Arab Americans call on making the difference between US government and people

US embassy in Algiers hosted a meeting on Sunday between a number of Algerian journalists and elite of Americans of Arab Islamic origins to talk about dialogue between religions and Arab American relations.The delegation came within a tour in the Arab region under the patronage of the US government.

It presented ideas and messages said to be “independent” from the official position of the Bush administration and “is not meant for propaganda” for any governmental side.

The US delegation tried to show an idea about a “pluralist and tolerant society which guarantees individual and collective freedoms to all religious and ethnic minorities.”

The delegation included Doctor Rachid Abdou, a surgeon of Yemeni origins, Wafa Huballah, a Lebanese lawyer and Radwane Massmoudi, founder and president of the Democracy and Islam Study Centre.

 They dealt with their experiences in studies, stay and professional success in the United States of America.

The participant journalists took part in the debate and unanimously said that it is difficult to be convinced in the American guests’ messages and ignore the consequences of the Bush administration on Arabs.

A journalist from a daily Arabic newspaper asked whether Doctor Abdou and Lawyer Huballah would have got the same professional and social success opportunities if they entered America after the September 11th’s attacks.

 A journalist from another newspaper gave the example of the Spanish prime minister’s remarks after Madrid’s bombings in which he said war against terrorism begins from a real democratization of the regimes which lead it. Earlier, the delegation had made presentations at Islamic Sciences University and transmitted similar messages.