Why Kerry has the "Arab" vote

[igloo]

The useful idiot Michael Moore must be proud......

KERRY WINS THE ARAB VOTE

By AMIR TAHERI

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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August 18, 2004 -- ALTHOUGH attempts at linking President George W. Bush to the Arabs have generated a veritable industry in the past two years, there is evidence that most Arabs favor his Democratic Party challenger Sen. John F. Kerry. A Zogby poll taken this month shows that in the November presidential election Kerry is likely to collect more than two-thirds of the Arab-American vote. A similar pattern is emerging in the Arab world itself.

"If it were up to us, it would be 60 percent Kerry, 40 percent Bush," says Iyad Abu-Chaqra, an Arab columnist who has followed American politics for years. "Most Arabs have one dream this year: to see George W. Bush booted out."

Dislike for Bush has created the most curious Arab coalition in a long time.

The pan-Arab nationalists are angry at Bush because, toppling Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime in Baghdad, he destroyed the illusion of a "strongman" leading Arabs to unity and socialism. "It may take a generation before anyone talks of Arab unity without being laughed out of the room," says columnist Ahmad Rabii. "Those who dreamed of an Arab superpower will never forgive Bush." The pan-Islamists also dislike Bush, but for different reasons.

They see his talk of democracy as an attempt at preventing them from establishing their "ideal Islamic" system based on the Shariah rather than elections.

Bush's "Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative" is seen by Islamists as "a plot to impose a Western model."

"The Muslim world is not a blank sheet on which Mr. Bush could draw what he likes," says writer Walid Abi-Merchid, who would vote for Kerry if he could. Opposition to Bush's plans for democratization in the Middle East is put even more dramatically by Muhammad Shariatmadari, a mullah of Arab origin now acting as an advisor to Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi.

"Bush is trying to develop an American Islam," Shariatmadari says. "He thinks that Americans will not be safe in their homes until the Muslim world is dominated by pro-U.S. governments."

That view is echoed in sermons preached at mosques throughout the Middle East, Europe and the United States in recent weeks with an eye on the forthcoming American election.

One theme of these sermons is that Bush's call for free elections and reform in the Muslim world amounts to "an act of cultural aggression."

"Our Prophet did not run for office in any election," the sermon says. "He did not win any political debate. [instead] he won the war against the infidel."

A deep-seated fear of elections is one key feature of the Islamist political psyche. The Koran includes a chapter entitled "Parties" (Ahzab), to warn against splitting the Umma (the community of the faithful) into rival political groups vying for power. "Kerry's recent statement that he would abandon Bush's democracy campaign in the Muslim world will please many Islamists," says the novelist Rubee Madhoun.

At an official level, most Arab and other Muslim governments are careful not to take sides. But it is clear that most want Kerry to win.

Since almost all Arab regimes could be described as despotic, it is clear that they all feel targeted by Bush's calls for reform and democratization.

Bush has committed himself to changing Washington's 60-year-old policy of supporting the status quo in the region. It is, therefore, no surprise that all regimes in the region feel threatened to some degree. Their hope is that under a President Kerry, the United States would abandon Bush's "adventurous attempt to remould the region."

"America needs a new perspective," says Javad Zarif, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to the United Nations. "The United States must change attitudes that have harmed its interests in the region."

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has echoed similar sentiments in private conversations. He describes the liberation of Iraq as "the opening of the gates of Hell." In a recent meeting in Cairo, he told a visiting European diplomat that Kerry would be able to "close those gates."

The anti-Bush sentiment of the ruling elites in the Middle East is reflected in efforts to screen "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore's celluloid attack on the U.S. president. Last week, the mullahs running the Farabi Cinema complex in Tehran scrapped the season's program to screen Moore's "documentary."

"This film unmasks the Great Satan America," a spokesman said. "It tells Muslim people why they are right in hating America. It is the duty of every believer to see [this film] and learn the truth."

With the exception of Kuwait, which has banned it, Moore's film is shown or sold in pirated cassette form throughout the Arab world. Anti-American Arab television stations, including one owned by the Lebanese branch of the Hezbollah, have broadcast chunks of Moore's attack on Bush with commentaries more virulent than the original.

"We may not be able to drive the Americans out of Iraq," says Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader in Lebanon. "But we can drive Bush out of the White House by heating things up in Iraq." Bush is also seen as too pro-Israel in his Middle East policy.

"I would rather have [israeli Premier Ariel] Sharon than Bush," says Abu-Chaqra. "The Palestinians may have a chance with Sharon; they have none with Bush."

Bush, however, has some supporters in the Arab countries and in the broader Muslim world. "The Arabs have never known what is good for them," says Iraqi columnist Adnan Hussein. "This is why they hate Bush. But what is Bush saying? He is telling them that their regimes are corrupt and bankrupt and that they have no future without democracy."

