Obama’s Shifting Positions on Iraq: A Rezko Connection?
Barack Obama’s position on Iraq has shifted significantly over the last six years. What is interesting is how his position on Iraq matches up with developments in Chicago. Specifically, there appears to be a direct correlation between the rising and falling prospects of his longtime friend and fundraiser Tony Rezko’s attempts to secure multi-million-dollar contracts to build and operate a power plant in Kurdish Iraq and the senator’s Iraq flip-flops.
On October 2, 2002, Obama gave a speech categorically opposing an invasion of Iraq. He said:
I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.
I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.
So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the president today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings.
But on April 5, 2004, Barack Obama appeared to significantly alter his position on Iraq. A YouTube video of Obama shows the incredulity on the interviewer’s face as Obama unexpectedly sounded almost like President Bush on the subject of retaining troops in Iraq.
Interviewer: But you said that troops should be withdrawn.
Obama: No, no. I’ve never said that troops should be withdrawn. What I’ve said is that we’ve got to make sure that we secure and execute the rebuilding and reconstruction process effectively and properly and I don’t think we should have an artificial deadline when to do that. What’s important is that we have a long-term plan in process and short-term security strategy.
It’s been suggested that that change in the senator’s position from opposition to a stern refusal to leave until the job had been finished can be explained by the unexpected ease with which the campaign had gone up till that time. But that doesn’t quite square with the facts. April 2004 was in fact the bloodiest month in the Iraq campaign till then and the start of the Sunni insurgency and Moqtada al-Sadr’s uprising. On March 31, 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a Blackwater convoy and hung the mutilated bodies of the Americans on the bridge. Wikipedia recounts the rush of bloody events which followed:
On April 3, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force received a written command from the Joint Task Force, ordering offensive operations against Fallujah. This order went against the wishes of the Marine commanders on the ground who wanted to conduct surgical strikes and raids against those suspected of involvement in the Blackwater deaths.
On the night of April 4, the U.S. forces launched a major assault in an attempt to “re-establish security in Fallujah” by encircling it with around 2,000 troops. At least four homes were hit in aerial strikes, and there was sporadic gunfire throughout the night.
By the morning of April 5, headed by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, American units had surrounded the city with an aim towards retaking it. American troops blockaded roads leading into the city, with Humvees and concertina wire, and took over a local radio station, and handed out leaflets urging residents to remain inside their homes, and help American forces identify insurgents and any Fallujans who were involved in the Blackwater deaths.
Obama’s change of tone in 2004 was so noticeable that Howard Kurtz couldn’t help but notice how striking the Illinois senator’s position was in mid-2004. Obama was quoted as saying:
There’s not that much difference between my position and George Bush’s position at this stage. The difference, in my mind, is who’s in a position to execute.
But Rezko Watch, a blog following the trial of the Chicago political operative and Obama’s close friend and contributor Tony Rezko, remembered that something else took place in April 2004. Obama was at a party on April 3 — two days before the video– with Nadhmi Auchi, a London-based Iraqi billionaire who attended a Tony Rezko party in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune blog covered Obama’s recollection of the party in depth.
Late last week, Sen. Barack Obama said he didn’t recall meeting a controversial Iraqi-born billionaire at a party held at the home of his former friend and fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, on April 3, 2004, because it was in the midst of his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois.
But a check on the senator’s calendar showed he had no campaign activities on the day of the Auchi party. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that despite Obama’s inability to recall meeting Mr. Auchi, two sources said the senator was present.
According to two sources familiar with the gathering, the Obamas attended the Wilmette reception, which came less than a month after Obama’s Democratic primary win for his U.S. Senate seat.
The meeting with Auchi takes on a special suggestiveness in light of later revelations that Rezko planned to build a $150 million Chamchamal Power Plant in Kurdish Iraq despite the fact he had no resources to do it with. According to John Batchelor, the former Obama supporter’s straitened circumstances at the time he was bidding for the project came up during the discovery proceedings at his recent trial:
[In] January 16, 2007, ex parte proceedings before Federal District Judge Amy J. St. Eve, in the case of the United States v. Antoin Rezko, in the discovery of Mr. Rezko’s resources in order to set his bail awaiting trial. … The judge asked about Mr. Rezko’s creation, Rezmar International LLC.
Mr. Rezko answered, “Rezmar International entered into contract with the Ministry of Electricity in — of — Iraq, to build a power plant and sell power to the government. And we were negotiating for over, now, I guess, two years.” Mr. Rezko added that the deal, for the never-built, $150 million Chamchamal power plant in Kurdistan Region, Iraq, was finally canceled November 6 or 7, 2006.
When the judge pressed for details Mr. Joseph Duffy, of Stetler & Duffy, spoke for his client, “there was a request for purchase by the Iraqi government. Mr. Rezko and an engineering firm here in the state of Illinois put together a bid, along with other entities; and, then, they won the bid for the contract. The company has no assets. They were just going to — if the contract was given, as I understand the financing was going to be a letter of credit — letter of credit from the Iraqi government and other financing; and then, they were going to put together someone to build or supply the electricity.”
But if Rezko had no money to build or finance the Chamchamal Power Project, how could he convince the Iraqi government to give him a letter of credit and where would the “other financing” come from? Subsequent events suggest the letter of credit would be arranged by another local connection, a Chicago Iraqi-American named Aiham Alsammarae, who is a one-time classmate of Tony Rezko and had been appointed as Iraq’s Minister of Electricity by L. Paul Bremer in July 2003. With Alsammarae at the head of the ministry, a letter of credit was possible. The money (“other financing”) would likely come from Nahdmi Auchi, who according to the Times Online, practically owned Tony Rezko.
