Who is Barack Obama?

H O M E - C R Y P T - L I N K S - R S S - F E E D - B I O - W E B L O G

(quotes from Daniel Pipes)

http://www.danielpipes.org/

Asked about this, Obama communications director Robert Gibbs responded by indicating to Pickler that he wasn't sure why the document had Obama listed as a Muslim. "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim."

Two months later, Paul Watson of the Los Angeles Times (available online in a Baltimore Sun reprint) reported that the Obama campaign had retreated from that absolute statement and instead issued a more nuanced one: "Obama has never been a practicing Muslim." The Times looked into the matter further and learned more about his Indonesian interlude:

"His former Roman Catholic and Muslim teachers, along with two people who were identified by Obama's grade-school teacher as childhood friends, say Obama was registered by his family as a Muslim at both schools he attended. That registration meant that during the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class."

"The childhood friends say Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque. "We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played," said Zulfin Adi. Obama's younger sister, Maya Soetoro, said in a statement released by the campaign that the family attended the mosque only "for big communal events," not every Friday."

Recalling Obama's time in Indonesia, the Times account contains quotes that Obama "went to the mosque," and that he "was Muslim."

Summarized, available evidence suggests Obama was born a Muslim to a non-practicing Muslim father and for some years had a reasonably Muslim upbringing under the auspices of his Indonesian step-father. At some point, he converted to Christianity. It appears false to state, as Obama does, "I've always been a Christian" and "I've never practiced Islam." The campaign appears to be either ignorant or fabricating when it states that "Obama never prayed in a mosque."

(end quote)

Twenty Inconvenient Truths About Barack Obama

Obama claimed not to have heard Rev. Wright's most outrageous and incendiary statements, but if he had not heard ABOUT them, why did he "disinvite" Rev. Wright to speak at the announcement of the Obama presidential campaign and even keep Rev. Wright off the stage (although they privately prayed together offstage), because Rev. Wright's sermons could be "rough."

When it comes to inconvenient truths about Barack Hussein Obama, there are plenty.

(quotes from Michael J. Gaynor, Esq)

http://www.webcommentary.com/

Obama want to become the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America even though he has no military experience. Obama has much LESS military service than President George W. Bush or former Vice President Dan Quayle; NONE.
Obama want to become the Chief Executive Officer of the United States of America even though he has no executive experience and is a rookie United States Senator.
Obama promises to unify America, but non-partisan National Journal rated him the most liberal of the 100 United States Senators and voted against the confirmation of both Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.
Obama's most noteworthy accomplishment as an Illinois state senator was facilitating infanticide by blocking a bill to provide Fourteenth Amendment protection to babies (regardless of race) born alive as a result of botched abortions, which he rationalized as necessary to protect Roe v. Wade.
Less than four years ago, Obama was an Illinois state senator.
Obama became nationally known because those leftist United States Senators from Massachusetts, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, gave him the opportunity to deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democrat national convention.
The person who Obama claims brought him to Jesus Christ and who conducted Obama's wedding ceremony, baptized his children, served as his pastor for nearly twenty years and helped him become an Illinois state senator is Rev. Jeremiah A. "God damn America" Wright, Jr.
Obama claimed not to have heard Rev. Wright's most outrageous and incendiary statements, but if he had not heard ABOUT them, why did he "disinvite" Rev. Wright to speak at the announcement of the Obama presidential campaign and even keep Rev. Wright off the stage (although they privately prayed together offstage), because Rev. Wright's sermons could be "rough."
Obama became a serious presidential contender because the liberal media vigorously promoted his candidacy instead of scrutinizing him.
Obama sounded like Karl Marx, the Father of Communism, when he said at a private fundraiser in San Francisco that people "cling" to "religion" as a result of "bitterness" over their economic circumstances.
America's religious Founders also would have been aghast that Obama also said at the same elitist fundraiser that the constitutional right to bear arms is used by people in small-town America because they are "bitter" about their economic circumstances.
Black Community and Granny, beware what Obama might do to win. When the Obama-Wright connection finally became generally appreciated, Obama initially refused to "disown" Rev. Wright, claiming that doing so would be equivalent to disowning the Black Community or his white grandmother, but then "disowned" Rev. Wright after he became a bigger political problem.
White voters generally gave Obama the benefit of any doubt UNTIL Obama became the Democrat frontrunner and scrutiny of him revealed that he was NOT the kind of person those white voters had hoped he was. Evidence: The white populations in Iowa and West Virginia are about the same--94%. Obama dramatically won the Iowa caucuses by winning a plurality of the white vote against Hillary Rodham Clinton and 2004 Democrat vice presidential candidate John Edwards, among others, but in the West Virginia Democrat presidential primary last week, Hillary won 67% of the vote to Obama's 26%, an astonishing 41 point victory margin, while Edwards, still on the ballot although he had suspended his campaign long ago, took about 6%. So barely one in four white voters in that primary picked the person the leftist media had been saying was the inevitable Democrat presidential nominee. Since Rev. Wright, followed quickly by "Bittergate," Obama has not won the white vote in a single state.
If Obama's Rev. Wright connection had been fully reported after Obama announced his candidacy in 2007, Obama's presidential campaign would have collapsed long ago and his frontrunner status is dependent upon many delegates chosen by voters or caucusers who were igorant and/or deceived.
Obama charged that Senator McCain had lost his bearings, but it is Obama who said that there are 58 states (and he'd been campaigning in 57 states).
It is Obama who wants to keep the voters of Florida and Michigan disenfranchised in order to win the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination.
Obama is an affirmative action candidate: he wins more than 90% of the black vote and black voters are not accused of discriminating on the basis of race, but white voters who don't support Obama are suspected abd even accused of racism for not supporting him.
Obama's wife Michelle describes America as "mean" and discriminates on the basis of race in favor of blacks. As Michelle put it in her college senior thesis, she puts "the Black Community first and foremost."
David Axelrod, Obama's campaign chief, acknowledged that Obama has a "friendly" relationship with domestic terrorist (and now University of Chicago professor) William Ayers, even though Ayers publicly asserted in 2001 that he was proud of bombing the Pentagon and wished he'd done "more."
Obama lies to make himself seem like a person of destiny! Examples: (1) Obama went to Selma, Alabama and claimed that he had been born because his parents had been inspired by the Selma march in 1965, but he was born in 1961!; (2) Obama claimed that the Kennedys had brought his Kenyan father to the United States, but they had not; and (3) Obama claimed to have been a constitutional law professor, but he was merely a lecturer, NOT a professor, and professor and lecturer are NOT synonymous.

