Arab American News Focus: Boykin, Clark, Negroponte, Kucinich, Pharoan

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Still Boykin Around...
The Guardian reports that "Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders... US forces in Iraq's Sunni triangle have already begun to use tactics that echo Israeli operations in the occupied territories, sealing off centres of resistance with razor wire and razing buildings from where attacks have been launched against US troops." As if this weren't bad enough, "US special forces teams are already behind the lines inside Syria attempting to kill foreign jihadists before they cross the border, and a group focused on the 'neutralisation' of guerrilla leaders is being set up, according to sources familiar with the operations." According to a "former US intelligence official" quoted in the article, "This is basically an assassination programme...This is a hunter-killer team...It is bonkers, insane. Here we are - we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams." And guess who is one of the "planners behind the offensive?" Lt. General William Boykin, the high-ranking Defense Department official who caused a minor controversy recently over his religiously charged rhetoric about Christianity and Islam. What a perfect choice!

Clark Courts Arab Americans
Retired General Wesley Clark met with Arab American leaders on December 7^th in Michigan and attended fundraisers in Dearborn and Franklin. Clark also recently sent out a letter to Arab Americans. Here's a sample of what he had to say: "Many Arab Americans have felt the brunt of this administration's radical vision of our country, one in which law-abiding civilians are afraid of a government they thought was supposed to protect them, not harass them. The slew of arrests, arbitrary detentions, monitoring and racial profiling has turned up less than a handful of leads, and more importantly, they have only alienated innocent people - people our country needs and values tremendously. The Bush Administration seems to have adopted a blanket strategy of treating an entire population as a threat. John Ashcroft's and President Bush's ideology is not just an attack on Arab Americans, it's an attack on core American values."

A Recipe for Isolation and Disaster...
Is it any wonder that the United States has so much trouble convincing the United Nations of anything significant these days? Just look at what U.S. Ambassador to the UN John D. Negroponte put forth in October. '"The Negroponte Doctrine' concerning UN Security Council Resolutions on the Middle East" has five points:

1) A robust condemnation of acts of terrorism and all forms of incitement to terrorism. 2) An explicit condemnation of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades as organizations responsible for acts of terrorism. 3) Call for dismantling the infrastructure, which supports these terror operations, wherever located, in compliance with UNSC Resolution 1373. 4) Call upon all parties to make a commitment to pursue a negotiated settlement. 5) A recognition that the issue of Israeli withdrawal to the September 28, 2000 positions is connected to an improvement in the security situation through reciprocal steps by the Palestinians and Israelis, as called for by the Quartet.

Go Dennis!
The Forward reports that "Representatives for seven of the nine Democratic presidential candidates squared off this week on issues of importance to the Jewish community, ranging from health care and abortion to Israel and the war on terrorism." According to the article, "Seeking to undo missteps early in the campaign by his candidate Howard Dean, Matt Dorf, reaffirmed his candidate's commitment to a secure Israel but said he could not support the current plans for the security fence put forward by the Israeli government." Representative Dennis Kucinich's representative "sought to distance his candidate from the pack. 'Some people think that being a good Jew means you have to support Ariel Sharon and his policies. I don't agree with that,' said Bob Ginsburg. 'You may think that we should build walls and more settlements and, if you feel that way, then you should not support Kucinich.'"

Oh C'mon! People Just Shouldn't DO This!
According to the December 6^th edition of the Washington Post, Arab American waiter Mohamad I. Pharoan "who has worked for seven years at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore said he was sent home yesterday prior to a presidential fundraiser by a manager who asked him just one question: 'Is your name Mohamad?'" Pharoan, a U.S. citizen, "said that he was not told why he was being sent home, but that he believed he was singled out by the U.S. Secret Service or the hotel's security staff because of his ethnicity or religion... 'I think it's discrimination just because of my name.'" According to Pharoan, "An employee from the hotel's personnel office checked off his name on a master list...About 15 minutes later...the Hyatt's banquet manager pulled him aside and asked about his first name. It was a strange question...because he was sure the manager knew his name." After saying that his name was indeed Mohamad, the manager said "I'm sorry, we cannot use you today -- you have to go home." Also, "John Gill, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said it was not responsible for sending Pharoan home." In a later article, however, the Post states that the "Secret Service took responsibility yesterday for sending an Arab American waiter home from his job at a Baltimore hotel before a presidential fundraiser last week. But it said the decision resulted from confusion over his work schedule, rather than from ethnic or religious discrimination." Hmmmm.

Is It Really Just Bad PR?!?
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that "Israel may be rebuilding a crucial weapon in its defense arsenal - P.R. The Israeli Cabinet is reviewing a Foreign Ministry proposal to make public-relations fallout an integral part of regular debate about diplomatic and military measures." The report goes on to state that some "think radical change cannot come swiftly enough for Israel -which, according to Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and president of the Israel Project, is losing the battle for American hearts and minds. After three years of intense media coverage of the Palestinian intifada, Americans tired of the seemingly endless violence increasingly are neutral on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she said. A November survey for the Israel Project by Neil Newhouse found that 62 percent of 800 registered voters said the United States should remain neutral in the conflict. While she calls the result 'frightening,' Laszlo Mizrahi said the survey found even more disturbing trends: Forty-seven percent of Republicans said the United States should side with Israel in the Mideast conflict, a feeling shared by only 22 percent of Democrats. In contrast, 49 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of Democrats believe the United States should remain neutral. At the same time, Americans are increasingly willing to draw moral parallels between Palestinian terrorism and Israel's military responses, she said: Forty-five percent of American voters say Israel "acts much like the terrorists it is fighting," up from 39 percent in July. "It's three years of the same message over and over again - Israel is shown in the media as being the aggressor and an oppressor," Laszlo Mizrahi said. "Eventually, people begin to believe it." Amazingly, "some observers say the fault lies primarily with Israel's failure to effectively manage news coverage, rather than the failure to win public approval for specific policies."

Heard Around Town...
From a December 10, 2003 Israel Policy Forum publication by MJ Rosenberg: "Policymakers in Washington need to follow the example of Ehud Olmert and Yossi Beilin and utter not mantras of "support" for Israel, but offer solutions that will allow Israel to live up to its potential. If Ehud Olmert and others within Likud are bold enough (and honest enough) to address reality, Americans must be as well. As one Congressional aide put it, 'once Members of Congress get the news that Ehud Olmert favors withdrawal from the territories and sharing Jerusalem, they will have to think twice about offering their resolutions criticizing the President for daring even to consider pushing both sides. Who deputized them to be more Catholic than the Pope?'"