Obama, Islam and Kenya

From my collegue Billy Rojas comes this trenchant piece on the connections between Obama and Islam in Kenya.  This is a must read for understanding how the three are intertwined, and the implications of those close ties.

Obama, Islam, and Kenya

By : Billy Rojas

How can we make sense of the utterly incoherent foreign policy of the Obama administration ?

This policy may seem rational to the BHO White House but it is nonsense to everyone else.  Barrack Hussein's relationship with Raila Odinga of Kenya makes this as clear.
as anyone could want.

Mark Hyman's Washington Times article for October 12, 2008, "Obama's Kenya ghosts,"
describes matters in memorable terms. The gist of the essay is a strait forward observation.

What does it mean when someone pretending to be a moral exemplar for all of the United
States associates with a violent criminal ?

Not that Odinga is known to have personally taken part in massacres or other bloodshed,
but he certainly is guilty of incitement and of indifference to the violence of Muslims who have acted on his behalf. Yet you would think that even this possibility deserves attention since, as a younger man, he played some role in the coup attempt of 1982 which killed an unknown number and nearly toppled the government of  Daniel Arap Moi, who
espoused openly pro-American policies. But we can leave that matter aside...

As everyone knows,  Odinga lost a disputed election in late 2007 despite Obama
campaigning for him.  Then came the reaction of Odinga's followers. After a temporary lull, the backlash began in earnest on January 1, 2008. On that day, in the town of Eldoret, some  "50 parishioners  were locked into the Assemblies of God church before it was set ablaze. They were mostly women and children. Those who tried to flee were
hacked to death by machete-wielding members of a mob numbering 2,000."
This was only the opening act.

Within two months large parts of Kenya were in ruins as 500,000 people, mostly
Christians, were forced to flee for their lives, their homes and businesses trashed.
While it was also the case that some Christians defended themselves with  all means
at their disposal, the weight of the attacks were carried out by Luo Muslims. By the
some time in February approximately 1,500 people were dead, mostly Christians,
and mostly hacked into pieces with machetes by angry Muslims

Obama, in Kenya in 2006, could plausibly make the case that Odinga was unaffiliated
with Muslim interests. This was his for-public-consumption position. There was no
proof to another effect even though his support from Muslims was an open secret
which was known to one and all, including Obama.

And Barrack Hussein knew he could count on the ignorance of the American press
and its disinterest in things African to get away with any claims he chose to make.
As well, Obama was well aware that far more than 3/4ths of the press corps
venerated him as if he was a messiah, incapable of wrong, someone to worship.
He had few worries about anyone in the news media breaking a story about
politics in Kenya.

This remained true throughout 2008,  election year or not, even when Odinga's story
bean to unravel.

First came exposure of a secret deal with Muslims. On August 29, 2007,  a
"memorandum of understanding" was signed between Odinga and  the  National Muslim
Leaders Forum, represented by Sheik Abdullahi Abdi, the man who, for his own reasons,
told the story to the Kenyan news media. Odinga's attempt to talk his way out of
any embarrassment consisted of denying that he had actually denied such association
previously. He had, of course, but most people could be depended on to conveniently
forget, which most seem to have done.

But then came analysis of the Odinga-Muslim agreement and news of the details
even reached the United States--only to be completely suppressed by the TV networks
and the rest of the news establishment. Still, it all makes for interesting reading,  even now.

---

Here is the synopsis provided in the article by Mark Hyman :

" Mr. Odinga promised to impose a number of measures favored by Muslims if he were
elected president. Among these were recognition of "Islam as the only true religion,"
Islamic leaders would have an "oversight role to monitor activities of ALL other religions [emphasis in original]," installation of Shariah courts in every jurisdiction, a ban on Christian preaching, replacement of the police commissioner who "allowed himself to be used by heathens and Zionists," adoption of a women's dress code, and bans on alcohol and pork."