Michael J. Gaynor

(end quotes)

Barack Obama now denies his Islamic background. That is considered by Muslims to be Apostasy. And apostasy is punishable by death. Edward Luttwak - Edward N. Luttwak, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is the author of "Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace." writes:

(quotes from New York Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/

As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant.

Of course, as most Americans understand it, Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He chose to become a Christian, and indeed has written convincingly to explain how he arrived at his choice and how important his Christian faith is to him.

His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is "irtidad" or "ridda," usually translated from the Arabic as "apostasy," but with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim’s family may choose to forgive).

With few exceptions, the jurists of all Sunni and Shiite schools prescribe execution for all adults who leave the faith not under duress; the recommended punishment is beheading at the hands of a cleric, although in recent years there have been both stonings and hangings. (Some may point to cases in which lesser punishments were ordered - as with some Egyptian intellectuals who have been punished for writings that were construed as apostasy - but those were really instances of supposed heresy, not explicitly declared apostasy as in Senator Obama's case.)

(end quotes)

Pipes once again points out Obama's deceipt in the article in the Jerusalem Post, part of which is included here:

(quotes from Daniel Pipes writing in the Jerusalem Post - may 1, 2008)

Obama's Kenyan birth father: In Islam, religion passes from the father to the child. Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982) was a Muslim who named his boy Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

Obama's Indonesian family: His stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, was also a Muslim. In fact, as Obama's half- sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng explained to Jodi Kantor of The New York Times: "My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim." An Indonesian publication, The Banjarmasin Post, reports a former classmate, Rony Amir, recalling that "All the relatives of Barry's father were very devout Muslims."
Obama's Catholic school in Jakarta: Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press reports that "documents showed he enrolled as a Muslim" while at a Catholic school during first through third grades. Kim Barker of The Chicago Tribune confirms that Obama was "listed as a Muslim on the registration form for the Catholic school."
The public school: Paul Watson of The Los Angeles Times learned from Indonesians familiar with Obama when he lived in Jakarta that he "was registered by his family as a Muslim at both schools he attended." Haroon Siddiqui of The Toronto Star visited the Jakarta public school Obama attended and found that "Three of his teachers have said he was enrolled as a Muslim." Although Siddiqui cautions that "With the school records missing, eaten by bugs, one has to rely on people's shifting memories," he cites only one retired teacher, Tine Hahiyari, retracting her earlier certainty about Obama's being registered as a Muslim.
Barack Obama's public school in Jakarta, Koran class: In his autobiography, Dreams of My Father, Obama relates how he got into trouble for making faces during Koran studies. Indeed, Obama still retains knowledge from that class: Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times reports that Obama "recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them [to Kristof] with a first-rate accent."
Mosque attendance: Obama's half-sister recalled that the family attended the mosque "for big communal events." Watson learned from childhood friends that "Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque." Barker found that "Obama occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers." One Indonesia friend, Zulfin Adi, states that Obama "was Muslim. He went to the mosque. I remember him wearing a sarong" (a garment associated with Muslims).
Piety: Obama himself says that while living in Indonesia, a Muslim country, he "didn't practice [Islam]." Indonesians differ in their memories of him. One, Rony Amir, describes Obama as "previously quite religious in Islam."

