Muslim leaders meet Congresswoman to vote against war in Syria

DALLAS: A senior US Congress representative from Dallas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has said that she is leaning towards a no to vote on "war authorization in Syria".

She made this statement while talking to American Muslim Democratic Caucus Co-Chair Syed Fayyaz Hassan and Director of South Asia Democracy Watch Mr. Zahid Khanzada at Labor Day picnic hosted by Dallas County Democratic Party.

She said any war will be a burden on American economy which will not benefit America in any way.

Syed Fayyaz Hassan while praising Congresswoman Johnson's long record of opposing all wars said “this is your voting record that you have always opposed wars in your congressional carrier and we hope that you will also vote against this possible war.”

On this occasion, another representative Congressman Mark Veasey himself came to Muslim leaders to see how Muslims in general stand in this debate.

He asked what American Muslim as a whole thinks about the war as he said that Syrian community is fairly divided on this issue. Upon the question Syed Fayyaz Hassan and Raja Zahid briefed Congressman that Muslims in and around Dallas Fort Worth are generally against the war and there are no two opinion on this.

Congressman Mark Veasey said on the occasion that he knew that Syrians are divided in the middle on this question but he wanted to know the perspective of overall Muslim community.

He said that the danger is that both Hezbollah and Al-Qaida can take advantage of this situation and the fear is anti-American feelings in Muslim countries will go up from our direct involvement in this conflict.

He said that he will consider all these arguments before casting his vote for or against the bill. The leaders of Muslim community groups informed both the US representatives that Muslims living in and around Dallas Fort Worth are completely against US involvement in any armed conflict in Syria and they want that their representatives vote no on war authorization bill in US Congress and in US Senate.

The Muslim community leaders Syed Fayyaz Hassan and Raja Zahid met with a number of public representatives in this labor day picnic including County Judge Clay Jenkins, Commissioner Theresa Daniel, Sheriff Lupe Valdez, School Board Chairman Larry Duncan, Judges James Martin, Dale Tillery, Lyn Cherry, Martin Hoffman, Tonya Parker, Chris Woolmerth, Elizabeth Crowder, Carl Ginsberg, Gina Slaughter, Bill Mozur, County Treasurer Joe Wells, JP Katy Hubener, Constable Beth Villarreal, County Clerk Joseph Warren and a number of Party activists and elected representatives.

The annual Labor Day picnic is a long tradition of Texas Democratic Party where the importance of labor movement is highlighted at the same time Labor Day is typically an official kickoff for all election campaigns for the following year party primaries in March and General elections in November. Muslim's involvement in political process and visibility in these events indicates an increasing awareness and inclusiveness in political discourse.