That is, within Muslim areas, but nonetheless to be strictly enforced in that part of Kenya.  All of which was anything but popular in most other parts of the country.

But worse damage to his standing and reputation was avoided when re-elected President
Kibaki offered Odinga the post of Prime Minister if he would use his influence to stop
the mass violence. Odinga agreed and, lo and behold, the Muslims ceased and desisted.
For how long ?  Anyone's guess. But even money says that they will eventually resume
their political jihad. After all, other Muslims had shown the way in 1998 when the
US embassy in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, was blown up, killing over 200 and
injuring more than 2000.

Not only did Obama visit Kenya and actively support Odinga's candidacy,  Barrack
Hussein was a severe critic of Kibaki, showing him little if any respect. Further, it
wasn't just Obama going to Africa on behalf of a pro-Muslim candidate, Odinga
visited the United States in 2004, 2005, and early in 2006, to meet with Obama
and talk politics --to plan for the Kenyan presidential election campaign.

The most comprehensive analysis of the Obama / Odinga relationship can be found
in an African Press International story by Paul Abeles of August 8, 2008, reprinted at
the Free Republic website in October that year. Abeles' report is thoroughly documented
with numerous references from entirely reputable sources like the Chicago Sun Times,
The Guardian newspaper of Great Britain,  Newsweek,  Christian Post , USA Today, 
the New York Times , ABC News, TIME magazine, plus scholarly books and
agencies of European universities --and African news services.

First, it should be noted that, like some important Obama friends in the United States,
like Bill Ayers, an unrepentant neo-Communist, Odinga also has a very Leftist past
as someone who was educated in East Germany at two schools, one in Leipzig and
the other in Magdeburg,  and admired the Castro regime in Cuba to the extent that he
named his first son "Fidel."  It is presumed that in these schools Odinga was exposed to
Marxist-Leninist theories about the revolutionary potential of radicalized agrarian workers.

However, unlike Ayers, who seems to be a cultural Marxist and as  Gramscian as anyone
can get, Odinga's next influence was Islamic, and Islamic to an exponential extent.

Most of the African Press International article concerns Obama's favoritism toward Muslims.  But there are all kinds of details which are not necessarily related to Islam, worth their weight in gold.

For instance, Obama's de facto campaigning on behalf of Odinga became so blatant
in the time he was in Kenya that the nation's ambassador to the United States, Ogingo Ogego, filed an official complaint with the State Department. There were also comments about how naive Barrack Hussein was,  "yet to mature into understanding issues of foreign policy,"  as Alfred Matua, an official of the Nairobi government said. But we can let those kinds of incidentals slide.

More important by several orders of magnitude was  --as it still is--  Obama's support
for Muslim causes and Muslims more generally. Which, smart as he is, he usually
is able to sidestep as an issue in America because of everything else that is going on
at the same time. The Muslim dimension of his agenda gets lost in all of the context.
Even when it is pointed out,  the climate of opinion in many parts of the United States
still is such that either ignorance or outright denial trumps the facts. This is less
true now than in 2008, the 2010 election demonstrates that much,  but a very large
part of the voting public remains essentially clueless about the obvious.

After all, it is more important to watch sitcoms and celebrity shows or manufactured
"reality" drama on TV than it is to make oneself informed.

Regardless, real life remains real, and Obama is what he has always been,
a Muslim at heart, whether or not millions of people prefer to believe something else.
His actions in Kenya in 2006, plus his policy toward that country ever since,
tell the story in ways that cannot be wished away.

After all, how could Barrack Hussein have not known about Odinga's business connections ?  Economics  is integral to politics at every level in every country and just about the first thing any politician seeks to learn is where does the money come from ?  He ( or she ) does this for himself, but just as surely seeks to find out where any other political figure he is associated with gets his money. Unless you do exactly that you cannot be taken seriously. This is Politics 101, what is most basic, nothing comes ahead of it.