According to court documents, Mr. Rezko’s lawyer said his client had “longstanding indebtedness” to Mr. Auchi’s GMH. By June 2007 he owed it $27.9 million.
Under a Loan Forgiveness Agreement described in court, Mr. Auchi lent Mr. Rezko $3.5 million in April 2005 and $11 million in September 2005, as well as the $3.5 million transferred in April 2007. …
A posting last week on a GMH-owned website, middle-east-online.com, portrayed Mr. Auchi as a Middle Eastern “Donald Trump” with a global business construction empire.
Mr. Auchi visited the United States in 2004. Pictures show him meeting Emil Jones, the president of the Illinois state senate, an ally of Mr. Obama, a former state senator.
Both Mr. Auchi and Mr. Obama say they have no memory of meeting each other. But, according to a source, the two may have had a brief encounter at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago where Mr. Auchi’s visit was being honored with a dinner attended by the governor when Mr. Obama, coincidentally in the hotel, dropped in.
Rezko was very heavily involved in Chamchamal. In addition to bidding for building the power plant itself, Rezko apparently bid to provide security for the installation. John Batchelor again:
The third bidder on the Chamchamal deal was most likely Companion Security of Illinois. Companion Security was an Illinois company, concocted by Mr. Rezko along with his long-time Rezmar partner Daniel Mahru and an ex-Chicago policeman Donald Frawley, that proposed to train 150 Iraqis to be a security force at the new Chamchamal plant; and it included the novel concept to fly the Iraqis to Illinois for this training. Companion Security signed a contract April 18, 2005, with CPA Minister of Electricity Alsammarae — for which, it is alleged by now cooperating government witness Mr. Mahru, Mr. Alsammarae was paid a $1.5 million bribe.
From April 2004 onward, Barack Obama’s position on Iraq remained remarkably constant. The Illinois senator believed it was important not to abandon Iraq until it was stable enough to fend for itself. In November 2005, he said:
I believe that U.S. forces are still a part of the solution in Iraq. The strategic goals should be to allow for a limited drawdown of U.S. troops, coupled with a shift to a more effective counter-insurgency strategy that puts the Iraqi security forces in the lead and intensifies our efforts to train Iraqi forces.
At the same time, sufficient numbers of U.S. troops should be left in place to prevent Iraq from exploding into civil war, ethnic cleansing, and a haven for terrorism.
We must find the right balance — offering enough security to serve as a buffer and carry out a targeted, effective counter-insurgency strategy, but not so much of a presence that we serve as an aggravation. It is this balance that will be critical to finding our way forward.
Second, we need not a time-table, in the sense of a precise date for U.S. troop pull-outs, but a time-frame for such a phased withdrawal. More specifically, we need to be very clear about key issues, such as bases and the level of troops in Iraq. We need to say that there will be no bases in Iraq a decade from now and the United States armed forces cannot stand up and support an Iraqi government in perpetuity — pushing the Iraqis to take ownership over the situation and placing pressure on various factions to reach the broad-based political settlement that is so essential to defeating the insurgency.
In June 2006, despite the counterinsurgency troubles being encountered at that time, Obama reiterated his desire to keep American troops in Iraq until it stabilized. The senator said following a visit:
But having visited Iraq, I’m also acutely aware that a precipitous withdrawal of our troops, driven by Congressional edict rather than the realities on the ground, will not undo the mistakes made by this administration. It could compound them.
It could compound them by plunging Iraq into an even deeper and, perhaps, irreparable crisis.
We must exit Iraq, but not in a way that leaves behind a security vacuum filled with terrorism, chaos, ethnic cleansing, and genocide that could engulf large swaths of the Middle East and endanger America. We have both moral and national security reasons to manage our exit in a responsible way.
But on Nov 20, 2006, Obama suddenly changed his mind on Iraq. He believed it had become unwinnable. There was no point in going on and a withdrawal had to begin within a few months. CNN reported:
Sen. Barack Obama called Monday for U.S. troops to start leaving Iraq in 2007, arguing that the threat of an American pullout is the best leverage Washington has left in the conflict.
“The time for waiting in Iraq is over. It is time to change our policy,” said Obama, a freshman Democrat from Illinois touted as a possible national candidate in 2008.
“It is time to give Iraqis their country back, and it is time to refocus America’s efforts on the wider struggle yet to be won.”
Obama’s speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs came as the debate over Iraq policy has heated up in Washington, with policy makers making proposals that range from a phased withdrawal that begins in four to six months to an increase in troop strength.
What had changed between June and November 2006 to alter Obama’s position? Possibly the situation on the ground. But one circumstance that had also changed was that the Rezko Chamchamal contract had been finally and irrevocably canceled only two weeks before. John Batchelor reports what Rezko told the judge during the discovery proceedings:
We had, for whatever it’s worth, sometime in June received a letter saying the contract was canceled. We protested the cancellation. And, then, we received this [the November cancellation] letter.
Batchelor describes some of the last-minute efforts to bring the Rezko power plant project back from the dead.
The Chamchamal construction plan was canceled in June 2006, and this not only ended the power plant deal for Rezko’s Rezmar International and Alsammarae’s KCI Engineering Consultants, but also it ended the Companion Security deal. Companion was nested inside Chamchamal. The security guards to be trained in Illinois were for Chamchamal. This is important to understand. The same men controlled all three bids.
Mr. Rezko said, “We protested the cancellation.” How did they protest? It appears that part of the protest was to send Mr. Frawley to Senator Obama in August 2006 to seek help reviving the deal.
