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=> The price of naivety

The price of naivety
Posted by Maggie (Guest) - Wednesday, September 13 2006, 0:12:35 (CEST)
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Zinda Says
An Editorial by Wilfred Bet-Alkhas


From Half-Full to Half-Empty
Aladin Khamis enters His Second Term in Office as President of AANF

As the Assyrian American National Federation’s annual convention went into its 73rd session in Chicago last weekend, there went into effect one of the most unfair elections by an Assyrian organization against a highly respected team of candidates and a few of its own charter affiliates. The asinine tactics employed by the current administration led by Mr. Aladin Khamis to swindle the votes were reminiscent of the ploys used by Mideast dictatorships. For some, including myself, this was not a surprise; I had already railed bitterly against the election of Mr. Khamis and the forthcoming tragedy in an editorial two years earlier (click here). Today, AANF is in serious trouble and may even within months (if not weeks) witness its first break-up, as a number of its deeply perturbed affiliates plan to withdraw their membership and form a new federation in the United States. Although the formation of a more operative umbrella organization in North America is welcome, the AANF must be salvaged from the hands of a group of corrupt hooligans who have hijacked this organization in the name of the Assyrians in the homeland.

Too often at the AANF conventions, the music blasting from the ballrooms in the evening and the messily organized educational seminars during the day tend to obscure the more basic story of what truly goes on in the meetings of the AANF executive committees and the delegates to the convention. Actually nothing of significance related to the wider patterns of the most pressing issues facing the Assyrians goes on in these meetings. Due to the ineffective leadership of its current executive committee, the Assyrian American National Federation, once the official voice of the Assyrian people in America, is now written-off as simply the organizer of a large annual Assyrian shindig.

How did we get here?

The AANF troubles began a few years back when the supporters of the Assyrian Democratic Movement in the U.S. determined that the largest Assyrian organization in North America ought to be dominated by the Zowaa sympathizers and a substantial portion of its funds be transferred to Iraq for the humanitarian projects underway in the North. AANF is one of the Assyrian federations around the world with membership in the Assyrian Universal Alliance. Hence, attempts were made in the past few years to readdress this issue and withdraw AANF’s AUA-membership to fully reshape this organization as an ADM construct. In the past every such attempt has failed miserably.

In 2004 the supporters of the ADM helped elect Mr. Aladin Khamis to the presidency of the AANF. While he took no significant steps to represent the Assyrians in the U.S. as the historic events were unfolding in Iraq, Khamis’ administration focused on building a greater ADM constituency in America, by becoming involved in strengthening the Assyrian National Council of Illinois and the pro-Mar Bawai faction in California and Chicago. For the latter, the steps taken were as noticeable as allocating $25,000 for the production of a television program whose producers endorse the movement propped up by the fans of Mar Bawai Soro in California. Moreover, the Khamis administration transferred the editorial duties of the Assyrian Star magazine last weekend from the skilled hands of Mr. Andrew Bet-Shlimon to Mr. Sam Darmo, who produces yet another pro-Mar Bawai television program in the U.S. called "Assyrians For Justice". At the banquet dinner last Sunday evening, Mr. Sheba Mando of the Assyrian National Council of Illinois was, not surprisingly, selected as the Assyrian Man of the Year.

This year, the supporters of Mr. Khamis found themselves facing a formidable challenger – Mrs. Janey Golani, whose husband, Mr. Atour Golani, was the president of the AANF prior to Mr. Khamis. Mrs Golani's father, the late Aprim Rayis, was also the Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance in the early 1980s. As is eloquently noted in Mrs. Jenny Golani’s article in this week’s THE LIGHTHOUSE section, deceitful tactics were once again utilized by the AANF cronies to force Goalni to withdraw her nomination last Sunday.

An investigation by Zinda Magazine, led by a law firm in California, now reveals that several affiliates represented at the convention lack a legal structure in their own States, namely Nevada, California, and Illinois. Four Assyrian organizations in California have no record of being listed with the California Secretary of State. These are:

Assyrian American Association of San Diego
Chaldean Assyrian American Association of San Diego
Assyrian Community Center of San Francisco
ChaldoAssyrian Association of San Diego
Further research indicated that the corporate status of the Assyrian American Society of Las Vegas has been revoked.