About Odinga, as the African Press story noted, Odinga was once Minister of Energy
in Kenya and, accordingly, he had made all kinds of deals as a result,  which furthered
his political ambitions. Glaringly, to anyone who looks, have been Odinga's relationships
with Muslim financiers, viz, including some Very Big Names. Any pretense to the effect
that Obama was in the dark about any of this necessarily is pure nonsense.


How did Odinga make his first millions ?  He was, as the article says, "set up in the oil business  by the al Bakri Group and Muammar Qaddafi. While Qaddafi needs no introduction, the al Bakri Group is not so obvious to most people even if it is the kind of organization that any competent politician would be sure to investigate  --if for no other reason than to be sure not to get too close to a fire. Since Obama apparently was unconcerned with Odinga's business connections, which he certainly knew about, what other conclusion can be drawn except that he sees nothing wrong ?

Bad enough that Odinga gets help from Qaddafi, but Abdel Qader Bakri ( sometimes
named as  Abdulkader al Bakri ) has a reputation as a major player in the so-called
“Golden Chain," which is a secretive group of  wealthy Saudi oil men who are financial
sponsors of Osama bin-Laden, even if, for reasons we can all understand,  none of these
worthies publicizes such information. All of which has been known to anyone with the interest, the public excluded,  since 2001. Which is only to broach the subject of the connections between Obama and Islam in Africa..


What Obama also had to have known, no questions about it, were Odinga's associations
with militant ( and other ) Muslims. Which, while Odinga sought to downplay these linkages, no-one in Kenya failed to comprehend. The equivalent in America would be not knowing  that Democrats get a major part of their support from black people or that Republicans can rely upon Evangelical  white voters most of the time. Again, Barrack Hussein saw nothing wrong with Odinga's support from Qadaffi or with Saudis who had bin-Laden connections.And nothing wrong with support from non high profile militant imams and 'run-of-the-mill Luo Muslims, many of whom were outspoken militants.

Perhaps, if the Muslims in question had all been ersatz Muslims , like some Sufi populations who really are modified Christians or secret semi-Zoroastrians, this would not matter, but that is not the kind of Islam practiced by Luo peoples. Or any other Muslims except tiny minorities in most Muslim lands. Instead, think Islam as it is practiced by zealots  in Somalia. And Somalia, if you look at a map there can be no mistake, is right next door to the Luo heartland. There is effectively no difference  in religious beliefs.

That is, when Obama posed for what are now famous photographs of himself wearing
Muslim garb during his extended visit, he was outfitted in the same kind of clothing
worn by many or most Somalis, including the Taliban-like  al-Shabab group best known
for acts of piracy on the high seas.

Use of the word "Taliban" should never be made lightly.  In this case the choice of
terminology was done for me, by elements of the Luo, Barrack's father's people,
who, in 2007 and presumably thereafter, were calling themselves the "Taliban"
to emphasize their values and objectives. These were the people, supported
by "moderates" who provided the cheering section but who did not themselves
kill people, when the Luo Muslims ( and some non-Luo Muslims ) went on the
rampage that nearly tore Kenya apart.

While it is difficult and nearly impossible to conceive of Barrack Hussein favoring
such mass violence, what is nonetheless all-too-true is that he supported the
Islamification of Kenya and, by extension, even if he cannot go nearly as far,
he would like to see the Islamification of America.

The facts of the case in 2006 were that, as the Africa Press article points out,
Odinga went very far, indeed, in promoting the Muslim agenda, and there is no
reason to suppose that Obama was ignorant of Odinga's objectives. Therefore,
Barrack Hussein saw nothing wrong with Odinga's purposes. Which were ?

Most troublesome from the perspective of the need to fight against Muslim jihadis,
was a promise by Odinga  "that Muslims suspected of terrorism would be safe
from extradition—thereby establishing a ‘safe haven’ for terrorists in Kenya."

