Below is a political ad in Michigan will be placing in major newspapers in key swing areas of Metro Detroit. It will start today, Tuesday, and run continuously until the Monday before election day.

The intent of this ad is to refute the extent of representation claimed by organizations issuing political endorsements and views in the name of "Arab-Americans". These endorsements have been over-publicized in the media and the representativeness of the organizations issuing them has been blown out of proportion.

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What are Lebanese Americans voters interested in:

http://www.2la.org/lebanonfirst/

About Lebanese Americans:

http://www.lgic.org/en/lebanese_americans.php

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Text of the add:

Lebanese-Americans Salute President Bush and our Troops

Facts about our community:

• More than 300,000 U.S. citizens of Middle-Eastern descent live in southeastern Michigan. The media mistakenly identifies them all as "Arab-Americans".

• Media reports and political analyses often fail to distinguish between "Middle-Easterners", "Arab-Americans" and "Muslim-Americans".

• In Michigan, as in the United States at large, 75-80% of citizens of Middle-Eastern descent are Christian and 20-25% are Muslim (Time Magazine survey, October 2001).

• In Michigan, Lebanese-Americans are by far the largest single group of Middle-Eastern descent. Lebanese-Americans and Chaldean-Americans constitute over 80% of all citizens of Middle-Eastern descent in Michigan.

• The overwhelming majority of citizens of Middle-Eastern descent live in Macomb County, northeastern Wayne County, and southwestern Oakland County. Less than 10% live in the Dearborn area.

• Political analyses and views, as well as political endorsements, expressed in the media under the "Arab-American" name reflect the views of a small minority of the more than 300,000 citizens of Middle-Eastern descent.

Views of Lebanese-American members:

• We are grateful to our troops and their families for their immeasurable sacrifices to safeguard America's security as well as that of the free world.

• We fully support the leadership of President Bush in the global fight against terrorism and we subscribe to his vision of spreading democracy throughout the Middle-East for a safer America.

• We recognize the 'global' nature of the war on terrorism and the vital necessity to deal with it globally. We realize the need to preemptively confront terrorism in any of its cradles to reduce the risk of facing it here in the homeland.

• We deplore the comparison of the war in Iraq after 9/11 to a supposed war on Mexico after the Pearl Harbor

attack. Saddam was an oppressor of his people and a threat to neighbors and to the free world, while Mexico was and still is a country peaceful and friendly to the U.S. Realizing the global dimension of the war on terrorism, an appropriate comparison would have been to the war America led to remove Hitler's threat to the world.

Can we imagine the world today had the U.S. not taken the lead in removing Hitler?

• We urge our fellow citizens to vote for America's security first and foremost.

Lebanese cause takes priority over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iraq for Lebanese Americans and Lebanese around the world Since 1970 till 2003: Population of Lebanese in Lebanon, decreased by 5%: from 3,150,000 in 1970 to around 3,000,000 in 2003 (excluding non Lebanese and the people naturalized by Syrian proxy regime in Lebanon) Population of Palestinians in West Bank and Gazza, increased by 100% (almost doubled) from 1,350,000 in 1970 to 3,780,000 in 2003 (excluding Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories) Population of Iraqis in Iraq, increased by 55% from 9,500,000 in 1970 to 24,500,000 in 2003 Lebanon is a small country at the Eastern cost of the Mediterranean Sea. The Nature of Lebanon, being distinguished from mostly desert-countries around, along with the impact of the civilizations that inhabited Lebanon through thousands of years reached its peak in the second half of the 2Oth century. Prosperity, Free-Economy and the “Most Civilized and Democratic” country of the region were titles of Lebanon then. However, this did not last. The major Arab-Israeli conflict has found in Lebanon a landing which to move the fight. Syrian, Palestinian and Israeli forces overtook the Lebanese territory moving their fight, since the 1970’s to the neutral country that was too small to defend herself. Arms and funding were being funneled into Lebanon while several countries, Syria, Iran, Israel, Lybia and Palestinians were sponsoring guerillas trying to take place in a battle that is not on their own land. Great destruction and hundreds of thousands of casualties (mostly Lebanese civilians) transpired in Lebanon. All the while, relatively minor events were going on the neighboring countries: Syria, Jordan Egypt, Israel and Palestinian territories. The UN Security Council issued several resolutions regarding Lebanon which were issued, but never enforced. Lebanon Now: 1.The Syrian army occupies most of Lebanon, including the main airport. It harbors and all vital agencies with 30,000 troops and about 20,000 intelligence agents (that is equivalent to sending 5 million troops to occupy the US). Syria detains hundreds of Lebanese in its prisons without charges, and refuses to implement UN Security Council resolution No. 520 that calls for pullout of non-Lebanese troops from Lebanon. 2.Palestinians-There are approximately 400,000+ ungoverned Palestinians still living in camps in Lebanon and harboring armed guerrillas and without any regard for the Lebanese people or country (This is equivalent to placing 50 million refugees in the United States at one time). 3.Israeli troops withdrew from the area of south Lebanon on May, 2000, which they had occupied for 22 years. Israel holds about twenty Lebanese in its prisons without charges. 4.The Lebanese Authorities are paralyzed by the Syrian régime who control a proxy government in Lebanon terrorizing and brutalizing the Lebanese people. 5.The Lebanese people are being forced to leave their country due to economical disaster caused by the political crisis and Syrian illegal labor-force in Lebanon. Approximately 35% of the Lebanese population left the country since 1990, when Syrian troops completely captured the capital Beirut. Lebanon, the country that used to be called “Switzerland of the East”, experiences now Ruined Economy, Pro-Syrian Totalitarian Regime and major Violations of Human Rights. Around 3 million Americans descending from Lebanese origin live in the United States. These Lebanese-Americans, up to five generations, migrated from Lebanon in several waves starting in the 19th century. Most of the Lebanese Americans came from the early waves of Lebanese Christians fleeing the Ottomans oppression around the mid of the 19th Century and during WWI. Lebanese immigration continued and was high in the 1970’- 80’s during the war in Lebanon, and in early 1990’s after Lebanon completely fell to Syrian occupation. The Lebanese immigrants of the second half of the 20th century were Christians, Muslims and Jews and of Phoenician, Arabic, Aramaic, Armenian, Hebrew and Persian ethnicities. Lebanese Americans are involved in politics with Republicans, Democrats and independents, and have a high ratio of voting among American citizens. The Lebanese-Americans and their friends, even thought they support the Peace among Palestinians and Israelis and the Freedom of the Iraqi people, have one priority in the mean time: The freedom of Lebanon from Syrian occupation. The Lebanese American community will vote for those who clearly will to work towards restoring the freedom of Lebanon by forcing the Syrians to withdraw their troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon, and support internationally-supervised elections in free Lebanon.

I thought around 1/4 of Lebanese Americans voted for Nader last time, because he's also Lebanese American.

So much for supporting Bush!