congressman
Bill Paxon. Both are from New York. And you can bet that Lazio will be a key player in
the Bush administration, maybe
the person who will be the first to demand that the new president
return tainted Arab money."
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- These are not the actions of a man
who is ready to show gratitude to either Muslims or Arabs for having supported his candidacy.
-
- But it could be a good lesson in
politics for us.
(Ray Hanania is a
Palestinian American writer based in Chicago and a regular contributor
to MMN. His columns are archived
on the web at www.hanania.com)
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- Source:
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- by the same author:
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