For one, I do not know enough to make a judgement about President  Kibaki  to say
much about the man one way or another.  But commentators agree that he was, as he still is,  basically pro-American. His government "had been a leading supporter of the US’s efforts to dismantle Al-Queda cells in Kenya ...and elsewhere."  But  "Odinga made opposition to the government’s crackdown of suspected Al Qaeda supporters a cornerstone of his campaign."

But there was even more.

There was also his promise to make Shariah law normative in the country, not only
among the 12% minority mostly concentrated in Luo territory and along the coast.
Exactly how far Odinga intended Shariah law to go is unclear but obviously he had
more in mind than a sop to Muslims.. As the article added,  in agreeing  to extend
Shariah over a large area of Kenya, actually greater in extent than Muslim majority
districts,  Odinga was , in effect, "disenfranchising  and curtailing the liberties of millions
of Christian Kenyan women."  That is, Shariah would become "the law" even
over Christians by reason of where someone lived.

Shariah law, it is no secret, treats women as legal inferiors and gives them far fewer
rights than men. It is a  patriarchalist  system that is "writ in stone," as it were,
since women's second class status ( maybe more like third class status ) is derived
directly from the Qur'an, regarded as Allah's immutable words which cannot be
changed in any way, ever. Shariah is also, by the standards of every Western nation,
inhumane in its punishments,  like stonings ( throwing rocks at the condemned  until
he or she dies ), like amputation of one's hand for theft, and much else that
would be automatically characterized as "cruel and unusual" if it was
carried out any place in the USA.

Things got so bad that the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, as the article continued,
"released a statement in which church leaders said Raila [ Odinga ]...‘comes across
as a presumptive Muslim president bent on forcing Islamic law, religion and culture
down the throats of the Kenyan people in total disregard of the Constitutionally
guaranteed rights of freedom of worship and equal protection of the law’”

This , of course, should have given Obama, a self-professed "Christian," all the excuse
he might have needed to have spoken out in favor of his ( presumed )  fellow believers.
But he did no such thing, just as he has yet to do any such thing during his presidency
to actually make the least difference on behalf of Christians in Muslim countries beyond
decrying the most conspicuous attacks on churches and the worst cases of carnage,
essentially rhetorical responses. He didn't even do that much when Muslims in Kenya
killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.

For a self-professed "Christian" Obama is remarkable for his indifference to the
suffering of millions of Christians in the Muslim world. Outrages are perpetrated
literally every day and, while the State Department may make noises a couple
of times a year, that is the extent of it. What other conclusion can be drawn than
that Obama simply doesn't  care what happens to Christians  ?

Here are two propositions worth thinking about :
( 1 ) He doesn't care because he isn't really a Christian himself.
( 2 ) He doesn't really care because he is a crypto-Muslim.

There is no clear way to prove either statement. But the evidence suggests
that each is true, or sufficiently true  --to the extent that his "Christian" faith
is no better than a matter of  sentiment and convenience, and to the extent that
he really would prefer to be a Muslim but realizes that it would be political suicide
in America  to take that step. And if there is no proof of either proposition,
what is more relevant is the fact that there is no disproof in sight, either.

It is anything but a mystery why many Americans do not consider Obama to be a Christian and why 20% think he is a Muslim, which is UP  from the 10% who had this view in 2008. Barrack Hussein's actions since taking office have furthered the impression that he is a far different person than his press releases pretend that he is. And that his worshippers insist that he is, devotees who follow him out of a political version of religious faith..

How much Obama knew about the words and deeds of the Muslim leadership class
in Kenya in 2006 is open to debate. My best guess is that he didn't want to know
any more than absolutely necessary in order to help out his "cousin," Odinga.
But the record of that leadership was widely reported in African media at the time
and there would have been no impediment to his learning many of the facts.

The African Press article pointed out that despite any reports that might have
reached him, at no time while he was in Kenya in 2006 did Obama seek to
distance himself from Odinga. Not only that, but Odinga visited the United States
in 2007 and met with Obama friend-to-friend.

