January
On January 20, AMCD members met with Bahman Maalizadeh of the Norooz Foundation and Erica Saghar Kasraie to discuss what is happening with refugees from Afghanistan who fled to Tajikistan to escape the Taliban. Our membership was still reeling from the disastrous withdrawal and many volunteered to help the refugees any way we could. There is no doubt American prestige and standing in the world was badly damaged by this precipitous action.
February
On February 3, members of AMCD met with American-Iranian Pastor Saeed Abedini. He gave us some fascinating background on how he went from being a radical Muslim to a Christian convert and discussed his experience of captivity in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran and was released when President Obama sent pallets of cash to the regime.
On February 16, AMCD issued a statement urging Congress to reject Iran’s insistence that they commit to an Iran deal before it was negotiated. Iran wanted an iron-clad guarantee that the US would not be able to pull out of the deal again. AMCD pointed out that there is a remedy for that: submit it to Congress as a treaty; anything less can be changed at will by the President.
March
On March 3, 2022, members of the AMCD met with Honorary Consul of Ukraine, Valeriy Goloborodko who briefed the group on the latest news coming from inside Ukraine. It was not lost on our members that the weakness displayed by our Afghanistan withdrawal contributed to the Russian decision to invade Ukraine.
On March 11, 2022, AMCD members met with Kyle Lyebyodyev who is an ethnic Russian born and raised in Ukraine to get a more in-depth briefing on the situation there. Despite Russian assertions to the contrary, Mr. Lyebyodyev said he never experienced any kind of discrimination against Russians in Ukraine.
On March 16, AMCD issued a statement on Ukraine. It begins: “While it is commendable for the US to be cautious concerning entering a possible nuclear conflict with Russia, the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy encourages a more forceful response on the part of the Biden administration to force Russia to the negotiating table to save as much of Ukraine as is possible.” And ends: “AMCD urges all parties to declare a ceasefire and begin negotiations in good faith.” It is now late August, and the war drags on.
In March we also began meeting with various candidates for public office beginning with Hung Cao who was running for the Republican nomination for Virginia’s 10th district. He won the nomination and we have high hopes for his chances in the general election.
On March 30, AMCD issued a statement praising the American Accountability Foundation for suing the Voice of America which it accuses of withholding communications that demonstrate the broadcasting service’s role in disseminating “messages opposed to American interest” after the VOA ignored over sixty Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the watchdog group. AAF alleges: “VOA has been infiltrated by anti-American, pro-Islamic state interests, and that the message of VOA had been compromised in a manner that was biased toward the Islamic state factions in Iran.”