In Illinois, the Mar Zaia Assyrian Organization and the Ishtar Assyrian Ladies Organization are not registered as valid corporate entities within the State of Illinois.

The Khamis administration has allowed these non-existing organizations to enter the executive meetings of the AANF and vote. When asked to reveal the credentials of the voting affiliates, Mr. Khamis refused to honor Mrs. Golani's request. A constitutional right of any one affiliate was clearly taken away.

It is time that the law abiding affiliates of the Assyrian American National Federation take a firm stand to expose the fraud that has been perpetuated on the Assyrian community in America by the hooligans led by Mr. Aladin Khamis and his close associates. AANF is a 501c3 non-for-profit organization and can be legally held accountable for its questionable practices supporting the religious and political groups in the U.S. and abroad. Its books must be opened to public scrutiny, independent auditors, and its officials held accountable for every penny that has changed hands from one committee to another.

The sad commentary on the affairs of the AANF is that a group of dishonest Assyrians with shady intentions have hijacked the oldest Assyrian federation in the world by means of fraud and trickery under the guise of support for Assyrians in Iraq, the ADM in particular. Ironically, both the Assyrian Democratic Movement in Iraq and Mar Bawai Soro who sought changes in the practice and structure of the Assyrian Church of the East have and will continue to suffer a backlash from the involvement of such incompetent sponsors. The radicals behind Khamis operating from within the AANF foolishly encourage and champion the unnecessary split in the Assyrian Church of the East, and naively hinder support and assistance for the workers, teachers, students, administrators, and security guards managed by the ADM authority in Iraq. They must be legally stopped.

The AANF cannot continue without an effective leader. Mr. Aladin Khamis has for the last two year proven to be unproductive and must be removed. Since the Federation is under the auspices of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, the affiliates of the AANF should at once demand that the leadership of the AUA negate or reverse the election results from the 73rd session and hold an emergency meeting to conduct new elections, monitored by the AANF’s legal council and independent third-party auditors.

Finally, a topic dear to my own heart is the fate of the Assyrian Star magazine. Under the direction of Mr. Andrew Bet-Shlimon and the editorial and technical assistance of his staff this magazine was resurrected as one of the most informative and well-written Assyrian publications in recent history. Zinda Magazine urges the affiliates of the AANF to overturn the decision of the executive committee and return this prized institution to the capable hands of the respectful affiliate in Massachusetts.

The Assyrian American National Federation was formed in 1933 in response to the massacre of the Assyrians in Iraq. Seventy-three years later this institution which once welcomed the Middle Eastern dignitaries and even the Shah of Iran to the U.S., is once again reshaping itself before the events developing in Iraq. With the support of the Bush administration in Washington, the Kurds' drive for independence may soon materialize in the formation of Kurdistan where a network of long-term American military bases will be created. Last week, while Assyrians gathered at their national convention in Chicago, Masoud Barzani banned the Iraqi flag to be flown atop any of the official buildings in the Kurdish-controlled areas. Where is the definitive voice of the Assyrian people in the U.S. that can effectively present the Assyrian case before the Bush Administration and Congress, and initiate a series of talks directly with the Kurdish lobby in Washington?

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. The role of the affiliates of the Federation to uphold this institution’s historic position to represent the Assyrians in America and to aide Assyrians in Iraq and elsewhere must be brought into renewed prominence. Mr. Aladin Khamis is ineffective as a leader and his supporters are a caustic destructive force whose dark motives must be stopped - legally and promptly. The law-abiding affiliates of the AANF who practice tolerance and partake in openness are urged to act quickly in the next few weeks and put in motion the legal measures necessary to clean house in Chicago and transfer power to a team of intellectuals in our midst who can successfully represent Assyrians in the United States and before this country's policy makers.

The Most Talked About Book of the Year has Arrived !

Frederick A. Aprim's
Assyrians: From Bedr Khan to Saddam Hussein
www.fredaprim.com



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