Key Note Address: America's Middle
East policy is being scrutinized heavily during this election season;
getting it right has never been more important. The risks in the region
are exceedingly high, the challenges as great as ever, and the stakes
are reaching new heights. Many questions abound: Do we "stay the
course" in Iraq, for example, or do we change direction and find
a different way forward? If the latter option is to be pursued
it will only come about because an informed public demands it of U.S.
leadership. In assessing the way forward in the Middle East, we need
to explore the responsibility of the American public in helping shape
U.S. policy in the Middle East.
Dr. James Zogby: For the past three decades,
Dr. Zogby has been involved in a full range of Arab American issues.
A co-founder and chairman of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in the
later 1970s, he later co-founded and served as the Executive Director
of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. In 1982, he co-founded
Save Lebanon, Inc., a private non-profit, humanitarian and non-sectarian
relief organization which funds health care for Palestinian and Lebanese
victims of war, and other social welfare projects in Lebanon. in 1985,
Zogby founded the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington DC-based
organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of
the Arab American community, where Zogby currently serves as President.