Senator Obama declined to help, though not right away. According to Obama staff spokesman Tim LaBolt in mid-2007: “The Senate staff had two meetings, one conference call, and sporadically emailed with representatives of Companion Security about their request for Senator Obama to write a letter introducing the company to senior officials in the Iraqi government. That is not the kind of action Senator Obama usually takes for individual companies, and our staff concluded on that basis to decline the requested assistance.”
Also, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times, Mr. Frawley negotiated over a six-month period with Senator Obama’s staffer Seamus Ahern at the Moline, Illinois, office. The explanation at the time was that the senator regarded Companion Security as an employment opportunity for the troubled Quad Cities area around Moline.
The deal was definitely dead in August 2006, when Aiham Alsammarae came under investigation for corrupt practices. The New York Times reported that the case against Alsammarae began “with investigations by the Commission on Public Integrity, an Iraqi organization independent of the government that was created by the United States.” A New York Times reporter, visiting him in jail, wryly noted, “Mr. Alsammarae, an American citizen who lived in the Chicago area and built a thriving engineering firm there, is the only cabinet-level Iraqi official to be convicted and jailed for misusing money during his time in office.”
On December 16, 2006, Alsammarae successfully escaped from his Baghdad jail in mysterious circumstances, flew to Jordan, and from there returned to his home in Oak Brook, Illinois, without any apparent trouble. He did not take the trouble to hide. On April 27, 2008, Alsammarae demonstrated his affection for Tony Rezko when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the “former Iraqi official and ex-international fugitive helped spring Tony Rezko from jail earlier this month, putting up homes that comprise nearly one-third of the $8.5 million in property and cash securing Rezko’s bail.” Tony Rezko may have been broke but Alsammarae was not:
Alsammarae put up $1.9 million in equity in his Oak Brook mansion, along with $840,000 in equity from two South Loop condominiums, according to court records. In recent days, he appeared in the downtown federal courthouse to pledge his property and signed papers related to Rezko’s bail. That proceeding, however, was conducted in a private session with U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve and lawyers. Records from the proceeding weren’t immediately released.
The shifts in Barack Obama’s policy toward Iraq show a remarkable correlation with the rise and fall of Tony Rezko’s business prospects in the Chamchamal Power Plant. As the story of the Rezko syndicate is exposed in his Chicago trial, the subject of its Iraqi commercial interests will come under a brighter light. Barack Obama has already said of his convicted ex-fundraiser, “this is not the Tony Rezko I used to know.”
What remains to be seen is whether new developments will see the same cognitive dissonance apply to Obama’s policy in Iraq.
Interesting stuff. Thanks for connecting the dots. As they say…when you want to know “who, when, and why” follow the money…
Now Obama may have only been on the fringes of Rezko’s shady dealings with these guys, and truthfully Rezko may have kept him in the dark, but the whole thing stinks like a pot of spoiled fish. Rezko was counting on, and using Obama to “be his man”…and as long as Rezko had a deal in the works…Obama did his part, knowing he could count on Rezko for access to money for his campaign.
Of course, this is all conjecture, right-wing “smears”, just “scurrilious rumors” that have no place in the campaign….riiiiight.
Funny, even with Rezko now in jail, I don’t think he’s going “away” anytime soon…
No! You mean Obama supported the Iraq war just to enrich his buddies?
You’re talking about Chimpy McHalliburton Bu$hitler, not the Messiah!
Hope and change! Yes we can! Restore our reputation abroad! Free cantaloupes for everybody! Don’t be afraid to talk to our enemies! We can’t drill our way out of this! The surge has failed!
For such a saint, he’s quite the sleaze, isn’t he?
“But one circumstance that had also changed was that the Rezko Chamchamal contract had been finally and irrevocably canceled only two weeks before.”
One can only hope that Richard Fernandez’s present article is widely available to those voting in November. It is truly a mind blower and definitely vastly superior to what is commonly found in the MSM. More questions need to be asked of Barack “Barry” Obama regarding his relationship with Tony Rezko and other suspicious characters living in the Chicago area .
I still think that Hillary Clinton may end up as the Democratic Party presidential nominee. Obama may turn out soon to be an utter disaster. After all, he was never properly vetted. Obama’s left-wing allies preferred believing that no significant dirt would ever be revealed. This appears to have been a foolish hope.
Check Alsammarae’s Press Conference at Talismans Gate.
We in Chicago have noticed Obama’s stands on Iraq ebb and flow with the fortunes of Auchi, Rezko, and Alsammarae.
Alsammarae’s press conference, and Rezko’s letter to the Judge claiming he will not rat on Obama or Illinois Gov Blagojevich, seem not so subtle negotiations between Rezko and Alsammarae with a soon to be Prez Obama…
Good work compiling all of these “distractions” Mr. F.
RezkoWatch has beena magnificant resource for all things “the ChicagoWay”….the Chicago Iraqi-American named Aiham Alsammarae is the linchpin that even teh Clinton Crime family avoided disclosing and the GWB Administration has also avoided like the plaque even as Interpol chased the crook around the world.
WTH is up with that?
Obama is a fatuous coward, who cannot tell a straight story b/c he has little clue as to how the world works. If you have a friend voting for this Empty Suit, I’d consider that friend less intelligent than your doorknob at this point. I’ll excuse college fools, but adults? Scary.
NObama.
Laughable.
Saying we shouldn’t invade in 2002 and then saying we shouldn’t pull out in 2004 somehow represents a change in position? How? It’s not a change, a pivot or a shift. And all the other supposed changes in his position have to do with tone and word choice – never with any actual policy or strategy.
In other words, the original premise is completely flawed before we get to your Rezko hallucination.
Would somebody please make a cogent reality-based argument for why we shouldn’t vote for Obama?
Well, he certainly does have a lot of ‘Audacity of Hope’ – hope in that in that he can snow us into beleiving he represents some kind of positve change, that is.