The Nobel prize-winning novelist Neguib Mahfouz expressed similar sentiments in a recent column published in a Cairo newspaper. He warned that any reversion by the United States to the policy of supporting the status quo is a setback for democracy in the region. Mahfouz believes that Bush is right in his diagnosis that lack of democracy breeds terrorism in the Middle East.

Other pro-reform writers, notably Daoud Kuttab, Ahmad Bishara and Abdul-Mun'em Saeed have also called on the United States to remain true to Bush's promise of supporting reform and democratization in the Muslim world.

Some Arabs, however, believe that, whoever is elected in the United States, there will be little change in Washington's policies in the Middle East.

"What we have is the madness that strikes the Arabs every four years when the Americans have a presidential election," says Walid Jumblatt, a Lebanese former minister and leftist leader. "The truth is that there is nothing in this [the American election] for the Arabs. Whoever wins, the fact remains that the United States is against the Arabs on all key issues, starting with Palestine."

[fresinha12]

because Arab Americans are stupid.....whatelse can I say about a group of people who first voted for bush because of their hatered towards a jewish candidate (not lewinsky, ah it was lieberman, yup) and now they are voting for kerry cayse he seem to be a little less tough on iraq (as though it seems)

The useful idiot Michael Moore must be proud......

KERRY WINS THE ARAB VOTE

By AMIR TAHERI

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Email Archives

Print Reprint

August 18, 2004 -- ALTHOUGH attempts at linking President George W. Bush to the Arabs have generated a veritable industry in the past two years, there is evidence that most Arabs favor his Democratic Party challenger Sen. John F. Kerry. A Zogby poll taken this month shows that in the November presidential election Kerry is likely to collect more than two-thirds of the Arab-American vote. A similar pattern is emerging in the Arab world itself.

"If it were up to us, it would be 60 percent Kerry, 40 percent Bush," says Iyad Abu-Chaqra, an Arab columnist who has followed American politics for years. "Most Arabs have one dream this year: to see George W. Bush booted out."

Dislike for Bush has created the most curious Arab coalition in a long time.

The pan-Arab nationalists are angry at Bush because, toppling Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime in Baghdad, he destroyed the illusion of a "strongman" leading Arabs to unity and socialism. "It may take a generation before anyone talks of Arab unity without being laughed out of the room," says columnist Ahmad Rabii. "Those who dreamed of an Arab superpower will never forgive Bush." The pan-Islamists also dislike Bush, but for different reasons.

They see his talk of democracy as an attempt at preventing them from establishing their "ideal Islamic" system based on the Shariah rather than elections.

Bush's "Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative" is seen by Islamists as "a plot to impose a Western model."

"The Muslim world is not a blank sheet on which Mr. Bush could draw what he likes," says writer Walid Abi-Merchid, who would vote for Kerry if he could. Opposition to Bush's plans for democratization in the Middle East is put even more dramatically by Muhammad Shariatmadari, a mullah of Arab origin now acting as an advisor to Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi.

"Bush is trying to develop an American Islam," Shariatmadari says. "He thinks that Americans will not be safe in their homes until the Muslim world is dominated by pro-U.S. governments."

That view is echoed in sermons preached at mosques throughout the Middle East, Europe and the United States in recent weeks with an eye on the forthcoming American election.

One theme of these sermons is that Bush's call for free elections and reform in the Muslim world amounts to "an act of cultural aggression."

"Our Prophet did not run for office in any election," the sermon says. "He did not win any political debate. [instead] he won the war against the infidel."

A deep-seated fear of elections is one key feature of the Islamist political psyche. The Koran includes a chapter entitled "Parties" (Ahzab), to warn against splitting the Umma (the community of the faithful) into rival political groups vying for power. "Kerry's recent statement that he would abandon Bush's democracy campaign in the Muslim world will please many Islamists," says the novelist Rubee Madhoun.

At an official level, most Arab and other Muslim governments are careful not to take sides. But it is clear that most want Kerry to win.

Since almost all Arab regimes could be described as despotic, it is clear that they all feel targeted by Bush's calls for reform and democratization.

Bush has committed himself to changing Washington's 60-year-old policy of supporting the status quo in the region. It is, therefore, no surprise that all regimes in the region feel threatened to some degree. Their hope is that under a President Kerry, the United States would abandon Bush's "adventurous attempt to remould the region."

"America needs a new perspective," says Javad Zarif, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to the United Nations. "The United States must change attitudes that have harmed its interests in the region."

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has echoed similar sentiments in private conversations. He describes the liberation of Iraq as "the opening of the gates of Hell." In a recent meeting in Cairo, he told a visiting European diplomat that Kerry would be able to "close those gates."

