One month after the September 11 attacks, Tom Campbell accepted a
lifetime achievement award from a Muslim group at a conference in
which speakers cited poverty and U.S. policy toward Israel as the
“root causes” of terrorism.
And in 2000, Campbell, who as now, was running for U.S. Senate in
California, raised $35,000 from Muslim groups “grateful for his
efforts to cut aid to Israel,” according to a newspaper account
at the time.
The American Muslim Alliance held its annual conference in San
Jose California on October 14, 2001, and an article from the
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, recounted: “In
light of Sept. 11… the convention’s focus shifted to urging that
the U.S. government re-evaluate its foreign policy—specifically
its positions on Israel and Iraq.”
According to the account:
American Muslim leaders have urged the Bush administration to
address the root cause of terrorism and re-evaluate its foreign
policy in the Muslim world in order to eradicate terrorism….
The U.S. needs to address poverty, illiteracy and other
problems in the Muslim world. Speaker after speaker agreed that
bombing Afghanistan, supporting a violent Israeli state and
placing sanctions on Iraq is no way to end terrorism.
“Killing Osama bin Laden will not be enough,” said AMA
vice-chairman Dr. Shabbir Sardar. “Unless we have a fair
foreign policy the Osama bin Ladens will keep coming. Our
foreign policy has been way too one-sided.”
The account says that Dr. Agha Saeed, leader of the AMA,
presented Campbell with a lifetime achievement award. Saeed had
already been a controversial figure at this time. In her 2000
Senate campaign, Hillary Clinton returned money raised by the
group.
Here’s the New York Times report from October 2000:
Mrs. Clinton said she was offended by remarks attributed to
members of the organization, the American Muslim Alliance. The
group’s president (Saeed) has been quoted as defending a United
Nations resolution that he said allowed for the use of armed
force by Palestinians against Israel, while other members have
been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks.
During the conference at which he presented Campbell with an
award, Agha Saeed declared, “an Osama bin Laden arises where
there is poverty and other social ills.”
Back during his 2000 campaign for Senate, according to a
Forward article
from the time (registration required), the group also helped
raise money for Campbell.
More from the Forward:
“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Mercy-Giving, the
American Muslim Political Coordinating Council and the American
Muslim Alliance of New York request the honor of your presence
at the Support Tom Campbell for Senate Fund-Raising Dinner….
Requested Donation $250 per person,” said an invitation to the
event. The invitation praised Mr. Campbell’s votes to cut aid
to Israel and weaken anti-terrorism legislation. It also
stressed his support for a Palestinian-Arab state and
opposition to sanctions on Iraq.
So, in 2000, Campbell was raising money from Muslim groups on the
basis of his votes against Israel and his views on foreign
policy, and now he’s claiming those same positions are being
misrepresented. Meanwhile, a month after Sept. 11, he was willing
to accept an award from a group that was pushing the view that
the root causes of the attacks were poverty in the Muslim world
as well as U.S. support for Israel. Either Campbell was
misrepresenting himself then, or he’s misrepresenting himself
now. It can’t be both.