Anybody that thinks a reformer can come out of the Chicago politcal machine is hopelessly naive. Obama is a fraud.
As the bloviating Democrat congressmen have said in the past, “we need a full scale investigation based on the seriousness of the charges”.
Excellent piece of journalism.
“Would somebody please make a cogent reality-based argument for why we shouldn’t vote for Obama?”
Let me take a shot.
1. Obama’s spiritual mentor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, hates white people and hates America. Obama sat in the pews of his church for 20 years so, even if he daydreamed most of the time, he must have imbibed some of these ideas or at least not found problems with them. And it’s the anti-American part that is most troublesome in a potential President.
2. Ignore Father Pflegler, a past friend, the former Weatherman terrorists Bill Ayers, also a past friend, Tony Rezko, a crooked Iraqi wheeler dealer also a past friend. His wife alarmed me with her “I’m proud of my country for the first time in my life” speech.
3. Obama’s 3 names are Arab. Baraki is the word for “blessed” in Arabic. His father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was 87.5% Arab. It said so on his birth certificate. Why did Jr. lie and say the name Obama was African Swahili? Why not run as our first Arab-American president?
4. Let’s focus on his half-brother, Abongo Obama, and his cousin, Raila Odinga, whose presidential campaign in Kenya Obama went over to help with. Odinga would have put in Muslim Sharia law. He lost and has been stirring up mass violence with a horrific tale of herding Christian men, women and children into a Christian church and setting it on fire. Obama called them twice during the New Hampshire primary. Was it to tell them to cool the violence till after he was elected? Google Odinga Obama.
“I was against the war before I was for the occupation, but then I was against the reconstruction after I was for the occupation.” Or whatever. Makes perfect sense to me. Obama can no more repudiate his allegiance to Rezko than he can insult his Grandmother who raised him, or repudiate his spiritual mentor, who went out of his way to embarrass him. Seems perfectly clear to me.
Richard/Wretchard,
Is this the new Belmont Club discussion formum?
Prime Minister Maliki, (and I suppose the Iranians via Iraq) know a good deal more about Senator Obama then most voters.
Is it just me or is Baroque Obozo morphing into the Seinfeld candidate?…a campaign sitcom about nothing? (not that there’s anything wrong with THAT!)
I think this guy BO is just a sly politician who is naive on security issues and have many bad connections to get him to where he is today.
This is a valuable piece just for the history of Obama’s position switches on Iraq.
Wretchard,
Wonderfully oblique – just like politics. I am one of the original “Oh no, not a Chicago Democrat” Obama skeptics. You source where you have information, but the timing doesn’t convict. Is there more?
Naive on security issues? But… but… Hope! Change!
The guy’s naive on EVERYTHING but one thing: fraudulence. He’s got the cult of personality thing going beautifully. And the left in America – like the left in Eastern Europe of 50 years ago is just – slllurrrrrp! – sucking it all down.
Your article is based on the “post hoc” fallacy. Just because the two things are related in time has no meaning as to which caused which. Besides, Obama doesn’t have to be a sleaze-bag to be worthless as a politician or statesman. Nixon was the most corrupt of all but he didn’t really care about money at all.
It’s much simpler to say that Obama’s shifting positions are caused by shifting conventional wisdom among the intellectual class that he’s a part of. Here you’ll find the same correlation you found with Rezko. He could oppose the war in 2002 because his constituency was the bien pensant Chicago intellectuals; as a Senator he had to line up with the party line. This may not be corrupt, but it still shows a lack of judgement deplorable in a presidential candidate.
No the timing alone doesn’t convict, but it’s enough to justify more attention. A solid case would require knowing what the Senator and Auchi discussed that night at the party, if they discussed anything at all; that Obama knew Rezko’s bid for the Chamchamal project was highly irregular; that the Senator felt there was linkage between the interests of his Chicago constituents and his policy on Iraq.
But let’s imagine for a moment we could construct an analogous kind of timeline for Dick Cheney. Would it convict? No. Would it be worth a story and a follow up? There would probably not only be one, but several.
“Would somebody please make a cogent reality-based argument for why we shouldn’t vote for Obama?”
I have one ready, I’m just waiting for you to make a cogent, reality based argument for why we should vote FOR Ohhhhhhhh…BAMA!
I’m no gentleman, but I’ll let a lady go first.
Eggplant:
Richard/Wretchard,
Is this the new Belmont Club discussion formum?
Jun 18, 2008 – 10:47 am
At least here we don’t have to try and figure out what the goofy @*%#&^! code is.
Wretchard:
Your point about media bias is well-taken. The media is shilling for Obama. What else is new?
But I still say that pursuing this line will get you nowhere. Using Occam’s razor works today like it did back in the Middle Ages. It has the advantage of generating clear arguments. Here is where the shifting anti war stances come in handy. You don’t have to assume a conspiracy to defraud the government. All you have to assume is the desire to imitate and to please the anti war intellectuals and Obama’s shifting opinions fall into place.
Well,like we used to say when I was going to Ole Miss….No ‘Bama
The interesting part isn’t really the 2002-2004 switch it would be the 2004 just like President Bush to 2006 potential anti-war candidate for President…which is when the deal fell through….that is where the dots end up….Obama the fakessiah!
I guess the vague ¨”change” he is talking about is not change afterall. Politics as usuall; repeat many lies untill it becomes a truth.
Visit:
http://WWW.OBAMAGAFFES.BLOGSPOT.COM
The Iraqi, Auchi, is an interesting character. He’s the source of the funds Mrs. Rezko used to purchase the vacant lot next to Obama’s mansion.
