Arab Christian Press Conference

Wednesday,August 02, 2006

Marriot Courtyard
Detroit Michigan

As an activist, an academic, and a writer, I am speaking out against the Bush Administration’s latest assault on Lebanon. This is not exclusively an Israeli war on Lebanon. This is an American war on Lebanon. Besides the billions we give Israel on a regular basis, the Bush administration agreed to send precision bombs to Israel, without the consent or approval of the American people. If the U.S. allows the use of Depleted Uranium like they did in Iraq, then the Americans will be funding the continued campaign to kill innocent civilians and especially children. Cancer rates are extreme in Iraq and survival is exceptional. This is what the U.S. is promising for the Lebanese people as well. Of course we are angry, we are shocked, and we will not accept this indecency. My anti-war position is not to defend a militia group. My anti-war position is on the side of innocent people who are not combatants. Why should we wage war against the people of Lebanon and the people of Iraq and the people of Palestine? The world is seeing us, Americans, as aggressors and as haters of Islam and haters of the Muslim world. This situation is not about religion; it is about diplomatic and reasonable approaches to crisis. Israel and the United States are the ones with powerful weapons and they are destroying a nation in the name of self-defense. No one outside the U.S. believes these lies. Arab Americans are speaking out against the assault on our heritage and our homelands. We are Americans who are asking this administration to respect international standards of human rights and to stop supporting illegal war devastation.