I am referring to 'Re-election'-obsessed President Bush is not interested in justice' Written by Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed (Post editorial dated April 22, 2004). The writer brought up the issue that President Bush was not really the elected president of the country he (the author) chose to live in. But we all have to abide by the law of the land, isn't it true? It is not the popular vote that counts in presidential election in America, it is the electoral vote. Many Muslims in America voted for President Bush. There was a national campaign in 2001 amongst Muslims living in America to vote for the Republican ticket. We all know about it. So, why is Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed so sore about Mr. Bush now? Is it because Mr. Bush's policy does not favour many Muslim nations these days? By the way, I have written articles in the past criticising the Republican policy. But before Mr. Bush turned one-hundred-eighty-degrees vis-Ã -vis his policy towards Muslim nations, I never heard Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed writing essays criticising Mr. Bush. He turned against Mr. Bush only after American soldiers landed in Afghanistan in November 2001. Let me say it quite succinctly that Muslim organisations in America were opposing the candidacy of Mr. Al Gore for only one reason in November 2001 election. Mr. Gore chose to run against Mr. Bush with a Jewish running mate. And that was the bone of contention. I would suggest Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed not to criticise Mr. Bush now because the president was the preferred candidate amongst Muslims in America. If my assertion is wrong, Mr. Ahmed can correct me. American Muslims cannot have it both ways. If Muslims in Florida had voted for Mr. Al Gore, the world's recent history would have been a different one. Who knows? Both Mullah Omar and Saddam Hussein would still be in power in Afghanistan and Iraq.***Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed's piece on April 22 has prompted me to comment on the last US presidential election. The expatriate Bangladeshis in USA with Islamic persuasion overwhelmingly voted for the Republican ticket in the last presidential election. Religion played a big role; American Muslims voted against Al Gore because his running mate Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut happened to be a Jewish American. CAIR, ICNA, ISNA and all the pro-Islamist groups in the USA campaigned against Democratic candidates.
I would not be surprised if the gentleman from Princeton followed the sermons of the preachers in US mosques. It may sound outrageous, but the Muslim votes presumably helped elect President George Bush.
It is quite surprising that some of the same Bangladeshi-Americans are crying foul at President Bush's post 9/11 metamorphosis. To them, the Republican leader is probably more pro-Jewish and anti-Arab than Al Gore-Joe Liberman duo.
Jamal Hasan, Washington DC, USA
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.