As you will recall, the seller required that both properties close escrow on the same day — Rezko paid full price for the vacant lot, while Obama was able to negotiate a substantial discount on the mansion. Not that there was any coordination…purely coincidental and above board. After all both Rezko and Obama denied that Obama was able to cut a better deal, so that should be the end of it.
A great piece of research. This is what MSM journalism should be, but isn’t.
When does projection (McChimpy Halliburton) become a deliberate ploy?
We discussed this a bit back in March with this piece, http://www.hinzsightreport.com/2008/03/obama-seems-to-have-had-ongoing.html, http://www.hinzsightreport.com/2008/03/obama-seems-to-have-had-ongoing.html
And then looked closer into the ties to William Ayres with this piece William Ayres — La educacion es revolucion! http://www.hinzsightreport.com/2008/05/william-ayres-la-educacion-es.html
Rezko will never rat out Obama. How else is he going to get a Presidential Pardon?
If prosecutors are eventually going to indict Obama, which I think is warranted, it would be nice to the country if they could do it while he’s still a “presumptive” nominee.
Saying we shouldn’t invade in 2002 and then saying we shouldn’t pull out in 2004 somehow represents a change in position? How? It’s not a change, a pivot or a shift.
But now he is adamant that he will pull out immediately, with no pre-conditions and regardless of consequence. So we shouldn’t invade in 2002, shouldn’t pull out in 2004, must pull out in 2008. No change, pivots or shifts here!
I always wondered if Obama’s every paid income tax on the $300K he got from Rezko on the property gift scam…
Did the Obama’s also receive a property tax break as a portion of their property tax bill was covered by Rezko’s neighboring inflated property value? Isn’t this also a gift the Obama’s should have declared as income?
What did Barrack mean when he stated that he knew at the time that the ‘gift’ from Rezko was wrong?
Lay in the timing on the Mansion deal, does that shed any light?
People should pay particular attention to who Barack Obama selects for vice president because he’ll be in charge after Obama pulls a Spiro Agnew.
And exactly how does this all fit in with Obama’s only trip to Iraq? And what and who were on Obama’s agenda while visiting Iraq?
Korla Pundit said:
“If prosecutors are eventually going to indict Obama, which I think is warranted, it would be nice to the country if they could do it while he’s still a “presumptive” nominee.”
This is not obvious to me.
It is obvious the Democrat party’s presidential nominating process along with the MSM has malfunctioned. B. Hussein is not competent to serve as President and should have lost the primary election. However if Hussein were removed prior to the Democrat Party convention, are we assured that he’d be replaced by someone better? Do we really want Hussein replaced by a candidate who is more difficult to defeat in the general election?
However this argument can be turned inside out.
The MSM is utterly intoxicated by Hussein. They’ve already begun the narrative that Hussein is unbeatable. What happens to the nation’s mindset if for the next four months, the MSM constantly repeats Goebbels style that “Hussein is the best man for the job”? It’s possible that the MSM could induce such a hypnotic trance that even hard evidence of Hussein molesting children would not impact the general election.
How much power does the MSM really have?
Apparently a lot as I can’t get anything more the the static MSM sound bites(and Hollywood talking heads) out of friends on the left in conversations. I can’t even get any specific details out of them in a ‘what makes Obama great’ discussion. Other then he’s going to ‘change’ stuff and the ‘failed Bush policies’ lines. They literally have NO argument nor reason over this schmuck. I can also feel a slight bit of concern with my more open-minded Democrat friends that he got the nomination; as if he were a novelty in the beginning but once Hillary could no longer close the gap, it wasn’t so cute anymore. Between that and John McCain saying he was a supporter to find the ‘solution’ to climate change just as he gets the nomination, there’s not enough Pepto Bismol in the world(I wanted to walk up behind him and smack him in the back of my head like my mother would when I said something completely stupid).
The entire campaign is going to come down to who comes out stinking less in the news and who can sell a solution for oil prices(which, of course, we have within our borders already).
To David Thompson,
re. Your assertion (one I agree with, by the way)that Obama was not properly vetted, I would add that he was indeed properly vetted: by Howard Dean and George Soros and his money connections. The Clintons and moderate to conservative Democrats are on the outs in that Party. It is owned now by the Far Left. As Ed Pariser of MoveOn.org was reputed to say awhile back: “It’s our Party now. We paid for it.”
Richard Fernandez has done an excellent job in this article, but then that is par for the course for his writing on his weblog. Just a very perceptive guy.
However, I am pessimistic that the associations with shady characters that Obama seems to have a penchant for will not in any way derail that Golden Mouth Shape Shifter from Chicago.
Why can’t Obama admit that he is a protege of the Communist Party?
His policy is entirely consist with the Communist Party.
Example: Modern communism and socialism are primarily based on “anti-war” movement and pacifism.
Now for sounding a bit loose on Iraq War: That’s normal. His policy again is based on the public opinion, whatever the survey wants he will bite it. The public since 90s has grown to be more “socialist leaning”, particuarly the democrats. Now he wants some votes from Republicans to further solidify his victory, that’s the cause of flips flops.
On Iraq billionaire, you’ll never know unless you open all your eyes and investigate why he gave funding to AAAN of Khalidi. It’s not just connection with Khalidi, it must be participation with Khalidi.
Wow you are pretty slow, People have been screaming this on the blogs for Months, but NOW you think it is worth looking into how Rezko and his friend Auchi (Saddam’s Money man, who leant Rezko 3.5 right before Rezko who was broke bought Obama’s side yard) played a role in Obama being against the war? Also while you are at it, why don’t you look into why Wright and Farrakhan were against the war and how that played into Obama’s wonderful judgement.
