AAI Protests Iraqi Voting in the U.S.

Zogby: Our Government Support Undervalues Our Citizenship

WASHINGTON  In a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on December 27, the Arab American Institute (AAI) expressed concern about Iraqis in the U.S. voting in the recent Iraqi elections.

AAI Chairman George Salem and President Dr. James Zogby, sent a letter of protest to Secretary Rice expressing concern that the U.S.-supported process of allowing naturalized and U.S.-born Iraqi Americans to vote (from the U.S.) may set a precedent for other émigrés in future foreign elections. The Arab American leaders state in their letter: “The thought that we might see an America where Americans are voting in foreign elections at U.S. government-supported polling places is frightening for the fragmentation it augurs.”

While Salem and Zogby acknowledge that the Iraqi election marks an important step forward for the people of that country, they fear that the process “undervalues our American citizenship” and that it may become a precedent that others may now seek to emulate.

Dr. Zogby notes: “With the Iraqi election behind us, we are calling on Secretary Rice to assure us that this practice will not be repeated.”