OBAMA'S HAVING been born and raised a Muslim and having left the faith to become a Christian make him neither more nor less qualified to become president of the United States. But if he was born and raised a Muslim and is now hiding that fact, this points to a major deceit, a fundamental misrepresentation about himself that has profound implications about his character and his suitability as president.

(end quotes)

And from Israel Faxx - "Obama Was 'Quite Religious in Islam' - April 4, 2008:

(quotes from Israel Faxx)

The Indonesian media have been flooded with accounts of Obama's childhood Islamic studies, some describing him as a religious Muslim. Speaking to the country's Kaltim Post, Tine Hahiyary, who was principal of Obama's school while he was enrolled there, said she recalls he studied the Quran in Arabic.

"At that time, I was not Barry's teacher but he is still in my memory" claimed Tine, who is 80 years old. The Kaltim Post says Obama's teacher, named Hendri, died. "I remember that he studied 'mengaji (recitation of the Quran)," Tine said, according to an English translation by Loatze.

Mengaji, or the act of reading the Quran with its correct Arabic punctuation, is usually taught to more religious pupils and is not known as a secular study Also, Loatze documented the Indonesian daily Banjarmasin Post caught up with Rony Amir, an Obama classmate and Muslim, who describe Obama as "previously quite religious in Islam. We previously often asked him to the prayer room close to the house. If he was wearing a sarong (waist fabric worn for religious or casual occasions) he looked funny," Amir said.

The Los Angeles Times, which sent a reporter to Jakarta, quoted Zulfin Adi, who identified himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends, stating the presidential candidate prayed in a mosque, something Obama's campaign claimed he never did. "We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played," said Adi.

Obama's official campaign site has a page titled "Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian." The page states, "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ."

But the campaign changed its tune when it issued a slightly different statement to the Times stating Obama "has never been a practicing Muslim." An article last month by the Chicago Tribune seems to dispute Adi's statements to the L.A. Times. The Tribune catches up with Obama's declared childhood friend, who now describes himself as only knowing Obama for a few months in 1970 when his family moved to the neighborhood. Adi said he was unsure about his recollections of Obama

But the Tribune found Obama did attend mosque. "Interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia," states the Tribune article. It quotes the presidential candidate's former neighbors and 3rd grade teacher recalling Obama "occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers."

(end quote)

President Obama a major boost for al-Qaeda..

(quoted from CSMonitor.com)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0519/p09s02-coop.html

Should Obama become US commander in chief, there is a strong likelihood that Al Qaeda's media arm, As-Sahab, will exploit his background to argue that an apostate is leading the global war on terror (read: attacks against fellow Muslims). This perception would be leveraged to galvanize sympathizers into action.

Remember: Al Qaeda's ultimate goal is to restore the caliphate (the Islamic form of government that would preside over the community of believers) and expand Dar al Islam ("Abode of Islam"). Reaching it requires a long war against all – Muslim and non-Muslim – who don't share its extremist Wahhabi worldview.

Al Qaeda, though, has struggled recently to recruit volunteers for this jihad. While bin Laden retains significant support as someone willing to stand up for Muslim concerns, most Muslims abhor Al Qaeda's terrorist methods whose primary targets are innocent noncombatants.

But an apostate as head of the United States could change this equation. It would be a propaganda boost for Al Qaeda's mission. All one has to do is read Al Qaeda's public statements to recognize how frequently it makes baseless apostasy accusations against fellow Muslims who challenge its message or actions.

(end quote)

He attended the Trinity Church, but apparently not enough to listen to Rev Wright's hateful message about America.