OF course When Obama was still running against Hillary no one would report this. The great media, what a dissapointment, first they run us into war and now shove St. Obama at us this disgrace.
This is the problem with the Obama campaign.
Why deny that you are bunches of socialists and communists.
By principles and policies, Obama’s are exactly consistent with Communists and Socialists.
See http://www.cpusa.org or http://www.dsa.org
Communism has evolved since 1990s and is now the biggest chunk of Democratic Party by its ideas of:
Anti-War: pacifism and the appeasement
Equality of gender/race/sexual orientation
Human Rights
Labor militarism
Black radicalism
Militarism of the poor (promoting justice to poverty in America)
Anti-private corporation especially large
Freedom of religion or from religion, whichever suits you well
Greater government control of economy
Sadly, they forgot the following:
Patriotism
Love of Country
Why: Because they promote global collectivism and One Government like in Europe to solve problems including terrorism.
This is why negotiation is what Obama wants.
Who are major supporters of Obama:
Communist Party of USA (and youth chapters in universities/colleges)
Democratic Socialists of America (and youth chapters in universities/colleges)
Progressive Alliance/Movement/What Have You(progressive = socialism, stupid!)
MOVEON
CODEPINK
AFL-CIO
Rainbow/Push (Sinclair is in danger against his own kind)
Working Families
Black radicals
Arab radicals
Jewish left radicals
Christian left Radicals (Have you heard of very strong European Christian Democrats)
NGOs of UN in New York
Who can fight these groups? They are constantly recruiting that’s why the Turnout of Young Democrats is unprecedented.
UN, based on its modern day policies, is a socialist, and in effect, promotes global communism.
Democratic Party of JFK is long been dead. It was selected by M Harrington of CPUSA as the Dominant party where fusion strategy of communist third parties would proliferate.
Fusion strategy has now proven to be most effective. It uses oommunity organising and youth movement and academe in universities as the main source.
Almost all Jeremiads of TUCC by Rev. Wright are members of Democratic Socialists of America.
Now… argue that the above facts are wrong because they are fully documented and the groups above are very vocal. This is not McCarthyism, because these groups are vocal of their ideology. And we don’t want them to go to jail just because of their wrong ideology. Simply because this country is hypocrite anyway: Freedom of ideology.
What we are asking is for Obama to be transparent and upfront to the American public and let us see if many of the Americans is now ready for socialism and communism. By that, America will now be one with most of the Europeans and its so-called “American unpopularity” will be replaced by “American popularity” around the world.
By November, the victory of communism shall be complete, one step to completely destroy another Dominant party, the Republicans. When Obama wins,
that will be the milestone for a beginning…
The birth of Socialist America.
This election is not about war or economy, they are just the talking points. It’s about the birth of Socialism in America.
In the end, JFK and Reagan failed.
I was looking for something related to “Erase to the Top” in 2011, and stumbled upon this thread from June 2008.
This analysis and prognostication by “seeker” who, unfortunately, left no url link, sure was accurate.
Now, in 2011, within a year of the late campaign for next prez election, Obama’s lack of background indeed mattered little. His associates told us where his affinities lay. Too bad McCain was already planning to take a dive before June 2008. Seeker, who sounds as if he was advising the Right, was writing as if he already knew that Obama was gonna win.
On a technical note:
Any regular Belmont Club members who posted and chose to get feedback to this thread will be surprised to see that this thread actually has the ability to reply to individual comments. At least, as I’m composing, it seems to be letting me do that. This would be nice to always be able to do some years after a thread has “closed.”
Wretchard — this really is a nice feature that PJM provides. I must have missed your explanation as to why you chose not to permit sub-threads. Back when you were experimenting with Tocqueville maybe you needed to avoid this feature. Why not try it out periodically for some threads? “Erase to the Top” has several subtopics for instance, and it would be nicer were those comments in the same vicinity of each other. It would seem too to encourage sticking to topics instead of breaking up a single topic like I’m doing here.
Note the update (more from Iraq on Alsammarae) over at Rezko Watch:
Obama (and MSM) silent on the audacity of Alsammarae.
I’d be curious to see what the Communist Party of Iraq had to say about Obama and Alsammarae.
Either condem Obama, or blackmail Obama… ’cause they know a good deal more about him then the comrades back home for sure.
Rather than the knuckle knock, the sign for the Obama campaign should consist of two people raising both of their hands and clapping each other’s hands. The High Ten. The symbol should not be a knock-off of the Presidential seal, but a white flag. It took David Broder, right after Obama sealed up the nomination, to identify a chief characteristic of Obama: retreat. The number of positions he has retreated from is numerous. Not taking public money for the election campaign is just the latest example.
Eh, i think we’re taking a whole lot of numbers here, adding them up and coming to a figure that fits nicely with your view that Obama is corrupt and would be a bad President. This is smearing, hackery and guess work of the highest order. Journalism it is not.
I usually hate this kind of reportage because both sides spend so much time picking through the opposition garbage that inevitably they unearth lots of patterns or timelines that seem to be damning.
But the fact of the matter is that Obama is an empty suit who has accomplished nothing of substance aside from winning campaigns, is extremely disingenuous – not to mention cryptic – about much in his past and, frankly, people are forced to try and fill in the blanks to get a measure of who he is. The sea of chumps who swallow him whole can whine all they want but this is a perfectly legitimate line of inquiry with regard to someone who seems to think he’s entitled to ride his way to the White House with a combination of stealth and a melanin force field.
Sandra M: I googled “Obama Odinga” per your instructions and came up with this:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/kenya.asp
“Raila Odinga…has claimed to be a cousin of Illinois Senator Barack Obama. However, no evidence has been offered to document that claim, and the fact that Odinga made that claim only in the immediate aftermath of the disputed December 2007 elections in Kenya (even though Obama was a prominent political figure long before then) suggests it was an opportunistic fiction invented by Odinga.
