Hussain Abdul-Hussain

The majority of Arabs in five countries believe that Iran is playing a negative role in the region, according to the results of a recent survey by Zogby International, run by John Zogby, whose brother James is a consultant at the company. Only Lebanon, the survey found, has a majority that views Iran positively.
A closer look at the Zogby poll's methodology, however, shows that its numbers are flawed.

Zogby's Lebanese sample shows that Lebanon is 37 percent Shia, 26 percent Sunni and 37 percent Christian. Lebanon's demographic makeup, however, according to the US Department of State and Statistics Lebanon, is 27 percent Shia, 27 percent Sunni and 41 percent Christian. Population percentages are taken from the voter lists during parliamentary elections every four years. (There has not been a census since 1932, since the topic is too charged for another tally to be taken.) 

Given Lebanon's sharp political divisions along sectarian lines, over-representing the Shia and under-representing the Sunnis, if not weighted in line with actual population parameters, produces skewed results.
 
Also in the poll, in response to a question on their views on Iran, 55 percent of Lebanon's Sunnis were favorable toward Tehran. In the question that followed, though, only 42 percent of those Sunnis who were favorable toward Tehran answered yes to the statement "Iran contributes to peace and stability" in the Arab world.
Why do Lebanon's Sunnis favor a country that they think contributes to instability? Either there was an innocent mix up in numbers, or some political agenda dictates Zogby's poll.

A third mistake in the Zogby poll was its overreliance on urban populations, as opposed to rural ones. Those familiar with Lebanon's Christian demographic know that rural Christians tend to endorse a tougher line against Iran than their urban coreligionists. With those left out, the poll showed Lebanon further tilted in favor of Tehran.
 
The errors in their poll did not deter the Zogbys from trying to market their findings as a God-given truth in Washington. Over the past three decades, James Zogby in particular grew accustomed to presenting whatever findings and political arguments he pleased without being challenged—until recently.

Zogby told the Washington Post in October that when he "came to Washington 30 years ago, there were four of us [in the country] doing this work." But not anymore. Today, Zogby seems unsettled with the growing competition that is breaking his monopoly on speaking on behalf of Arabs and Muslims. "[N]ow, on any one day, there are a couple hundred people doing this work," he said.

Zogby thinks he is the only bridge between America and the Arab world. In December, he organized a meeting between a group of self-styled Arab-American leaders and White House officials to discuss the indictment, impending at the time, by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), the court investigating the 2005 murder of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri and others. It just so happened that all of the participants Zogby had chosen were loyalists to the Syrian regime who have bashed the STL.

When news of the meeting broke out, Lebanese-American backers of the STL turned the heat up on Zogby. He ranted in an online Op-Ed against what he called the "exile political groupings" who represent a "fragmented Lebanon." The groups "claiming to represent the March 14 coalition," according to Zogby, issued a statement against the meeting. In retrospect, Zogby wrote that these groups misrepresented his "desire to convene a meeting to support Lebanon," which made him believe that he was "right to exclude them in the first place."
When it comes to representing Lebanon, Arabs or Muslims in Washington, Zogby gets to cherry pick his people. Even representing March 14 is a mere "claim" on the part of the "exile groupings," which Zogby depicted as fragmented, loud and rude, perhaps unworthy of an audience with US officials.

Zogby should realize that times have changed. Arab-Americans, whether naturalized or first generation, are well versed in the ways of Washington and its political system. Many of them even have the advantage of being bilingual and having lived in the Arab world, which gives them a deeper understanding of its society.
Arabs too are not as disconnected from the world as they were when Zogby's father Joseph first immigrated to the US. The Syrians who are disseminating news of the uprising there to the world, despite the regime's ban on foreign media, prove that exclusive inter-civilization bridges are things of the past.

When Zogby first started his lucrative business, he was a big fish in a small pond. Many Arab governments hired him to lobby on their behalf and showcase their perspectives. Now that many Arab rulers are either being challenged or have been deposed, there is no reason why Zogby and his gimmicks should remain on the scene in Washington.

Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of Kuwaiti newspaper