In Letter to President Bush, Congressman Dingell Calls for Re-engagement

By Roxane Assaf

On Sept. 10, 2001, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) addressed the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations in Washington, DC. “It should come as no great surprise that throughout the Middle East the image of the United States has been tarnished,” said the Democratic congressman to an audience of politicians, diplomats, businessmen, scholars and servicemen, including Generals Anthony Zinni and Tommy Franks.

Given the harrowing events of the following morning, his words might seem prophetic now. As he stated, however, the issues were nothing new. Dingell pointed out in his speech that Monday that, in its attempts to deal with the then-yearlong al-Aqsa intifada in Palestine, Congress had been biased in favor of Israel. It was unfair to place the blame squarely on Yasser Arafat, Dingell told his listeners. He also mentioned a deliberate effort to worsen the tension in Lebanon. More disturbing still, he said, was the wedge Congress was driving into our ever-critical alliance with Egypt. “At the end of the day,” Dingell cautioned, “none of these efforts are in the interest of the United States, Israel, or any other country in the region.”

Turning his attention to economics, Dingell reminded the audience that energy is at the core of the relationship with the region. The U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of oil, while the Middle Eastern nations, collectively, are the largest suppliers.

“Perhaps it is time the U.S. responded to the current conflict in the occupied territories with as much gusto as we respond to gasoline price hikes,” Dingell suggested. “If we do not, we risk allowing the political and diplomatic stalemate to damage, if not cripple, economic ties.”

One might think the congressman would have shied away from his convictions in the wake of Sept. 11 and the outburst of patriotism that followed. Quite to the contrary, however, Dingell is relentless. In the hope that his long-term strategy to maintain pressure on the administration will pay off, on Feb. 7 the congressman wrote a letter to President George W. Bush urging him to re-engage in the Middle East peace process as an honest and fair broker. In his letter, Dingell called for General Zinni’s return to the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel in order to negotiate a cease-fire. He also pressed for the implementation of the Mitchell plan in its entirety, and for the initiation of a dialog aimed at reaching a comprehensive peace treaty.

“The violence that has embroiled the region since the start of the intifada has in no way helped Israel or the Palestinians, and has left nearly 1,200 human beings dead, many of them children and most of them innocent civilians,” Congressman Dingell wrote. “Mr. President, without meaningful, sustained, and consistent American involvement in re-establishing dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with Yasser Arafat as its leader, this problem will only fester. It will continue to cause instability in the region and the world, and profoundly harm the long-term interests of Israel, the Palestinian people, and our allies in the Middle East.”

A realist, Dingell does not mince words in criticizing his country’s foreign policy. “By censuring only the actions or inactions of the Palestinian side, we are increasingly viewed as an enabler and an obstruction to peace,” he notes in the letter. “This perception has already caused the United States to lose credibility in the region.”

And, while speaking unequivocally against the killing of innocent civilians, he insisted on the need for discovering the causes of such violence. He has concluded, he told the president, that suicide missions are provoked. “Limitations on movement, the use of American-built tanks and F-16s, destruction of homes and construction of settlements, extrajudicial killings, and the virtual detention of Yasser Arafat by Israel only fan the flames of passion and increase the appeal of extremists,” he wrote.

Certainly the economic impact is far reaching. Not only are the Palestinians suffering an unemployment rate in excess of 50 percent, but foreign investment in Israel also fell—from $11.2 billion in 2000 to $3.9 billion in 2001. “Investors liquidated $120 million in Israeli securities in December alone,” noted Dingell. The waning buck does not stop there, however. The markets in Egypt and Jordan have been destabilized by virtue of their proximity to the conflict, and those countries, too, have seen significant drops in tourism revenue. American businesses in the region also are suffering.

“As Secretary Powell has stated,” wrote Dingell, “United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, Camp David, and all agreements made in the last decade have spelled out the principles upon which a final peace settlement will be made. Israel will get security and the opportunity to forge economic, political and cultural ties to its neighbors; Palestinians will get an independent state. Israeli and Palestinian citizens alike will all have the opportunity to live normal lives. Both parties win, extremists lose, and world peace and security are enhanced.”

How, one might wonder, did the “dean of the House of Representatives”—its longest-serving member—become recognized as a leader on Middle Eastern and Arab affairs, while also authoring such healthcare legislation as the Patients’ Bill of Rights and focusing on telecommunications and the environment?

