Arab Enclaves? This isn't the Middle East
Reader comment on item: Monitoring Iraqis Living in the United States

Submitted by Bob (United States), Nov 20, 2002 at 20:58

Other than working with individual Arabs who can provide authorities the information they need to combat Iraqi-sympathizers in the United States, I see absolutely no reason why the "Arab-American" community should be consulted by the administration or anyone else. This isn't the Middle East where local strongmen and formal or informal networks control various factions or enclaves and thereby decide whether or not the community works with the larger state to achieve the state's stated ends. That arrangement may work in Lebanon and Egypt, but it doesn't fly in the U.S. And if we've come to the point where Arabs, or any other ethnic or religious group, has the ability to dictate the level of cooperation state officials receive, then it's time to take even stronger action to break up such networks in order to prevent the further Balkanization of our communities.

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