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Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
Rattled by government raids on their homes and American support for Israel in the Middle East's escalating violence, American Muslims rethink their 2000 endorsement of the president.
Apr 2, 2002 | During the 2000 election, Muslim-American organizations urged constituents for the first time to vote as a bloc. Muslim leaders were attracted to George W. Bush's televised pledge during the second campaign debate to do away with secret evidence often used against Muslim immigrants by prosecutors. They hoped he could bring a fresh perspective to the troubles in the Middle East. They found him more willing to meet with Muslims during the campaign than Vice President Al Gore.
And so the Muslim community's umbrella groups, aiming to win some clout, urged America's estimated 6 million Muslims (the exact number is in dispute) to vote for Bush. And according to the groups' internal polls, they did, in overwhelming numbers -- and played a crucial role, for instance, in Bush's victory in Florida.
Today, some are wondering what their votes accomplished. Many Muslims have been watching the unfolding war on terrorism at home with growing concern since Sept. 11. They were worried when the government refused to release the identities of more than 1,000 foreigners, mostly Arab or Muslim, detained by law enforcement; disturbed when deportation trials were held in secret; upset when federal agents fanned out across the country to interview thousands of young Muslim foreigners; and troubled when U.S.-based Islamic charities were raided during Ramadan by government agents seeking evidence of terrorist ties.
But much of the Muslim criticism of Bush and his administration was muted in the period after Sept. 11. Leaders were reluctant to appear unpatriotic. At the same time, they were genuinely grateful for law enforcement's aggressive response to post-Sept. 11 hate crimes and for the explicit comments the president made about how the United States' war was targeting terrorists, not Muslims. "When the president talked about American Muslims as being part of the solution, there was a feeling that we'd be part of the healing process," says Salam Al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. "Hate crimes were down, media sensitivity went up, and there was solidarity throughout the country. It took leadership to make that happen."
That's all changed now, thanks to two recent, defining events. The first is "the total assault on civil liberties, targeted at Arabs and Muslims," says Ali Abunimah, vice president of the Arab-American Action Network.
He's referring to a series of March 20 government raids in Northern Virginia, in which 150 federal agents seized property from 14 homes, businesses and schools run by Muslim Americans. Designed to identify organizations that may have contributed to international groups that sponsor terrorist activities, the actions were part of the Treasury Department's counter-terrorism task force, Operation Green Quest. No arrests were made.
Muslims say the raids, which targeted moderate American citizens and organizations, sent shock waves through their community. "March 20th was the turning point. This is being considered Black Wednesday," says Marayati. "These are now domestic groups being targeted, American citizens, average folks who have been harassed, whose civil liberties have been violated."
The other galvanizing episode has been the Bush administration's response to the runaway violence in the Middle East, and what Muslims see as the White House's complete capitulation to the Israeli position.
"What did Bush say over the weekend? That Israel is defending itself," says Abunimah. "Bush is unwilling to deal with the basic facts of the conflict, which is Israel is not defending itself inside its borders but that tens of thousands of troops are occupying land outside Israel." For Muslims, says Abunimah, it appears "The United States has openly decided to fight with Israel in a colonial war against an occupied people."
While politically active American Muslims are used to operating at a disadvantage when trying to shape U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, some thought Bush might be more open to their concerns. As a Republican with an energy-industry background, Bush, they reasoned, might be closer to the oil lobby than the Israel lobby when weighing the region's interests.
Plus, it was Bush's father who as president in 1991 was seen as standing up to Israel when he threatened to suspend United States loan guarantees to the country. The move, following the Gulf War, was an effort by Bush to stop Israel from building additional Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories.
"That was a sense the Bush people played up: 'I'm my father's son,' and people liked that," notes James Zogby, who is head of the Arab American Institute and served as a Gore advisor during the campaign. "There was an assumption [among some Muslims] Bush would be different, but it was without understanding the demographics of the Republican Party or that it would be more hard-line. And now we're seeing that play out."
The frustration unleashed by the domestic raids and overseas violence has led some Muslims to rethink their 2000 support of Bush.
"The feeling is the endorsement went to the wrong candidate," says Marayati, who was involved in the process to support Bush. "People feel betrayed by the Bush administration."
Yvonne Haddad, professor at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, says, "People feel used. Sort of seduced and abandoned."
Adds Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations: "The Muslim community feels let down by the administration. Most Muslims stood by it after the election. We stood by the president during the crisis and we've got little in return but a broken promise."
Grover Norquist, a conservative political activist and president of Americans for Tax Reform, helped shepherd the Muslims' endorsement of Bush, and he remains an active liaison between the Muslim community and the White House. Assessing the state of that political relationship, Norquist says, "I don't think it's broke for the Bush people and the Republicans, but they need to refocus and speak to the community."
