Signs Point to Big Kirk Victory

Dr. Richard L. Benkin

Congressman Mark Kirk, Republican of suburban Chicago has been the US Congress’s staunchest and most constant defender of Weekly Blitz editor and publisher Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. For the first months after the courageous journalist’s arrest in late 2003, it was difficult for me to interest too many people in his plight. It looked as if the Bangladeshi government calculated correctly that they could do what they wanted to Shoaib without anyone caring. Little by little, however, more people were beginning to care. And the aide to my own Congressman [actually, Mark Kirk] asked me to “keep bugging” the Congressman’s office. The United States was in the midst of a close Presidential election, and every member of Congress was up for election as well; not dissimilar from this year. That meant that everyone vying for time and attention in our nation’s capital had to realize that the likelihood of success was going to be slim. It was no different for me, and so I used the time to build bridges and set the basis for achieving success as soon after the election as possible. Then, less than three weeks after the vote, I walked into the Bangladeshi Embassy in Washington and “demanded” the release of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. The ensuing event was pretty funny, as my entrance was the most attention the embassy had received in months! I spent over two hours there making my case for Shoaib’s immediate release, and more than one of the embassy officials admitted that there was no evidence to support the charges or his imprisonment. One of them admitted to me that he had “researched the case and could not find anything bad about [Shoaib Choudhury] except that some people don’t like him.” He admitted that was no basis for what was being done to Shoaib. After every one of the lame excuses provided the embassy by the BNP, I would ask, “Then why is Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury in prison.” They were never able to answer that question. The point of that seemingly pointless encounter was twofold. First, it let the Bangladeshi government know that its attempt to appease its Islamist partners by corrupting the judicial system was not being ignored, and that Shoaib’s defenders were not going away. Second, the encounter sent a few ripples through Washington.

Thus, it was not long after the new Congress took office that I received a call from that Congressional aide, Jeff Phillips. He told me that Kirk was taken by my continuous efforts and by Shoaib’s tremendous courage. He also had experience helping politically oppressed individuals before. That changed everything in our struggle. Within a matter of weeks, I was meeting with Kirk and Bangladeshi ambassador Shamsher M. Chowdhury, a command performance in the Congressman’s Washington office. Three weeks after that meeting, Shoaib was released. Mark Kirk has not flinched in his continuous fight for Shoaib and for justice in Bangladesh. He has proven to be an individual who—again, contrary to statements made by the BNP government—does not attach himself to issues for political expediency, but does so out of a deep commitment to justice.

That is why it was not surprising that in the lead up to the 2006 elections, the BNP-Jamaat government seemed almost giddy about a possible Kirk defeat in the midst of what became a Democratic landslide. A few officials were bold enough to say that they expected a Kirk defeat and so had no intention of doing anything about the Shoaib Choudhury case. One even admitted that while there is strong support for our efforts in both political parties, “Mark Kirk is really the heart of the support” and without him, the BNP believes they can accomplish their goals in the United States without taking action that might “anger the radicals.” Again, the BNP miscalculated and while their leaders are enjoying the hospitality of the Bangladeshi prison system, Mark Kirk emerged from that 2006 election as possibly the strongest Republican in the State of Illinois and certainly one of the most highly-respected in the Congress.

As we approach another US election, it is possible that the current Bangladesh government is making a similar, potentially fatal miscalculation. We began receiving some positive signs from the Bangladeshi government but of late, there has been little more than silence. In the meantime, all potential trade legislation for Bangladesh is dead in this Congress. The international press has been giving readers in South Asia the mistaken impression that the election is all but over and that we can expect a huge victory for Barack Obama and for Democrats in general. A left-leaning media in the United States often gives a similar impression. All objective signs, however, say otherwise. Current polls show Republican John McCain and Obama in a virtual dead heat for the race; and historically, Obama does much better in pre-election polls than in the actual voting.

While we are not seeing another “death watch” for Mark Kirk by Islamist radicals and government appeasers, as we saw in 2006, the lack of communication or follow up on promised action could be a passive-aggressive manifestation of the same misplaced hopes. Mark Kirk is a Republican Illinois Congressman; Barack Obama is a Democrat from Illinois. The way US voting goes suggests that Obama running as President will help all Illinois candidates in his party. This gave encouragement to newcomers like Kirk’s opponent Dan Seals, who could not defeat Kirk in 2006 despite a democratic landslide victory, especially in Illinois. National and world events, however, have dampened any enthusiasm resulting from those trends.

While Mark Kirk has been recognized time and again in recent months for legislative initiatives on energy policy; freeing the US from dependence on foreign oil; foreign policy and strengthened relationships with allies like Israel; countering racist and dangerous action by despots like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad; and on numerous other issues. The most exposure Seals received, on the other hand, was a failed campaign stunt to highlight the rise in petrol prices that resulted in a lot of angry voters and a $2200 fine! And the result has been greater confidence in a Kirk victory.