Mid-East Realities

www.middleeast.org

Business February17 ,2004 Arab-Americans raise money for Bush re-election campaign Wealthy Arab-American supporters of the US invasion of Iraq are financially backing US President Bush’s re-election campaign. Elite members Arab and Muslim communities are raising $100, 000or more for the Republican leader at a time when polls suggest that Bush’s support from these communities in plummeting, said New York Times. The newspaper named Iranian-born resident of Florida Mori Hosseini as on of Bush’s top fundraisers. The chief executive of ICI Homes has raised $200, 000for the Bush campaign, saying he was inspired by the President’s “decisive” action in Iraq. "He's the savior, if not of Iraq, but also of the other countries around Iraq. They want freedom. I am so sure of this because I am from that part of the world," explained Hosseini. Muslim supporters like Hosseini show a trend contradictory to what some polls reveal as a drop in Bush's popularity among Arab and Muslim Americans. According to a January poll conducted by Zogby International, Bush's approval rating among Arab-Americans had fallen to 38 percent from as high as 83 percent in October2001 . The drop was attributed to concern over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Approximately least3 . 5million Americans are of Arab descent, according to figures from the Arab American Institute. The ethnic grouping constitutes an community made up of several waves of immigrants from 22 Arab countries. — (menareport.com)

Mid-East Realities

www.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/2/878.htm