Tuesday April 10, 2012
Watch: Hill Briefing: Religious Plurality in the Middle East
Tomorrow, AAI will be hosting a congressional briefing on the current situation of religious minorities in the Middle East. Read More »
Blog — Iraq
Thursday April 12, 2012
Iraq after the American Withdrawal
By Jeffrey Wright
When the Obama Administration announced the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq by the end of 2011, many observers warned that the decision could have disastrous consequences for the fragile Iraqi state. Opponents of the President, including likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, decried the decision as premature and politically motivated, using it as evidence of Obama’s supposed weakness in foreign policy. But, more than four months after the vast majority of American troops left Iraq, these predictions of disaster have not come to pass. Read More »
Thursday April 05, 2012
AAIF Recognizes Ambassador Kattouf for Three Decades of Public Service
This year, the Arab American Institute Foundation’s (AAIF) Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity” Awards Gala features a number of exceptional awardees. Receiving the Najeeb Halaby Award for Public Service is Ambassador Theodore H. Kattouf, president and CEO of AMIDEAST. Since 1972 Ambassador Kattouf, a former U.S. Ambassador to the UAE and Syria, has led a distinguished Foreign Service career, serving throughout the Middle East, including posts in Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. Read More »
Thursday March 22, 2012
What we have begun in Iowa will continue across the US
In the four events, I spoke to over 400. We signed hundreds of letters of concern to local Congresssmen and Senators, developed strategies to pass an anti-war plank and a Palestinian rights plank at the Iowa State Democratic Convention, and mapped out a plan to lobby Congressmen to sign onto Congresswoman Barbara Lee's House Resolution promoting negotiations and not war as the way to resolve tensions with Iran. Read More »
Wednesday March 14, 2012
AAI Releases Decade of Arab Opinion polls
AAI has launched a web-based Arab opinion poll section featuring data from the past ten years on a range of issues. Among the polling data released today are numbers showing the Syrian regime is facing increased regional isolation and that Bashar al-Assad's favorable ratings are at an all time low. Read More »
Friday February 10, 2012
Do Not Distort Calls for Moral Consistency
To be clear, the issue here isn’t the fact that the U.S. has cast a veto or two in the past that weren’t morally defensible. It’s the fact that the U.S. has used its veto to shield Israel from international criticism for its crimes against the Palestinian people more times than the combined total of all vetoes cast by all the other permanent members of the UN Security Council on all issues. Take a moment to reread that last sentence. Read More »
Thursday February 02, 2012
Fanning the Flames of Confrontation with Iran
It is only in the environment created by such headlines that Michele Bachmann can make the utterly ridiculous claim that Iranian leaders have threatened to nuke the United States without immediate public ridicule. While no threat could have been made since Iran denies developing nuclear weapons in the first place, the allegation nevertheless sounds plausible because major information outlets are constantly reinforcing the idea Iran is threatening the United States. Read More »
Thursday January 26, 2012
“Mission Not Accomplished: The Plight of Persecuted Iraqis Left Behind”
By Dalal Hillou
Although U.S. troops have been pulled out of Iraq, our responsibility there is not over. There are people still relying on us, people who need our help to ensure their safety and to secure a steady, stable future. Why, then, are we leaving our allies behind? Read More »
Wednesday January 11, 2012
“Arab Voices” Available in Paperback
Last year, AAI President Jim Zogby's book on the Arab world, Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us and Why It Matters, was released to major acclaim and brisk sales. This month, Arab Voices came out in paperback with a new section on the Arab Spring. The book, and the polling it is based on, have proved invaluable to many analysts and policy makers as they try to better understand the changes taking place in the region. Read More »
Friday December 23, 2011
Violence Mars “Arab Spring”
This morning, we heard the tragic news of twin suicide bombings in Damascus that killed at least 40 people and injured over a hundred, amid ever more valid fears that Syria is probably sliding towards civil war. Meanwhile in Egypt, footage emergedof the brutal beating and shooting of protesters, and one woman suffered a very serious head injury from repeated clubbing by the army’s anti-riot force. In Iraq, a dozen coordinated bombings killed at least 60 people and injured over 200. Could anyone have imagined this climate was less than a year away from the euphoria following Mubarak’s ouster? Read More »
Monday December 19, 2011
AAI Poll Release: Arab Public Opinion on Iraq Withdrawal
Today, the Arab American Institute released two polls on Arab public opinion regarding the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Arab political concerns in a post-Arab Spring Middle East. Among the countries surveyed were Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran. On the U.S. withdrawl from Iraq, respondents were asked (among other things) to weigh in on the state of the country today, and consequences of the war for the future. Read More »
Friday October 07, 2011
The Arena: Can Romney outflank Obama on foreign policy?
