DEARBORN – The Michael A. Guido Theater at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center was filled to its 1,2000-seat capacity and then some Monday night’s rally for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, with some supporters even watching the event on a video screen outside. As many as 4,000 people reportedly also watched his speech or attempted to watch it in the lobby outside altogether. 

Hussein Saghir (left), a grad student at MSU’s medical school, helped organize the event and introduced Dr. Paul.

The event, titled ‘Doctors for Dr. Ron Paul,’ and organized by the Arab Student Union of the University of Michigan-Dearborn and local doctors, was attended by a large crowd of Arab Americans as part of a high-energy rally in support of the Texas Congressman, who again re-iterated his positions on restoring civil liberties, drastically slashing the military budget and going after the private central bank, the Federal Reserve.

“We’re getting a wonderful reception across the country, there is a real need for something different and the people are recognizing it,” he said. Paul added that he has criticized the current administration often in the past three years but said that it hasn’t been that period that has brought America to its current financial and other crises. 

“It occurred over a long period of time, liberties aren’t lost overnight, we’ve changed our entire foreign policy and monetary policy,” he said. “The freedoms we’ve lost have been eroded gradually and steadily and now we’re at a crisis point with not much to lose, because when a president announces that he can assassinate American citizens (through the National Defense Authorization Act) and Congress can give him the power to arrest all Americans at any time and any place, we’re coming desperately close, if we haven’t already, to lost our republic, it’s time to stand up and the American people are waking up.” 

Arab Student Union Director of Political Action Abdullah Ayad said that the organization chose to invite Paul because of his stances on important issues rather than any particular political affiliation. 

“I believe it shows our community isn’t blinded to choose a Democratic or Republican base (per se) on the issues, Ron Paul is a revolutionary man who stands up for what’s right,” he said, adding that the massive turnout exceeded the ASU’s expectations. 

Prior to the event, the Arab American Republicans also announced that they would endorse Dr. Paul.

Nasser Beydoun of the organization said that Paul was the best option because of his honesty and conviction in a field of candidates that has been universally panned by analysts.

“Gingrich is an invented candidate,” he said, poking fun at his roundly-criticized comments about Palestinians being an “invented people.” 

Paul spoke out against the NDAA and the wasteful spending of U.S. wars and foreign policy. PHOTO: Nafeh AbuNab/TAAN

“Santorum is a right-wing fanatic and Romney, nobody knows which way the wind is blowing (with him), these candidates are (dividing) the party instead of basically trying to do to the right thing for everybody.” 

Publisher of The Arab American News Osama Siblani spoke as part of the introductions, holding up a copy of the previous week’s issue with an endorsement for Paul on the cover. 

“We believe that Dr. Paul is the best man for the job, he brings a sense of sanity and sincerity to the race and he is the candidate who cares the most about America,” he said. 

The applause, and boos after Paul began spoke about the NDAA, were at times deafening. Hussein Saghir, an organizer and Michigan State grad school student in medicine, introduced Paul and was lauded for his speech by the candidate. He spoke about the title of the event and how it related to Paul. 

“Our republic is ill and in need of caring hands of people like Dr. Paul who has sworn to restore liberty,” he said. 

Paul later spoke with media, saying that he was “very pleased” to have the endorsement of The Arab American News, adding that his concerns about foreign policy are similar to those held by Arab Americans. The doctors he spoke with also had major concerns about the medical system.

“A lot of doctors here are concerned about trends in medical programs, what Obamacare does, along with wasteful spending overseas and their interest in that…”

A need to restore civil liberties was also cited as a reason for support from Arab Americans. 

Dr. Paul poses with young Arab American supporters.

“I think people who look a little bit different sometimes are more abused on civil liberties so they’ve been very receptive to that message.” 

Regarding foreign policy, Paul answered two hot-button topics that many candidates haven’t touched. 

He was asked about Sen. John McCain’s wishes to arm Syrian rebels and also the situation in Bahrain. 

“I think it is foolish (to arm Syrian rebels), it demonstrates the warning of President Eisenhower who said, ‘Watch out for the military industrial complex,’ they’re looking for a chance to sell more weapons and I think we need less weapons in this world…They belong to the people.” 

Regarding Bahrain and Saudi Arabia crackdowns, he again spoke out against U.S. policies. 

“I talk about, why are we ignoring the same kind of conditions in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (as places like Syria, Libya etc.), their people are resentful against the puppet governments we put in power there and yet we do nothing,” he said. 

“Right now there are dictators in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, they are our dictators but there’s oil involved, we’re not about to encourage that, I’d still follow the same policy, I’d let them deal with it and get out of the middle of those fights because the blowback eventually comes,” he said citing the overthrow of the Iranian regime in 1953. “The sooner we can get out, the better.”