Mideast meets Midwest

Politics | Middle Easterners form a large voting bloc in Midwest swing states, and many have reason to support the war on terror | Priya Abraham

Some of the scenes could have been Republican National Convention flashbacks: raucous applause for the topple of Saddam Hussein and chants of "Four more years!" But in this case, the 800 or so Americans cheering President George Bush's foreign policy were of Middle Eastern descent—a constituency that many think turned on him after 9/11.

The outsized gathering at Washington's Wardman Park Marriott Hotel earlier this month pledged its support for democratic reform in the Middle East and the war against terror. But as a preelection event, attendees more pointedly wanted to show that Muslim and Arab advocacy groups who criticize President Bush do not speak for the entire Middle Eastern community.

Some 30 groups represented Christians, Muslims, and Jews, hailing from countries ranging from Sudan to Iran. Underscoring their support for the president, organizers issued Mr. Bush an invitation to keynote the event. Many are naturalized Americans who fled political repression in their homelands and formed or joined advocacy groups after finding refuge in the United States. Others, such as Lebanese-American André Savelieff, do not subscribe to narrow cause groups. An Ohio manufacturing engineer who came to the United States in 1976, he described himself only as a "concerned U.S. citizen." He had strong words for John Kerry, whose views on the war in Iraq from televised debates were fresh on his mind.