Meanwhile, we’ve got another commenter claiming Obama’s a communist, and still one more who’s claiming that Obama’s father is Arab (not Muslim anymore, maybe that one’s finally been put to bed).
Finally, I’m sure those of you pressing for more investigations of Rezko will be equally dilligent about investigating this:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/134294
If Rove was trying to get Fitzgerald fired, that’s interference in a federal investigation. Which is a felony.
Bring it on, lunatics!
The more you bring the crazy to the smear Obama campaign, the less credible any legitimate news about his shortcomings will be.
The “ordinary voter” who only tunes in with one ear on every third day will quickly get the drift that the Obama smears are coming from wingnuts who couldn’t reason their way out of a multilevel parking lot.
“Bring it on, lunatics!
The more you bring the crazy to the smear Obama campaign, the less credible any legitimate news about his shortcomings will be.
The “ordinary voter” who only tunes in with one ear on every third day will quickly get the drift that the Obama smears are coming from wingnuts who couldn’t reason their way out of a multilevel parking lot.”
That certainly seems to be the left-wing strategy this year … talk incessantly about “smears” so that any legitimate question that get’s raised can be characterized as illegitimate. The part you’re missing though is that moderate dems who supported Clinton witnessed all your scumbaggery in addition to the fact that the press bent over for Barry so dems who can be “gotten” are not gonna fall for your BS.
I can override the font by explicitly tagging it. The better way would be to redo the stylesheet. I can’t do that directly from my own control panel, as a template is provided. It’s a little like choosing a Blogger style from among the many offered, except in this case there’s a “house style”. I’ll see what’s possible on the new platform as time goes on.
Well, now that I see that I was indeed able to reply to “seeker,” I can leave my technical note here, to Richard Fernandez, where it belongs.
This old thread obtained the ability (later I presume as PJM upgraded) to reply to individual comments.
Richard, this would be nice to always be able to do this whether or not you permit comments to a thread some years after its topic is “closed.” However, it would be nice to go back as I did this morning and note something that someone said many years earlier that then appears to be worth looking at again.
Wretchard — this really is a nice feature that PJM provides.
“if Rove was trying to get Fitzgerald fired, that’s interference in a federal investigation. Which is a felony.”
Absolute nonsense! Federal Prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the President. He can fire them for wearing the wrong tie, if he so desires. Clinton fired over half of them within a month of taking office. Nixon fired Cox, who was investigating Nixon at the time.
G,You just have a severe case of BDS. That doesn’t mean that can rewrite the law to suit yourself. You must think you are a Supreme Court Judge.
Hey Dick G.
I might be amenable to considering this a smear, but for the fact that other than “OH”-bama’s two books and public record in the Illinois and US legislatures, there is almost no background published about the guy.
As one of those folks who tune in with one ear every other Tuesday, I was willing at first to believe “OH”s claims about the Rev. and about the house, but now I after Ayres, Rezko, and Saddam’s terrorist bagmen connections, each with obvious recants of earlier “It was nothing” statements of “trust me”, I have to concluded the guy has a severe short term memory problem or he has other problems our nation cannot accept the “It was nothing” excuse about.
But thanks for that vote of confidence in our ability to spot a jerk, seems your condescending attitude says volumes about elites.
On another light, thanks again, Wretchard! Yours and others efforts on this are not going unnoticed. Yes, we can learn about the “OH”.
Once again Rotsheld risks to wake up tied without paints, his children robbed poisoned and they would even be forced to prove that they are his children. Who is that freak? Where is my own father and where is his property and finances? I was treated in a very similair way. I also was robbed, forced to be at line of poorness. One and the same scheme was used. Is my own father so bad man? Or someone owed him very much? May be many people became trustees of my inherited assets, and yet used to think my inheritage theres? Where is my own father? And where are his assets and money? For such a complex operation with my finances they must have had someone’s help and support. Who helped them? Who devided and took my money?
