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MPAC
Meets with Secretary of State Colin Powell -- Here's
Why
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Secretary of State Colin
Powell spoke to over a dozen representatives of Muslim
and Arab American organizations on Thursday, January 17
at the State Department. The meeting was a continuation
of the dialogue between the State Department and
community-based organizations. Assistant Secretary of
State for Near East Affairs, William Burns, and the
State Department's spokesperson, Richard Boucher, also
addressed the group.
This isn't the only activity
MPAC is involved in on Capitol Hill or with the
administration as a whole. This meeting with Secretary
Powell was just one of many executive level meetings
with the Department of Justice, Customs, the FBI,
Department of Treasury, Department of Defense and the
Office of Homeland Security.
Why the meeting? Was
it worth attending? These are the questions we ask
ourselves and hear from others when such interaction
takes place.
The meeting did not conclude in a
change of policy and will not directly lead to any
change in the immediate future.
Change in US
policy requires more from our community than attending
meetings. It requires organized, sustained efforts in
coalition with like minded groups both at the grassroots
and national levels. It requires a strong voice in the
media, both print and broadcast. It requires thoughtful
analysis and not superficial press releases or photo
opportunities.
The dialogue with the State
Department, and other federal agencies, for that matter,
is important because this dialogue constitutes an
incremental means of overcoming exclusion within the
decision-making process in America. Failures in current
US policies in the Muslim world are directly
proportional to the exclusion in Washington of
legitimate American Muslim voices representing the
mainstream.
We hear many complaints about
exclusion. It would be foolish, therefore, to exclude
ourselves by declining invitations from the Secretary of
State or the President or any US official and complain
about exclusion simultaneously. Moreover, we are not
only speaking to office-holders, but we are speaking to
the offices created by our constitution.
We are
also paving the road for our future generations to have
a chance in defining themselves in the national public
arena and in influencing the agenda-setting within the
US decision-making apparatus. That approach is the most
effective means of overcoming the bigotry and hatred
towards Islam and Muslims today.
The US
government yearns for more support of the current
policies from our community. We can support minor
achievements, such as the dismantlement of 21 illegal
Israeli settlements from Gaza and the transition from
dictatorship to self-governance in Iraq. We can also
criticize setbacks.
But our support or opposition
is not the barometer of success or failure of the
policies. We merely reflect the sentiment of Muslims
worldwide, and decisions affecting their lives should be
made in their cities, not in Washington.
Our
country, the United States of America, is in the midst
of a dangerous era: the sentiment in the Middle East is
shifting dangerously to opposition not just to U.S.
policies but to American values themselves. This trend
does not bode well for our national image or interests.
Do we promote human rights and democracy in a genuine
manner or are we giving imperialism a free ride? That
question alone needs our commitment and service now more
than ever. Our absence would be a severe mistake, and
the involvement of every American Muslim in these
crucial questions is a patriotic and religious
duty.
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| How Does MPAC
Help Muslims & Islam in
America? |
As a matter
of policy, MPAC DOES NOT accept any funding from foreign
governments. The political and financial independence of
MPAC will sustain the future of Islam in America. MPAC
relies on your financial support to sustain its
activities and represent the sentiments and interests of
American Muslims not foreign governments.
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