Part of the answer is obvious. His constituency in Michigan’s 16th Congressional District includes the country’s largest community of Arab Americans. According to his press secretary, during his four decades of passion for and involvement in Middle Eastern issues, Dingell has come to know and respect the cultural diversity of the Arab community, not only in his district, but also in the world at large. Dingell is a proponent of anti-hate crime legislation, having co-sponsored a bill introduced by his colleague Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI).

Dingell also has rigorously defended the basic tenets of the Constitution while opposing the use of secret evidence in the detainment of immigrants who do not receive the benefit of due process. In every case following the secret evidence rule of 1996, he has pointed out, only immigrants of Arab descent have been detained. During a House debate on this topic, Dingell quoted Benjamin Franklin as saying, “‘They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor justice.’”

As well-reasoned as his politics may be to many, of course, Dingell does have his detractors with their opposing agendas. Controversial or not, this congressman’s positions are founded in truth and fueled by a genuine belief that things can get better.

Commercial Drivers Lose Licenses

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) issued a community alert in mid-February after learning that the Michigan Department of State Bureau of Driver and Vehicle Records had canceled the commercial driver’s licenses of a number of Arab Americans. Imad Hamad, ADC’s Midwest regional director, said that the notices, sent out on the 15th and warning of cancellation on the 17th, gave the drivers no time to find out why their licenses were considered “unlawfully or erroneously issued.” “Even their basic driver’s licenses were revoked,” said Hamad.

At the request of Michigan Secretary of State Candice Miller, Stephen Madejek, director of the Driver Training and Testing Division, responded in writing to an ADC inquiry. Madejek explained that a review of skill test scoresheets revealed incorrect scoring by one examiner who, when consulted, had admitted to making an error. Therefore, he said, the Department of State had no choice but to require a retest, at no extra cost, of the individuals involved.

Of the nine drivers who received the retest notice, two decided to drop the commercial (CDL) designation rather than retake the exam. The others, according to Madejek, failed to respond to an original notice sent out in December. Furthermore, he wrote, had the examiner scored the tests correctly, the applicants would have failed the skills test, and would have been responsible for the cost of retaking it. If the drivers wish to restore their base operator licenses, explained Madejek, they need only apply and pay the nominal fees. Should they wish to reinstate their CDL, they are required to obtain a CDL Temporary Instruction Permit and ultimately pass the CDL skills test.

ADC’s Hamad is not satisfied. He pointed out a minor inconsistency, in that prior to his complaint, the drivers were to be held responsible for the cost of the retest. More importantly, however, the drivers deny ever having received a warning in December. “They were totally surprised by this letter in February,” Hamad said.

Yet there is more fanning the flames of Hamad’s cynicism. When an Arab-American driver (not one of the nine) went to the secretary of state on Jan. 3 to report a change of address, his CDL was immediately canceled. With the driver in his ADC office, Hamad called the secretary of state’s office to inquire about the incident. A worker there told him that the driver’s CDL had been under investigation since June of last year, and that the driver had never responded to correspondence. The driver said he knew nothing of an investigation. He then produced proof of having renewed his license on July 13 without a problem.

Next the secretary of state’s office said that suspicions had arisen because the driver had received a test score of 100 percent. “They were either saying he cheated,” Hamad said, “or they made a mistake.”

After pressuring for answers and fair treatment, Hamad won his client the opportunity to retest. While his original passing test score in fact had not been 100 percent, as had been alleged, Hamad confirmed that the driver did pass all aspects of the retest. However, he was denied the “H” designation allowing him to carry hazardous materials.

“I let it go at that,” said Hamad. “But now I have reason to believe it’s not isolated, and I would not be surprised if we start seeing this happening elsewhere.”

Hamad is not alone in his concerns. Michigan’s Congressman John Conyers also has expressed consternation and has begun his own line of inquiry.

As for the apparent racial bias, Madejek wrote in his letter to ADC, “If any particular ethnic group is represented in the makeup of individuals who received driver’s license cancellation notices, it is because the organization or examiner under review administered skills tests to those persons. Of the nine persons sent retest notices, it would appear that eight are of Arab heritage and one of European heritage.”

Roxane Assaf is a free-lance writer based in Chicago.