With the subjects of terrorism and Iraq fresh on everyone's mind after last night's Presidential debate, a coalition of Mid-East, Persian Gulf and African immigrants to the United States is staging a symposium and dinner tonight in Washington, D.C. supporting America's leadership in the war against terrorism; and our intervention in Iraq.

Members of the press are invited (details at bottom). Any takers?

The Middle Eastern American Convention for Freedom and Democracy is a broad-based group of Lebanese-Americans, Chaldo-Assyrians, Egyptian Copts, Kurds, Saudis, Sudanese, Iranians, Libyans, Berbers and many others.

They have in common something many critics of current U.S. foreign policy lack: personal experience with despotism, tyranny, brutality and disenfranchisement. And they insist these are the "root causes" of terrorism.

A leader of the coalition, Walid Phares, a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, has more, in today's Frontpagemag.com.

A gigantic lack of understanding of all that is Middle Eastern has been overshadowing the national debate....Mideast Americans needed to be freed from the chains of mistrust. They needed to be represented by new faces.

....Today in the United States, thousands of Americans of Middle East descent are joining forces to answer the anxious questions of their neighbors: "Yes we are fully Americans and we feel this is our country which we love and want to defend against Terrorists," said the organizers of a historic conference to take place in Washington DC on Friday October 1, 2004. "It is time for our communities to break the silence imposed by the oil backed elite," said Tom Harb, a member of the American Lebanese Alliance, a group that co-sponsored the event. John Michael, a medical doctor from Chicago revealed that, "tens of thousands of Assyrians and Chaldeans have sided since day one with the U.S. when it decided to liberate our mother country – Iraq – from the bloody Saddam."

The forum will include speakers from different affiliations, a mosaic never seen before in Middle Eastern America. “At these dangerous and critical times, we want to provide a forum for all Middle Eastern Americans who support the United States in the war against terror and applaud the fact that the Middle East has one less tyrant after the fall of Saddam,” said Dr. Joseph Gebaily, the Convention’s executive director. “As primary victims of the prevailing intolerance in the Middle East, we strongly support the war on terrorism and efforts to promote democracy in all nations of the Middle East.”

What exactly will happen this evening? Phares:

This convention will allow participants to exchange views and ideas with longtime veterans of the struggle against terrorism and tyranny. Despite their diverse backgrounds, the participants share a historic and deeply motivated allegiance to the United States and aspire to see a free and peaceful Middle East.

...In sum, the alternative voice of Middle Eastern Americans is rising. Americans and others will at last be able to bear witness to a captivating and vital moment of post 9/11 history, where Arabs of all walks of life come together to show their solidarity against terror.

PROGRAM DETAILS, WHEN, WHERE, ETC.

The convention includes a discussion forum from 5 to 6:30 p.m. that will address U.S. foreign policy, Iraq, Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Syria’s occupation of Lebanon, the genocide in Darfur, women’s rights, and democracy. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., the discussion will continue over dinner. A representative from the Bush administration and Members of Congress have been invited to attend. The Convention is sponsored by American associations from Arab, Kurd, Chaldo-Assyrian, Iranian, Sunni, Shia, Christian, Sudanese, Maronites, Mauritanian, Berber, Aramaic, Jewish, and other backgrounds.

Convention Information
When: Friday, October 1, 2004
Forum, 5-6:30 p.m.
Dinner, 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Where: Wardman Park Marriott Hotel
2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington, DC
Email at Mideastoctober1@aol.com

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at October 1, 2004 10:57 AM

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