General John Abizaid & Jamal Baadani Host APAAM Members at Mosaic Foundation Gala

General John Abizaid & Jamal Baadani

join their fellow APAAM Members who are hosted, honored and recognized by the Mosaic Foundation at its 12th Annual Benefit Dinner - highlighting Mosaic's Water Initiative
(photos of event and APAAM members below)

April 28, 2009

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About General John Abizaid, U.S. Army (Ret.)

John P. Abizaid retired from the United States Army in May, 2007, after thirty-four years of active service. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, he rose from second lieutenant of infantry to four-star general in the Army. At the time of his retirement he was the longest-serving commander of United States Central Command, with responsibility for an area spanning 27 countries in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and the Horn of Africa. During a distinguished career he commanded units at every level, serving in the combat zones of Grenada, Lebanon, Kurdistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

General Abizaid serves as the Distinguished Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and works with the Preventative Defense Project at Stanford University and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He speaks on leadership and international security through the Washington Speakers' Bureau. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and serves as a Director of the George Olmsted Foundation.

About Jamal S. Baadani, Founder of APAAM

Jamal felt an obligation to give back to his community, and shortly after the horrific days of September 11th, 2001, he founded the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military to represnt the Arab and Muslim American Communities in response to the backlash and discrimination resulting from 9/11.

Baadani quickly understood that the backlash and discrimination faced by the Arab and Muslim American Communities after 9/11 was mostly due to a lack of understanding by their fellow Americans. Using the U.S. Military uniform as the bridge to understanding coupled with Baadani's will to educate his fellow Americans about the Patriotism of Arab and Muslim Americans, Baadani's hope of bringing them closer together resulted in his continuing persistence to make America a better place for all Americans. Sharing in the same conviction of using the uniform and "Duty and Patriotism" as a bridge to understanding, hundreds of Arab American service-members, to include General John Abizaid, joined APAAM to share in Baadani's vision of making America a better place for all Americans.

About Mosaic Foundation's Water Initiative

On April 28th the story of the world water crisis came to Washington at the National Building Museum, as we celebrated the evening with a new, original performance by Cirque du Soleil.

Access to clean drinking water is one of the most critical issues of our time. Each year almost two million children die from causes related to a lack of clean water resources, and millions more suffer every day. The 2009 Annual Benefit Dinner highlighted the programs of the Mosaic Foundation Water Initiative, and told its story through a unique and unforgettable cultural performance. In 2009 all of the Foundations primary activities will be dedicated to the crucial goal of bringing clean water to those in need. Access to clean water is by far one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty, fight disease, and increase the quality of life for those in impoverished regions around the world.