Invited by the "dean" of the CBC, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan told the lawmakers of the mission�s goals�to stop a war against Iraq and quell the violence among Palestinians and Israelis�and that the U.S. media had miscast his words in Iraq. He said he had briefed Mr. Burns via phone, but would submit a more detailed report in writing. He also gave views on some domestic issues.

The Minister also expressed support for embattled Georgia Democrat Cynthia McKinney, who faces a stiff challenge in an upcoming August primary.

"I want to say to all of you that you might think that just because you�re an individual that you don�t have weight," he said. "But God has never sent a team to do His work. He sends one man and anoints that man and backs that man with His power.

"And that�s why we love Jesus," Min. Farrakhan continued. "He was one man but he had disciples. Moses was one man but he had Aaron and he had disciples. If you feel that you are right and you are with God and God is with you, never, never compromise what is right for any position that makes you comfortable. Your real comfort has never been in comfort; your real comfort lies in the fact that you know that you are in the bosom of a mighty God and shadowed under his wings. With that kind of faith, we went forward" on the mission, he reported.

During the two-hour session, the Minister offered experiences from each of the nations visited on his June 20-July 17 Peace Mission�including the denial of entry into Israel and the lackluster participation from Blacks in the Diaspora at the recent birth of the African Union in South Africa.

He said Israel took the position of the United Kingdom, which has denied him travel to that area since 1986. Speaking frankly, he told the legislators that President Bush should be honest with the American people about why hatred exists in the world for the United States of America, not for the American people but for the policies of the government.

He explained that his delegation heard Arab and Muslim leaders express opposition to an attack on Iraq, regardless of how they felt about Saddam Hussein.

"My effort was to encourage [Arab and Muslim governments] to speak to America and the administration with one voice," he said. "When I started on this assignment, it was as if I was singing a solo. I didn�t want to sing a solo, I wanted to generate a chorus.

"I say again that the mission indeed was a success because now the whole Arab and Muslim world is speaking to our government and the president that they don�t want any bombing of Iraq," he said.

He urged the CBC to hold a hearing on the question of whether or not the United States should attack Iraq, adding that he will call for town hall meetings in various cities on the issue.

Min. Farrakhan�s most passionate remarks came when he discussed the events in Zimbabwe where President Robert Mugabe is in a battle with Western governments over his policy of seizing arable land�which overwhelmingly is in the hands of White farmers�and giving it to landless Black war veterans.

"Whenever Whites say that a Black man is not good for his people, not good for his government and you get sources of information that are not righteous, the wise thing for us to do is to get on a plane and go there � get on the ground and see and then come back and report to your people," the Minister advised.

"You must never be a rubber stamp for the enemies of the liberation of our people because it looks good. It does not look good," he said.

By being on the ground, Min. Farrakhan said he saw the horror of the condition of the southern African people and that land question is the question of today and tomorrow in Africa.

"If that issue is not dealt with properly, I�m telling you it is going to precipitate race war," he said, adding that Whites got the land by taking it by force. When a war of liberation is fought, it is to liberate the land so the resources of the land can accrue to the owners of the land, he said.

Min. Farrakhan added that just as Zimbabwe�s freedom fighters were about to be victorious, they were called to London for peace talks and the British asked them to buy back the land. Ultimately, an agreement was reached with London and the U.S. to pay for land to be repurchased, but after a while and with the change of presidential administrations, that agreement fell flat.

"Right now, they are making Mugabe the whipping stick because they don�t want Thabo Mbeki or Sam Nujoma or the leaders in southern Africa to start talking about taking back the land," he said, admonishing those Black congresspersons who voted for the Zimbabwe Democracy Bill that punishes President Mugabe.

"I�m telling you that we don�t like that," the Minister said. "We want you to be strong. Even if you lose your seat, don�t lose it by being somebody that is not true to yourself and the best interest of your people. You have to stand up for those who sent you here."

Looking toward the future, Min. Farrakhan warned that the United States government may be planning to do is "what they did in Haiti. They will come in with a military force and destabilize that man because they have already built opposition to Mugabe that�s very strong," he said.

Regarding the launching of the African Union in Durban, South Africa, Min. Farrakhan asked how many of the legislators knew about or received invitations to the historic event that went virtually unattended by Africans in the Diaspora.

"This is important," he noted, "because there will be no African Union without our involvement and we cannot allow that to go down without our having some say about it."

He said that Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi resurrected a vision of Kwame Nkrumah, Abdel Gamal Nasser and others, but the idea originated with Africans in the Diaspora through such great heroes as the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, George Padmore and others.