The anti-Bush sentiment of the ruling elites in the Middle East is reflected in efforts to screen "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore's celluloid attack on the U.S. president. Last week, the mullahs running the Farabi Cinema complex in Tehran scrapped the season's program to screen Moore's "documentary."

"This film unmasks the Great Satan America," a spokesman said. "It tells Muslim people why they are right in hating America. It is the duty of every believer to see [this film] and learn the truth."

With the exception of Kuwait, which has banned it, Moore's film is shown or sold in pirated cassette form throughout the Arab world. Anti-American Arab television stations, including one owned by the Lebanese branch of the Hezbollah, have broadcast chunks of Moore's attack on Bush with commentaries more virulent than the original.

"We may not be able to drive the Americans out of Iraq," says Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader in Lebanon. "But we can drive Bush out of the White House by heating things up in Iraq." Bush is also seen as too pro-Israel in his Middle East policy.

"I would rather have [israeli Premier Ariel] Sharon than Bush," says Abu-Chaqra. "The Palestinians may have a chance with Sharon; they have none with Bush."

Bush, however, has some supporters in the Arab countries and in the broader Muslim world. "The Arabs have never known what is good for them," says Iraqi columnist Adnan Hussein. "This is why they hate Bush. But what is Bush saying? He is telling them that their regimes are corrupt and bankrupt and that they have no future without democracy."

The Nobel prize-winning novelist Neguib Mahfouz expressed similar sentiments in a recent column published in a Cairo newspaper. He warned that any reversion by the United States to the policy of supporting the status quo is a setback for democracy in the region. Mahfouz believes that Bush is right in his diagnosis that lack of democracy breeds terrorism in the Middle East.

Other pro-reform writers, notably Daoud Kuttab, Ahmad Bishara and Abdul-Mun'em Saeed have also called on the United States to remain true to Bush's promise of supporting reform and democratization in the Muslim world.

Some Arabs, however, believe that, whoever is elected in the United States, there will be little change in Washington's policies in the Middle East.

"What we have is the madness that strikes the Arabs every four years when the Americans have a presidential election," says Walid Jumblatt, a Lebanese former minister and leftist leader. "The truth is that there is nothing in this [the American election] for the Arabs. Whoever wins, the fact remains that the United States is against the Arabs on all key issues, starting with Palestine."

[igloo]

because Arab Americans are stupid.....

Is that politically correct?

[fresinha12]

Ya know, since when did it become politically incorrect to voice ones opinion????...our fucking constitution has the 1st and 4th amedments just for that particular reason, 1st gives the right to your opinion and the 4th to bear weapons to defend urself incase some nutcase wants attack you for your opinion....

Is that politically correct?

[philippio]

Political Correctness is a form of censorship.

[mursa]

...maybe the Arab American vote goes to Kerry , since this current administration has done squat with issues such as the Israli/Palestinian conflict .

....1000 new homes to be built in a israeli settlement ...things are definetly going forward .

[igloo]

Ya know, since when did it become politically incorrect to voice ones opinion????......

This is a good fucking question.....I would like to get that answer from someone on this board who tends to swing to the left

[fresinha12]

MURSA: good point, have u ever heard kerry on this topic, the SOB say it is right for isreal to kill people in missile attacks, even if those attacks kill innocent people, and first of what fuckin democracy (besides ours) kills people without going thru due process, i.e prove in a court of law if someone is a terrorist....so for the arab americans i just dont see their logic y they would support one facist for another????

...maybe the Arab American vote goes to Kerry , since this current administration has done squat with issues such as the Israli/Palestinian conflict .

....1000 new homes to be built in a israeli settlement ...things are definetly going forward .

[igloo]

...maybe the Arab American vote goes to Kerry , since this current administration has done squat with issues such as the Israli/Palestinian conflict .

....1000 new homes to be built in a israeli settlement ...things are definetly going forward .

Is the Arab-American vote the only thing that you took away from this....

I thought the comments from Arabs outside the U.S. was more relevant

[jtk4]

isn't kerry a little jewish, or am i smoking crack.

I thought I heard something about someone in his family being of jewish decent. It could be the crack though.

On the article, I guess arab-americans do not like bush. Unless they are rich and have ties to saudi arabia then they do.

[bigpoppanils]

This is a good fucking question.....I would like to get that answer from someone on this board who tends to swing to the left

Political correctness is horseshit.

[daprofessional]

what fuckin democracy (besides ours) kills people without going thru due process, i.e prove in a court of law if someone is a terrorist???

those homocidal terrorists in Israel would blow themselves up at any sign of capture (just to take out a few israelis), trying to treat them like civilized people who respect a system of law would just bring about more death.

