◆ SpookStack

- ae A A NP TT mr TET STI. se eye eres: ot Bene NATIONAL ASX OCIATION OF ARAO AMERICANS ° 1825 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 211, Washington, D.C. 20009 202-797-7757 NAAA Statement for FBI Director William Webster The FBI has developed a credibility problem in the Arab-American community resulting from FBI activities that may have had a valid goal but that had a highly prejudicial side effect on Arab-Americans in the process. Arab-Americans are loyal and law-abiding citizens whose support the FBI needs for its legitimate purposes, but in order to regain this support the FBI must develop a cultural awareness still lacking. The deplorable effect of ABSCAM on the public's perception of Arabs (and by extension Arab-Americans ) has no doubt been made clear. Never- theless, it is important to reiterate our concern that if this negative effect never occurred to the planners of ABSCAM, it serves to underscore the need for heightened cultural sensitivity within the FBI. The popular image of the Arab is regrettably a two-dimensional caricature with lots of money and low moral values. Apparent Administration endorsement of this image in ABSCAM must be condemned. Operation Boulder, mandated by President Nixon following the 1972 _ Munich Olympics tragedy, was intended to screen out potential "Arab terrorists" but resulted in a massive "fishing expedition" that saw good and decent Arab-Americans harrassed, embarrassed, and humiliated --sometimes publicly-- by FBI officials attempting to link them to illegal activities solely on the grounds of their cultural origins. Operation Boulder was a black chapter in the history of Anerican civil rights and government interference. The FBI can and must take steps to avoid such mistakes in the future. NAAA stands ready to provide assistance in cultural interpretation of Arab, Arab- American, and Islamic subjects to FBI officials upon request. We urge that the FBI take the initiative in this regard. The United States has vital national interests in the Arab World, and the Arab-American community serves as a link with the Arab World, reinforcing traditional bonds of friendship with the region. It is important that Arab- Americans have confidence in all the branches of our government, including the FBI. March 6, 1980 CATS Fy ae