Chanting "Get out of Najaf, get out of Iraq," Iraqi-Americans assembled Friday to protest fighting in the Islamic holy city and demand sooner-than-scheduled elections in their native country. "Stop the guns from talking and let's negotiate!" Imam Husham Al-Husainy, leader of the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center, shouted through a bullhorn while leading 50 men and boys as young as 5 in the peaceable, hour-long demonstration. Some held hand-lettered signs that read, "Occupation is not liberation" and "No puppet government in Iraq." A handful of black-clad women stood silently off to one side of the demonstrators outside the Shiite mosque. Al-Husainy led chants that alternated between English and Arabic, offered prayers for peace in Iraq and called for elections ahead of the Dec. 31, 2005 target date. The cleric, who strongly supported the U.S. invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, also spoke directly to President Bush: "You are abusing the democratic values of America. Where are the elections you promised us? ... If you can't bring peace and democracy to Iraq, then you don't deserve to be re-elected."
Iraqi-Americans remain grateful that the U.S. military overthrew Saddam, but question the legitimacy of Iraq's interim government, said Youssef Fawaz, corresponding secretary for the Greater Detroit chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "They're really agitated right now," he said. "Let's get (Iraqis) to be able to choose, not people chosen by the administration." Ali Haiber, an automotive engineer from Wayne County's Canton Township who attends services at the Karbalaa center, agreed with Fawaz that Iraq's current leaders don't have a valid claim to power. "They're just hand-picked. They're just puppets," said Haiber, a native of Pakistan who attended the demonstration with his two young sons. Friday's protest was the latest of several staged by Al-Husainy and other Arab religious leaders in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. Southeast Michigan has the highest concentration of Arabs in the United States; in Dearborn, Arab-Americans make up about a third of the population. 
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