"That idea of a United States of Africa came from us to them. Now that they have adopted it and it is good for Africa and it is good for us � but we have a lot to offer Africa and Africa has a lot to offer us.

"But there has never been a desire on the part of our tormentors to ever see a connection between Africa and those of us in the Diaspora. And any leader that has tried to build that bridge has either been assassinated, arrested, deported and evil spoken of," he said, naming a litany of great Blacks who have been tarnished by the U.S. government for speaking on foreign affairs.

On domestic issues, the leader of the Nation of Islam said he would go to Georgia to help politicize Black people to their own self interests and the need to retain Rep. McKinney.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) successfully helped to defeat incumbent Rep. Earl Hilliard (D-Ala.) in June. AIPAC joined other pro-Israel groups in helping to pour over $1 million into an aggressive ad campaign against the five-term lawmaker. Rep. Hilliard was targeted for his call for a balanced U.S. policy in the Middle East and enjoyed substantial support from Arab Americans. Rep. McKinney faces former judge Denise Majette, who is also Black, in the Georgia congressional primary.

"Cynthia keep doing it and keep strong," Min. Farrakhan said to the outspoken lawmaker, during the July 23 meeting. "There are many more that you don�t see that recognize the truth of what you said," he continued, referring to Rep. McKinney�s questions about what the White House knew before Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S. Later it was revealed that there had been some indicators and signs of potential attacks and that the White House and government agencies had received some information.

"We are going to fight like hell for you," Min. Farrakhan said to Ms. McKinney. "We were late with Congressman Hilliard to our regret, sorrow and loss. But dear Rep. McKinney, we will not let this happen again without the best fight that all of us can put forward," he said.

The Minister called the defeat of Mr. Hilliard an immeasurable loss for the Black community. But, he added, that if Mr. Hilliard, who was in attendance, wanted to return to office, he believed it could happen in the next election cycle.

"I am saying this to all of you, that any time we send a man to Congress, we don�t send him there to represent Israel. We send him there to represent the suffering Black community. It is absolutely abhorrent that AIPAC would spend money to unseat a Black man who speaks for the interests of Black people. We are going to stop this, because it is you (Rep. McKinney) now, then if any one of you dare speak, you are next. You have to stand up as men and women for your people, otherwise we have no right to have any hope in you," he stressed.

Rep. McKinney, who is seeking her sixth term, has come under vicious attack, coupled with numerous death threats over her call for hearings on Capitol Hill to investigate prior knowledge, if any, of the Bush administration regarding the Sept. 11 attacks and votes related to rollbacks of civil liberties.

"I filed a dissent July 22, as the only �no� vote in the House Armed Services Committee on the War on Terrorism bill, a bill that authorized another $10 billion for war," Ms. McKinney told The Final Call. The bill included worrisome language that encourages military personnel to work with local law enforcement, she noted.

Rep. McKinney thanked Min. Farrakhan for his kind words and his call for CBC members to be free to act on their convictions. She also thanked Rep. Conyers for bringing the Minister to members of the Black Caucus.

She also believes the media intentionally misreported her words about Sept. 11 and the White House.

Min. Farrakhan cited AIPAC�s role in the unseating of former Illinois Congressman Gus Savage and others. "Everybody who does not agree with all of the tax payer dollars that Israel receives each year is called anti-Semitic. Why don�t we say, �you (AIPAC) are anti-Black?� " Min. Farrakhan asked. "Because they have done more to prove that they are anti-Black than any of us have done to prove that we are anti-Semitic, including Louis Farrakhan."

Fortune magazine ranks AIPAC as the fourth largest lobby group in the country. Since the 1989-90 election cycle, pro-Israel interests have contributed $41.3 million in individual, political action committee and soft money contributions to federal candidates and party committees. More than two-thirds of that total, or $28.6 million, has gone to Democrats, according to Open Secrets, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group.

"I want to come to Georgia, wherever your district is and outside your district, and I want to tour, speaking in churches and town halls; wherever I can get to speak, to alert the Black people and the White people to what is actually happening here. The country has already been taken and now we have to take it back," Min. Farrakhan said.

Legislators able to attend the briefing were: John Conyers, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters (Ca.), Eva Clayton (N.C.), Earl Hilliard (Ala.), Carolyn Kilpatrick (Mich.), Julia Carson (Ind.), Gregory Meeks (Fla.), Shelia Jackson-Lee (Tx.), Sanford Bishop (Ga.), Mel Watt (N.C.).

Photo: Rep. John Conyers and Min. Farrakhan at meeting with CBC
Credit: Eric Ture Muhammad