JEDDAH, 19 January 2003 — Former US Congressman and author Paul Findley gave a lecture at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry entitled "The False Image of Islam: An Emergency Challenge" yesterday.
Findley discussed the role of the United States in the world and the domestic implications of the Bush administration’s "overreaction" to the Sept. 11 atrocities.
"The patriot act, combined with the homeland security bill, is a retreat from solid and revered American principles," Findley stated. "This has led to racial profiling, detention without charge, the fingerprinting of people and broad wiretapping which has now become a fact of life."
Findley is a founding member of the Washington-based Council for National Interest and served for 22 years as a member of Congress for Illinois.
He is the author of several books, including "Silent No More: Confronting America’s False Images of Islam", "Deliberate Deception: Facing the Facts about the US-Israeli Relationship" and "They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby".
In a question and answer session following the lecture, Findley also dealt with the dramatic change in US foreign policy after 9/11.
"The American military is now the self-appointed policemen of the world, which means the US government will decide when and where war is justified. This is American imperialism, and that’s a very sobering thought," he explained.
"Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this doctoring is that the authority for pre-emptive acts of war lies exclusively with one person: The president of the United States".
Patriotism, he asserted, is in its true form very different to the flag-waving kind currently in vogue in the US, and he spoke from his experience as a World War II veteran.
"The flag waving we have right now is what I call super-patriotism, and combined with a bellicose foreign policy it leads to a very troubling situation".
The United Nations has taken a back seat and adopted more of an advisory role, and that has made it a mere specter of what it was intended to be, according to Findley.
He stressed the importance of improving Islam’s image in America.
"The task of erasing false images is the most urgent job that is needed and it can be done," he declared. "And that’s why I’m here."