One report, from a site called YouTomb, says that Obama and Odinga remained
close well into 2008, exchanging  phone calls on a regular basis, with Barrack Hussein
calling Raila during the New Hampshire primary. How much credence to give to
this account is anyone's guess, but it is plausible enough to pass along on the chance
that someone who reads this might be able to confirm or disconfirm  the story.
Regardless, what cannot be said is that this version of recent events is unreasonable
to think happened ; the public impression is that Obama remains personally
close to Raila Odinga. And Odinga is a openly pro-Muslim in addition to being
some version of a Communist.

What might argue against this interpretation was the involvement of Dick Morris
in the Kenya election. Reportedly Morris took on the task  pro bono at the
personal request of Senator Obama.

It has not been possible to verify whether or not Obama asked Morris to help
Odinga in the election but there is no question that Morris gave Odinga campaign
assistance. This is reported not only in the  African Press article  but also in the
lengthy article about Morris in Wikipedia. Granted that there can be problems
with the encyclopedia,  in this case the entry is thoroughly documented and
pretty much iron clad.

Morris, of course, has a record of providing election assistance in foreign elections.
He has provided consulting services in  Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico ( for Vicente Fox ),
Guyana, Ukraine,and for the  United Kingdom Independence Party in 2004.
Then in November of 2007, Morris held a press conference in Nairobi during
which he announced he would be offering his services to Odinga, gratis.
This was four weeks prior to the voting and Odinga was trailing and,
of course, could not pull if off.

But there Morris was, and the question is natural enough :  Why  was he there ?
Inasmuch as he received no payment it wasn't for the money. And it certainly
was no coincidence that Obama had an interest in the election. Nor was it
a secret that Barrack Hussein was already considered to be a strong candidate
for the Democratic Party nomination for president in 2008  And, O yeah,
ever since losing his prestigious job with William Clinton, Morris had
no patron in the White House and, also O yeah,  he was definitely
anti-Clinton by that time and Hillary was frontrunner for the nomination
and wouldn't it be sweet revenge to  ingratiate himself with
her leading opponent ?

Times change, of course. The ( presumed )  understanding Morris had
with Obama didn't seem to work out all that well, after all. Worse, many of
Barrack Hussein's centrist promises were baloney and he proved to be
about as far to the Left as anyone can get as president.  Morris is now
a staunch opponent of the Obama administration. But this is 2011
and things were different in 2007.

Also, in interviews on Fox TV in 2010, Morris made it clear that his
comprehension of Islam is limited and sometimes off the trolley. That it
is better than the knowledge of most people, or most journalists,  cannot
be debated,  but that isn't saying much. In so many words, Morris makes
a distinction  which doesn't exist between Islam the religion and Shariah law
and its doctrines of jihad and behead the infidels and subjugate women.

What Morris either is ignorant of, which would make him an irresponsible
charlatan,  or what he is covering up, which would make him something
completely despicable, is the fact that all the laws which comprise Shariah
are taken directly from the Qur'an itself, which is most of Shariah, or from
the Hadiths, traditions of Muhammad's sayings thought to be authoritative
and almost in the same category as his book. Morris leads people to believe
that the Qur'an is pretty much a Sunday School text for good liberals
or good conservatives, and not the hate-filled and misogynist text that,
in fact, it actually is.

The point is that Morris has a ready made rationale for working with moral cretins
who support Islam while, simultaneously being able to condemn Shariah. Hence
the full volume criticisms  Morris has made of the proposed Ground Zero Mosque
starting in the Summer of last year. But how this squares with his campaign efforts
on behalf of Odinga is anything but obvious. Odinga was an advocate for Shariah.

Which is as far as I can go with this line of inquiry. There are more questions than
answers, but at least we know that he was in Kenya in late 2007 and helped
Obama's cousin, or no less than good friend, Odinga, seek the presidency
of that country.

Morris did so at a time when even a little investigating would have made it known
to him that some of Odinga's vocal supporters were imams who " preached
violence against Westerners, attacked the Kenyan government as the lackey of
the United States and Israel and called for the implementation of Shariah."

