Will someone explain to these nits that 'potential energy' doesn't come from 'potential drilling'?
Sheesh.
In a note in his diary, former President Carter disclosed how, in 1977, the Arab lobby pressured him while he was involved in the negotiations between President Sadat and PM Begin. He wrote about Arab Americans “They have given all the staff, Brzezinski, Warren Christopher, and others, a hard time.”
After the 1967 war, the Arabian American Oil Company ARAMCO established a fund to present the Arab side of the conflict. In May 1970, ARAMCO representatives warned Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Sisco that American military sales to Israel would hurt U.S.-Arab relations and jeopardize U.S. oil supplies.
Among the more notable individual members of the Arab lobby in recent decades was the late Clark Clifford (died October 1998), whom The New York Times described as a key adviser to Democratic U.S. presidents beginning with Harry Truman, and as an influential paid lobbyist for Arab sources. Another key figure in the Arab lobby has been Fred Dutton, former Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs and special assistant to President John F. Kennedy. On July 19, 2005, The Hill, a newspaper about the U.S. Congress, reported that Dutton (a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia) had worked assiduously to persuade Congress to approve two major arms sales to that nation.
During a January 1998 U.S. Congressional Delegation briefing in Damascus, Congressman Nick Rahall (D – West Virginia), who is of Lebanese descent, said:
“Our [Arab] lobby in the United States is growing in its influence and its participation in political campaigns across the spectrum. Our trip [was] sponsored by the Arab American Institute — one of those most effective lobbying groups of the Arab groups in Washington — and a relatively new group, the National Arab American Businessmen’s Association. [Through] these groups … we are increasing our influence, and we are increasing our participation.”
Some members of the Arab lobby in America are heavily financed with money from the Arab world. Before his death in 2005, for instance, Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd made several multi-million-dollar donations to the Carter Center, whose founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, has cultivated a longstanding reputation as a pro-Arab detractor of Israel. Also as of 2005, the king’s nephew, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, had given at least $5 million to the same institution. In 2001 the United Arab Emirates (UAE) gave the Carter Center $500,000. The previous year, ten of Osama bin Laden’s brothers had jointly pledged to give the Center $1 million, as Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman had done in 1998. The Saudi Fund for Development has been another major contributor to the Carter Center, as has the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. And Morocco’s Prince Moulay Hicham Ben Abdallah has collaborated with the Carter Center on various initiatives.
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Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute is a non-profit membership organization based in Washington D.C. that focuses on the issues and interests of Arab-Americans nationwide. James Zogby, brother of pollster John Zogby, is founder and president of the AAI.
Directors
George R. Salem
Dr. James Zogby
John Zogby
Jean AbiNader
Helen Samhan
Board of Governors
Mr. Richard Abdoo
Dr. Samir Abu-Ghazaleh
Dr. Yahya Basha
Dr. Ali Bazzi
Ms. Sherine El-Abd
Mr. Michael Farah
Mr. Nijad Fares
Ms. Samia Farouki
Dr. Abdel Kader Fustok
Hon. Edward Gabriel
Mr. Samuel Halaby, Jr.
Mr. Assad Jebara
Mr. Ghassan Saab
Tawfiq Barqawi - Member of National Policy Council
Tawfiq Barqawi “is a businessman of the greater Philadelphia region. His business ventures include real estate, convenience stores, and the exportation of goods overseas. Mr. Barqawi is a member of the National Advisory Board of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Vice-President of the ADC Philadelphia Chapter, and is a member of the Arab American Institute National Policy Council.
“Mr. Barqawi was born in Palestine and raised in Jordan. In Lebanon he graduated law school in 1977, and moved to the United States in 1989. He lives with his wife Malak in New Jersey and has two children, Ahmad and Dana, both currently enrolled in college.”
Arab American Institute
1600 K Street NW, Suite 601
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 429-9210
Fax: (202) 429-9214