May 2, 2003	Friday	Safar 29, 1424

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1: Arab Americans have launched a new group called Arab-American Republicans Against Bush (AARAB) to oppose President George W. Bush in next year’s presidential election.

Arab-Americans gave critical votes and financial support to George W. Bush, a Republican, in his year 2000 election campaign.

“Over the past two years, we’ve been treated to ethnic profiling, detention without trial, INS dragnets, the closing of our community institutions and a foreign policy that seems designed to keep America at perpetual war with the Arab world”, said Khalid Turani, founder of the AARAB.

Key to the group’s opposition to Bush’s reelection is the overwhelming influence being exerted by Christian-rightists.

“When Franklin Graham, a man who calls Islam an ‘evil and wicked’ religion, is invited to offer the Good Friday prayer service at the Pentagon, that tells us how Islam is viewed by this administration,” Turani added.

The president’s unwillingness to distance himself publicly from their racist agenda has led many former Bush supporters within the Arab-American community to doubt the president’s contention that his ‘war on terrorism’ is not a war on Islam.