AAI President Jim Zogby responds to "Arena" Moderator David Mark's question on whether or not Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney can establish himself as a foreign policy leader in the GOP and ultimately position himself ahead of Barack Obama in the foreign policy debate. Read More »
Saturday October 01, 2011
2011 National Leadership Conference
Watch coverage of the Arab American Institute (AAI) and National Network for Arab American Communities' (NNAAC) joint three-day National Leadership Conference, September 30 - October 2, 2011, in Dearborn, Michigan. The National Leadership Conference is a quadrennial conference at which the Arab American community discusses foreign and domestic policy priorities and strategizes for the national elections. Read More »
Thursday May 19, 2011
Watch the President’s Middle East Speech and Join the Conversation
The President will deliver a speech today addressing the vast political changes that have taken place in the Middle East and North Africa over the past few months. The President's address is scheduled for 11:40am and will be live streamed. Join the conversation on Face Book, Twitter @AAIUSA and the AAI website before, during and after the speech. Read More »
Wednesday May 18, 2011
Arab Americans can Bolster U.S. Relationship with the Arab World
I received an email the other day from a community member who is no stranger to Washington politics. Her email reinforced frustration over an issue that has been a topic of discussion here in Washington for the past three months or so: the importance of an Arab American meeting with the President to discuss the Middle East. Now more than ever, Arab Americans are in a unique position to bridge the gap between the often flawed American policy toward Arab countries and U.S. interest in the region. Read More »
Thursday May 12, 2011
Stealth Provision Offers War Blank Check
Last night, the House Armed Service Committee finished marking up the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Buried deep within the Act is a provision, added by committee chairman Rep. Buch McKeon (R-CA), which seemingly offers a blank check for the executive branch to wage war without geographic, time, or justificatory constraints. According to a press release by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Read More »
Wednesday April 20, 2011
Arab American Group Provides Urgently Needed Medical Supplies in Arab World
I wanted to draw your attention to the work of the National Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA). Today NAAMA sent out a press release announcing their efforts to provide "urgently needed" medical supplies throughout the Arab World. The release cites the abysmal state of emergency medical care in Arab countries and highlights the organization's commitment to provide supplies where they are needed. NAAMA's future goal is to "have funds available not only for the ongoing tragedy in Libya but to have contingency plans for emergency medical relief wherever the need may suddenly arise in other parts of the Arab world." Read More »
Friday December 10, 2010
A Political Economy of Topics: “Jadaliyya”
A Google news search of the phrase “Palestinian Israeli negotiations” yields few heartening terms: “halted,” “delayed,” “stalled,” “crumbling,” and “doomed” are a few of the cheerier ones. Read More »
Thursday November 18, 2010
Washington Post: Bush’s Selective Use of Evidence
The Washington Post reports on President Bush's selective use of evidence in the lead up to the Iraq war. Read More »
Thursday August 19, 2010
The Big Question: Did the U.S. Succeed in Iraq?
This war has been a calamity on too many levels. It has devastated and decimated the Iraqi people (leaving an untold number killed and one-fifth of the population either refugees or internally displaced due to a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign). Read More »
What Comes First: #Media Impact or Influence? discussed on @aaiusa blog #Arab American Institute http://t.co/CiGquFfO @ramahkudaimi @ramisms
about 56 minutes ago.
#Assad gives interview to Russian channel, warns other countries that "sow chaos" in #Syria could suffer same fate: http://t.co/0m0whyNt
about 1 hour, 32 minutes ago.
Have truer words ever been spoken? “What’s important is the policy, not the tourism" -- http://t.co/y7LTODbT #Countdown #Israel #Romney
about 1 hour, 54 minutes ago.
Be Part of the Change!
From the desk of Dr. Zogby
Netanyahu Creates a Big New Government to Do Nothing But Survive
Benjamin Netanyahu, ever the master maneuverer, has done it again. Just moments before the Israeli Parliament was to ratify the call for new elections, the Kadima Party announced that it had completed negotiations with the Prime Minister and would join the government producing Israel's largest governing coalition in history (including 94 of 120 Members of the Knesset). The announcement sent shockwaves throughout the region and here in the US. Speculation was rife about what this sudden move might mean. Read More »
Viewpoint with James Zogby: Barbara Slavin, Ron Kampeas, Shane D’Aprile
Barbara Slavin, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and correspondent for Al-Monitor; Ron Kampeas, Washington Bureau Chief for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), Shane D'Aprile, editor of Campaigns & Elections. Read More »
2009 Homeland Security Testimony
The subcommittee's meeting today to explore whether there are risk factors or preincident indicators of terrorist activity identified by intelligence and law enforcement organizations to enable them in thwarting attacks while preserving -- let me repeat that -- preserving individuals' right to privacy and civil liberties. Read More »
Upcoming Events
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May 26 2012
Annual Tunisian American Celebration Day - Ibn Khaldun Award 2012
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May 31 2012
RAWI Fourth National Conference
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Jun 21 2012
ADC National Convention