Morris also knew about the closeness between Obama and Odinga even if he
wasn't in the country in 2006. There had been statements to the effect that the two
were blood relations long before, but in January of 2008, Odinga himself said
that he was a cousin of Barrack Hussein, which the BBC reported as established fact.
This is murky now, and may refer to common custom in which fellow members of
an African tribe use "cousin" honorifically, simply to establish closeness,
but that was not how it was taken two years ago.

A little over two years ago two Christian missionaries in Kenya, Celeste and Loren Davis, wrote a for-private-circulation-only letter that, more recently, found its way onto the Web.  The letter has been authenticated by About.com, even if there are no comments from the couple except their insistence that it was not intended for the public.  Part of the letter says " We are living and working in Kenya for almost twelve years now"

The April 10, 2008 letter went on to add, "What we would like you to know is what the
American press has been keeping a dirty little secret. Obama IS a Muslim and
he IS a racist " This is simply opinion, needless to say, there is no supporting evidence
provided to substantiate these allegations, but the missionaries had reasons for feeling
what they did , over and above questions about Obama's beliefs or values.

"Here in Kenya, not one mosque was burned down, but hundreds of churches were
burned down, some with people in them, burned alive." Which is documented fact
from independent sources.  The writers also said that Christians in the country were
living through the effects of jihad, carried out by open supporters of Odinga / Obama.
Writing specifically of Barrack Hussein they added, " He is not an American
as we know it. Please encourage your friends and associates not to be taken in
by those that are promoting him." But many were, anyway.

With the Kenya election controversy settled and Odinga as Prime Minister, the stage
was set for the next round in Obama's campaign to remake his father's homeland.
This was the eventually successful effort to have the nation's constitution re-written
to make it more Shariah compliant.

There are any number of available sources for this story but one that may be cited here
was written by Kathryn Lopez, entitled "Trouble in Kenya,"  and posted at Jihad Watch
on July 9, 2010.

To spell out the basics, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Kenya to help pitch the
proposed re-write of the constitution, and with him came a reported $ 2 million
to allow for some needed publicity, with some people reporting that the tally was
actually considerably higher.

One foreign aid worker, Rebecca Marchinda, from her office in Nairobi. representing
New York-based World Youth  Alliance, said  "the Obama administration is promoting
a constitution which allows abortion on demand and waters down protections for
religious freedom.” It isn't clear that this is entirely accurate since Muslims are
as anti-abortion as just about all other religious people, and abortion is obviously
inconsistent with Shariah, but the part about curtailment of religious freedom is
unarguable since there is no freedom of religion in any Islamic context.

About Shariah in Kenya, the article is unquestionably accurate. "…the proposed constitution would also create a legal system within a legal system — codifying the strengthening of Sharia by making it apply to every Muslim Kenyan." And, for that matter, applying to everyone living in a Muslim area, Muslim or non-Muslim.

This policy, support of Shariah, has existed before Obama, of course. George W Bush
was more than willing to allow Iraq and Afghanistan to model parts of their new
constitutions  on Shariah  --or Shariah-derived principles. But Obama has now
added his name to the list of promoters of Shariah  In a country not under
US occupation and in which there is no obvious reason for America
to be seeking to influence internal politics.

The new constitution won big in the Summer of 2010, with a yes vote of 70 %,
so it had to include provisions that many, many Kenyans favored on the merits,
and one feature , which makes political corruption more difficult than in the past,
had enthusiastic supporters,  but there was the factor, unmissed by no-one,
that the government, not just Odinga, lured the voters with promises of
American largesse after the new charter passed.

How much else may eventually become known about Obama and Kenya
and about his relationships with Odinga is anyone's guess, but it now is
clear that the chief executive of the United States, favors Shariah law,
favors a Communist-in-everything-but name Prime Minister in Kenya,
and is a party to interference in a foreign election