I am the daughter of the man,whose face is identical to Joann Paul II. In Italy he is known as Tata Giovanni (Father Giovanni) .He lived in Rome and worked in the USA. I lived with adopting family in Yekaterinburg in the place of killing Royal Romanov family. Why? Who from my own family is a queen? My own grandmother? Or what does it means? Address was Moskowskaya street 9-31. In Moskovskaya street 9-20 lives Hussein family with daughter Aleksandra. My real name is Anna-Kristina-Aleksandra. What does it means? Who fined that information?Who really have aggression against Muslims countries and against Iraq and Hussein? I know that my own grandfather Naum was Muslims friend. And when he invest his money in Russia he took gold as financial guarantee. May be in Iraq and near Hussein my enemies searching that gold? I know that everything my relatives had they left as inheritage to me. I need to find, who has management of it in his hands, and which is the state of property and assets. I don,t know how my identity could be hidden, because I have unique right leg, which was disfigured from birth. This is my unique sign, nobody could be mistaken normally in my identification. Business of my own grandfather was oil and gas, casino and hotels of Las-Vegas. Own father too. During 10 years I was under strong financial pressing. And lived with my younger son for 60 dollars per month. Who became a manager and do that? Since October of 2001 till 2007 all the force of repressing machine was put on us. I have savage fascism in Lithuania in my own flat and in my own life and life of my son. We came out of there on our four. We have total control. Causes – multi billion assets in-heritage from my own relatives. Since 1993 year I was pressed financially at first, I lives with my son and we have 60-100$ for month. And even it is well known that a person is dead without money, my attackers didn’t stop – since 2001 year I had seven savage attacks on me on a territory of Lithuania – was poisoned with HCl, toxicoids,I was systematically trivially beaten, I had a traffic accident – was hit by a car on the pedestrians on green light for me, poisoned with hallucinogens and with my son pushed out to bogs in winter, where we have spent 3 nights. Those attacks started 3 weeks after twin-towers in the USA were ruined. They were ruined in 11.09.2001. I was born in 11.06 – month of twins-Gemini. More, the only citizen of Lithuania died in that crush, who was constantly living and working in the USA in twin-towers Jelena-Helen Gavriushina-Melnichenko – her mother was director of the school my children got education. Director of the school Gavriushina was born 6th of June. I have a friend in my childhood. Vladimir Vladimirovich Gaper. He was born 6th of June. Who is that friend? Everybody knows one Vladimir Vladimirovich, but he wasn’t born at the 6th of June. Putin is a friend of Kerkorian? Who is that my friend born 6th of June? I found that one. In the USA in Las Vegas. Kerkor Kerkorian. After reading his biography I saw that his owned MGM hotel, casino blown 21.11.1980. Interesting, that all those digits are digits of mine and my children’s dates of birth. More, even ID’s are the same. That friend was my own father’s and own grandfather’s manager? Why then the property wasn’t returned to me? Interesting that Bill Clinton had a nickname fly. After exact translating to Russian this mean to fly – as a pilot, a flyer. Manager was a pilot, a flyer. Why Bill Clinton, you ask?If bill – is billion, who clean’t billions then? Do you remember what is Bill Clinton wife’s name? Hillary Clinton. What is hillary clinton? Hi-Larry-Cleaner. Hello, Larisa who got in fly and cleaned… understand, yes? Monica Lewinski came into cabinet in White House at 28 of february 1997. Adopting family’s son Sergey Lopatinskiy was born 28 of February. Who knows what does it mean? In 10 June of 2006 in Diana,s Spencer family house resident of Russian special services Aleksandr Lebedev organized a meeting to memorize death of Raisa Gorbacheva. Michail,s Gorbachev wife died 20 09 1999. But 11.06.2006 I celebrated my 50 anniversary. It means all the strange recollecting organized just before my birthday. Why? How it is connected with the fact that 9 months before Raisa Gorbacheva died, 20.12.1998 died Jevgenij Bondarenko-son of Natalia Bondarenko who became also Lopatinska,ja after getting married with my adopting brother. It is she who is used to get my money without me to agree nor accept. Who helped her? Bush, Primakov visiting Lithuania they organized “accidental” meetings with me and my son. First used his security officers, second by himself. 11.03.2008 Poland visited Hosni Said Mubarak. 14.03.2008 we were proposed to leave Poland. We were getting by auto-stop in Italy. As well as we arrived to Italy, to Italy came Putin, who visited Poland and came to Berlusconi.Some years ago Berlusconi became Prime Minister 11.06.2001.In my birthday. What does it means? They have my money and business? They robbed me? They were so poor that needed my finances and my incomes? We live with son at street wearing some floor clothes. Was my father such a bad person? Is he blackmailed in such a way? Where is he now? Multiple applying to Silvio Berlusconi does nothing. What could be this person whom in my childhood I know as Silvia in Italy – my “mother” with wig and with man,s cigarettes, and which I must find if I need a defense and help? I know that part of finances former soviet agents transferred to someone in England. Queen Elizabeth and her husband visited to Lithuania (16.10.2006-18.10.2006)Jan Paul II became Pope in Rome 16.10.78. What Elizabeth and her husband need from me? After theres visit 21.10.2006 Hubertas Grusnys was killed, he was owner of radio stations and Lithuanian millionaire, whose radio Lietus a week before told about poisoning with toxicoids me and my son in our flat. In Lithuania for my financing and living my own father gave 10% shares of AO LUKOIL company to the oil company AB MAZEIKU NAFTA. For my financing in Lithuania responsible A.Brazauskas, B.Lubys (as everybody know Mr. Lubys is a friend of Mr. Nazarbajev), G.Chapanidze, V.Shkil. Mr. G.Chapanidze is in jail since 1996-1997. I was not financed at all. And didn,t ask nobody to sale or to present my finances or shares to anybody. I know that there are most of assets, which didn’t get in hands of those who robbed me. May be Mr. Alekperov knows what does it mean? In 19.8.1995 in Omsk died someone Ivan (Jan,Giovanni, Ioann) Lickevich. Do you know what does Lickevich means in polish? This is translated as calculate. What and whom calculated Lickevich?Ivan Lickevich was the director of the Omsk oil rafinery. In 3.7.2000 died with his son Gediminas Kesus.They are killed both. Gediminas Kesus was the director of the Mazeiku oil rafinery.When he was killed in Lithuanian newspapers was published information – some documents Gediminas Kesus put into some England bank. What the documents it was? Who started to kill the directors of oil rafineries and started putting the money into his own pockets? My money.In such way Lukoil go for another hands.Rats hands.
Another savage attack against me began 20.10.2002 – 23.10.2002. In 23.10.2002 – 26.10.2002 there was Nord-Ost in Moscow. My son and I had the same diagnosis as victims of Nord-Ost. Who do it? I have personal individual characteristic by which I can be easily identified – my right leg was disfigured while my mother was pregnant, and I was born with unique diagnosis. After many specific medical operations, my leg became passport, which couldn,t be forged. I demand to change my managers and carers, and I look for a country which could accept me and defend me.
Great article, thank you Mr. Fernandez
I linked your post at Newsvine, I hope you don’t mind
http://ewayneaustin.newsvine.com/_news/2008/07/23/1689573-are-obamas-war-positions-tied-to-the-rezko-affair