(quotes from Israel Insider)

http://web.israelinsider.com/

Yet the accumulated research from primary sources who knew Obama from his childhood indicate that he was a devout Muslim, the son of a devout Muslim, the step-son of a devout Muslim and the grandson and namesake ("Hussein") of a devout Muslim. He was registered in school as a Muslim and demonstrated his ability to chant praise to Allah in impressive Arab-accented tones even as an adult. Just as he has not disavowed his "uncle" Jeremiah, neither has he disavowed his Muslim faith that he was born into, raised with, celebrated and never abandoned. He just covered it over with a thin veneer of his own self-styled "Christianity."

Although as an adult he would register as a Christian, and occasionally attend a Christian Church (but apparently not often enough to listen to the preaching of his pastor, or so he would claim) this was a necessary step for a man who from earliest boyhood has nurtured the precocious ambition to be President of the United States.

(end quote)

And here is another tidbit of information from an American expat in SE Asia:

(quote from expat in SE Asia)

http://laotze.blogspot.com/

It's understandable really, much of the Indonesian media reports on Obama have for the most part been ignored by America's main stream media especially stories that focused on Obama's religious upbringing in Indonesia.

The story is an interview with a woman named Tine Hahiyary who was a former teacher and principle of Besuki Primary school, during the time when a young Barry Soetero attended classes there. Revisiting Obama's childhood school the author notices the children in the school yard dressed in Western-Style clothing, but then reminds the reader that on Fridays, all the school childen must wear Muslim clothes and that also includes children who are non-muslim. An inconvenient truth that CNN and the rest of America's main stream media conveniently omitted.

What struck me the most odd from the story was Tine Hahiyary's recollection of a young Obama who was quite religious and actively took part in mengaji classes. A claim that would seem to differ from Obama's much publicized statements that he was not raised in a particularly religious household.

While the word "mengaji" means to either learn or study, however, the actual usage of the word "mengaji" in Indonesian and Malaysian societies means the study of learning to recite the Quran in the Arabic language rather than the native tongue. "Mengagi" is a word and a term that is accorded the highest value and status in the mindset of fundamentalist societies here in Southeast Asia. To put it quite simply, "mengaji classes" are not something that a non practicing or so-called moderate Muslim family would ever send their child to. To put this is perhaps a Christian context, this is something above and beyond simply enrolling your child in Sunday school classes.

The fact that Obama had attended mengaji classes is well known in Indonesia and has left many there wondering just when Obama is going to come out of the closet.

As I've stated before, the evidence seems to quite clearly show that both Ann Dunham and her husband Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo were in act devout Muslims themselves and they raised their son as such.

(end quote)

AND this perfect concluding statement from Israel Insider:

"Obama wants it both ways, has always wanted it both ways. Black and white, Indonesian and American, Muslim and Christian. He loves playing one off the other, using one to hide the other even as the traces of the truth may be assembled to reveal the whole cloth of deception and self-promotion he has been weaving so skillfully since his childhood. No wonder he is a man of change. He IS a changeling, a veritable chameleon, adapting and amending his life story to fit the circumstances."

Is there any doubt what game Barack Hussein Obama is playing?

Hank Roth

Notes:

A Church for Muslims? - (IsraelInsider) - On Feb 15/08, Usama K. Dakdok, President of The Straight Way of Grace Ministry called Obama's Church and reported the following conversation: " I then asked the person who answered what I needed to do to join. She told me that I needed to attend two Sunday School classes in a row and then I would walk the aisle. I replied, "That sounds easy. One last question please. If I am Muslim and I believe in the Prophet Mohammed, peace be unto him and I also believe in Jesus, peace be unto him, do I have to give up my Islamic faith to be a member in your church? She answered: "No, we have many Muslim members in our church."

From The New Republic by Ryan Lizza, "Barack Obama's unlikely political education" (March 19, 2007) - http://www.tnr.com/ - From Wright and others, Obama learned that part of his problem as an organizer was that he was trying to build a confederation of churches but wasn't showing up in the pews on Sunday. When pastors asked him the inevitable questions about his own spiritual life, Obama would duck them uncomfortably. A Reverend Philips put the problem to him squarely when he learned that Obama didn't attend services. "It might help your mission if you had a church home," he told Obama. "It doesn't matter where, really. What you're asking from pastors requires us to set aside some of our more priestly concerns in favor of prophesy. That requires a good deal of faith on our part. It makes us want to know just where you're getting yours from.""

After many lectures like this, Obama decided to take a second look at Wright's church. Older pastors warned him that Trinity was for "Buppies"--black urban professionals--and didn't have enough street cred. But Wright was a former Muslim and black nationalist who had studied at Howard and Chicago, and Trinity's guiding principles--what the church calls the "Black Value System"--included a "Disavowal of the Pursuit of 'Middleclassness.'"

Hank Roth