[daprofessional]

sorry double post

[tasrit]

because Arab Americans are stupid

but those Arab Americans are ...Americans

[tasrit]

A deep-seated fear of elections is one key feature of the Islamist political psyche. The Koran includes a chapter entitled "Parties" (Ahzab), to warn against splitting the Umma (the community of the faithful) into rival political groups vying for power. "Kerry's recent statement that he would abandon Bush's democracy campaign in the Muslim world will please many Islamists," says the novelist Rubee Madhoun.

What a stupid comment. There is no "one united Umma". Democracy can't split the Umma, because the Umma splitted more than 600 years ago.

[fresinha12]

They are stupid Americans, thats right....

but those Arab Americans are ...Americans

[tres-b]

Not all Arabs are terrorists, however the fact of the matter is that nearly all terrorists fighting against the US are Muslims and or Arabs. As a result much of the Arab population here support them. This support comes in many forms. Voting for a candidate that would fight a more "sensitive" war on terror is an excellent way to protect the animals who would behead every one of us if given the chance.

Support Terrorism. Vote for John Kerry.

Why dont all you Democrats go worry about earth day, sensitivity training, relationships with France/Germany/Russia and the rest of our "allies"? You clearly lack the conviction and guts it takes to defend civilization.

[jtk4]

i do not even know where to begin with that post.

[fresinha12]

yo idiot...I am calling arab americans stupid, cause they voted for bush in the first place......

Not all Arabs are terrorists, however the fact of the matter is that nearly all terrorists fighting against the US are Muslims and or Arabs. As a result much of the Arab population here support them. This support comes in many forms. Voting for a candidate that would fight a more "sensitive" war on terror is an excellent way to protect the animals who would behead every one of us if given the chance.

Support Terrorism. Vote for John Kerry.

Why dont all you Democrats go worry about earth day, sensitivity training, relationships with France/Germany/Russia and the rest of our "allies"? You clearly lack the conviction and guts it takes to defend civilization.

[jtk4]

Why would arab americans not vote for bush 4 years ago. I don't get it. Are you saying that arab americans should of known that bush hates arabs?

I am not saying he hates arabs i am just wondering the reasoning behaind the comment.

[fresinha12]

absoultely, bush is a taliban version of evengelist, he as governor of texas has the highest record of executions, mostly poor african americans.....he and his associates (richard perle, paul wolfowitz, doug feith) are known to be arab haters, infact doug feith had written a book 6-7 years back suggesting a humiliating beating of the arabs so they could be broken down...of course doug feith who is a isreali-us dual citizen had israels interest in mind....there is a saying you can judge a person by the company he keeps.....

arab americans were stupid that they did not see bush for what he is, even though there were plenty of people foretelling about bushes extreme religous connotations etc......

Why would arab americans not vote for bush 4 years ago. I don't get it. Are you saying that arab americans should of known that bush hates arabs?

I am not saying he hates arabs i am just wondering the reasoning behaind the comment.

[jtk4]

oh ok.

i think that bush does not hate all arabs just the poor ones

[tres-b]

Actually, the Arab Americans voted for Bush in 2000 b/c for various reasons, they felt he would do a better job for them than Gore. Now, in 2004 they have changed their minds. The reason is pretty clear. We have systematically hunted down, captured, or killed many of their culture's heros. As a result, the Arab American vote has swayed toward Kerry, someone who is far more concerned with feelings than right and wrong.

Wake up people. bin Laden and his followers view us as "infidels". We, as Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc. should be converted or conquered. The hatred for America is at an all time high. 3rd world leaders who all but enslave their people while living in luxury(Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran) blame us for all evil while collecting the check for oil. If you dont understand that, you are the idiot.

[fresinha12]

They voted for bush cause they hate jews....they did not want liberman as VP.....I'm glad they are getting what the deserve.....arab americans have'nt realized that america is not about religon, here america comes first b4 any religon....arab americans picked bush cuz he was a supposed religous man and they hate jewish people....

Actually, the Arab Americans voted for Bush in 2000 b/c for various reasons, they felt he would do a better job for them than Gore. Now, in 2004 they have changed their minds. The reason is pretty clear. We have systematically hunted down, captured, or killed many of their culture's heros. As a result, the Arab American vote has swayed toward Kerry, someone who is far more concerned with feelings than right and wrong.

Wake up people. bin Laden and his followers view us as "infidels". We, as Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc. should be converted or conquered. The hatred for America is at an all time high. 3rd world leaders who all but enslave their people while living in luxury(Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran) blame us for all evil while collecting the check for oil. If you dont understand that, you are the idiot.

[jtk4]

so now they would vote for someone who is a quarter jewish?