Dr. James Zogby

In the News

‘Obama is Arab’ and other absurdities

By James Zogby
The National
Posted on Tuesday June 10, 2008

On Capitol Hill

Chuck Schumer, a Democratic senator from New York, has introduced legislation that makes a dangerous and spurious connection. Mr Schumer’s bill would block a US$1.37 billion (Dh5bn) arms sale to Saudi Arabia unless it increases oil production by one million barrels a day.

In a statement on the senate floor, Mr Schumer opined: “As we all know, the principal cause underlying the rise in gasoline prices has been the spike in crude oil prices … Because American gasoline refiners purchase crude oil on the world market, the price they pay – and ultimately pass on to consumers – is highly sensitive to the level of crude oil production … The largest member of Opec, Saudi Arabia, controls one-fifth of the world’s crude reserves and constitutes more than 10 per cent of world daily production of crude oil, making it one of the most critical suppliers influencing this market.”

On May 15, the house of representatives passed the Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Reform Act of 2008.

Like most legislation these days, the name belies the actual content of the bill. In this case, the bill focuses on maintaining Israel’s “qualitative military edge”, and requires that any proposed arms sales to countries in the Middle East other than Israel certify that they do not challenge the technological edge that Israel enjoys.

Of dubious constitutional legitimacy, the bill is simply another example of the election year pro-Israel hoop-jumping.

On the Campaign Trail

Since beginning his run for the White House, Barack Obama has had to contend with a viral e-mail campaign that has portrayed him as unpatriotic and a foreign implant out to subvert America. At first dismissed as the work of “quacks”, the effort continued and, sadly, has had some effect. As reported by Politico, these e-mails, while absurd, have come to be believed by some.

Polling, for example, shows that between 11 per cent and 15 per cent of Americans believe Mr Obama to be a Muslim. And there is plenty of anecdotal evidence pointing to some voters’ beliefs that he is “unpatriotic”, “not an American”, “a radical black nationalist” and a few other untruths.

The New York Times interviewed American Jews in Florida for a May 22 article and reported the following statements: “Mr Obama is Arab”, “He is part of Chicago’s large Palestinian community”, “al Qa’eda is backing Obama”, “Mr Obama might fill his administration with followers of Louis Farrakhan”.

The virulence of those charges and their persistent hold over a small but significant portion of the population probably explain why Mr Obama has continued to reach out to American Jews for help in correcting the record.

Arab Americans on the Ballot

On the ballot in November will be a record number of Arab Americans and American Muslim candidates for federal office.

Running for re-election in the senate will be John Sununu, the junior senator from New Hampshire, and challenging him will be Jean Shaheen, former governor and the wife of Arab American Bill Shaheen.

Running for re-election to congress will be three Arab Americans: Nick Rahall, of West Virginia, Darrell Issa, of California, and Charles Boustany, of Louisiana. Two African-American Muslims will be running for re-election, Keith Ellison, of Minnesota, and Andre Carson, of Indiana.

And at least four Arab Americans will be running to replace incumbents in autumn. They include John Steven, of New Hampshire, David Capiello, of Connecticut, Robert Abboud in Illinois and Sam Rasoul in Virginia who, at 26, is the youngest major party candidate for congress this year.

In the Media

It is one thing for preachers such as Pat Robertson and Rod Parsley to demonstrate their ignorance about Islam, it is quite another for the pages of The New York Times and members of Congress to do the same.

On May 12, Edward Luttwack was given a central New York Times op-ed spot to print a strange “analysis” of the reaction of the Muslim world to Mr Obama if he were elected president.

Far from improving relations between the US and Dar al Islam, Mr Luttwack said an Obama presidency would exacerbate tensions. Why? Because as an apostate he would “horrify the Muslim world”, and his election would “compromise the ability of governments in Muslim nations to co-operate with the United States”.

Mr Luttwack even claimed that some Muslim states would not allow Mr Obama to enter their countries.

And who is Mr Luttwack?

He came to prominence in the aftermath of the 1973 war while working as a defence analyst in Israel, when he criticised the “timidity” of Israel’s defence establishment for not taking on Cairo and Damascus.

Mr Luttwack said that such advances would have cost the lives of only a few thousand Israeli troops, which, he said, was a number so small it was within the margin of error in the census of Israel.

For that attitude, he was drummed out of Israel only to show up as a defence hawk in Ronald Reagan’s transition team in 1980.

Even stranger is the “Wake up America” campaign by Sue Myrick, a congresswoman.

Ms Myrick’s campaign calls for, among other issues, investigations of US military and prison chaplains as well as the selection process for Arabic translators at the FBI and department of defence.

The campaign also calls for suspending the student visa programme with Saudi Arabia; restricting religious visas for imams from countries that do not allow reciprocal visits from non-Muslim clergy; and cancelling contracts with the Saudi police and other forces unless it detains all repatriated prisoners released from Guantánamo Bay.

Prisoners, it should be noted, who were released because there was insufficient evidence to hold them.

Ms Myrick also has an interesting past.

Shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, she was quoted as having said: “You know, and this can be misconstrued, but honest to goodness Ed [her husband, Ed Myrick] and I for years, for 20 years, have been saying, ‘You know, look at who runs all the convenience stores across the country’. Every little town you go into, you know?”