Posted on 01/14/2008 9:11:02 AM PST by processing please hold
1. Was Barack Obama a Muslim?
The issue of Barack Obama's possible Muslim past has re-emerged with conflicting reports about the presidential candidate's childhood in Islamic Indonesia.
The controversy was initially touched off in early 2007 when several media outlets reported that Obama had attended a radical madrasa, or Islamic school, when he lived in Indonesia.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs quickly countered with a statement: "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian."
The reports about the radical madrasa turned out to be false. But in March 2007, Gibbs amended his previous statement, telling the Los Angeles Times: "Obama has never been a practicing Muslim," the key word being "practicing."
Obama, his Kansas-born mother and Muslim stepfather moved to Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, in 1967, and Obama lived there from ages 6 to 10.
The Times sent a reporter to Jakarta to investigate Obama's childhood years there, and published an article on March 16 that included these details:
* A close boyhood friend of Obama, Zulfin Adi, said Barack "was a Muslim. He went to the mosque." * Obama's first-grade teacher at a Catholic school, Israella Dharmawan, said: "Barry (Barack's nickname) was Muslim. He was registered as a Muslim because his father was Muslim."
* In the third grade, Obama transferred to a public school, where he was also registered as a Muslim. At the school, Muslim students attended weekly religion lessons about Islam.
* In his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," Obama mentions studying the Koran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school."
More recently, Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes wrote on FrontPageMag.com that his research led him to conclude that "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 stepfather."
But on Jan. 2, the liberal organization Media Matters for America (MMfA) took issue with Pipes' report, criticized him for relying too heavily on the Times article, which it claimed was "disputed," in an effort to "revive Obama-Muslim falsehood."
Media Matters cited a March 25 article by Kim Baker in the Chicago Tribune that challenged several assertions in the Times story. Barker wrote that boyhood friend Adi "was not certain" about his statements regarding Obama's childhood and that he "only knew Obama for a few months."
The Media Matters Web posting stated: "Additionally, the Tribune reported that 'interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia.'"
Media Matters also said that "Pipes did not note that Obama's Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, has been described in the Tribune as 'much more of a free spirit than a devout Muslim.'"
Pipes fired back with a FrontPageMag.com article on Jan. 7, titled "Confirmed: Barack Obama Practiced Islam."
Pipes asked if any of the information from the Chicago Tribune article refutes "my analysis, as MMfA contends. It raises questions about two details in the Los Angeles Times account — the accuracy of the Catholic school's registration form and the reliability of Zulfin Adi as a source on Obama. But on the larger issue of Obama's religious practices during his Jakarta years, it confirms the Times account."
Pipes concludes: "Therefore, what MMfA calls the 'Obama-Muslim' falsehood' is in fact confirmed by both articles as truthful and accurate."
And he adds: "All this matters, for if Obama once was a Muslim, he is now what Islamic law calls a murtadd (apostate), an ex-Muslim converted to another religion who must be executed. Were he elected president of the Untied States, this status, clearly, would have large potential implications for his relationship with the Muslim world."
Yep, that's what you get when you bring thousands of Russians with little to no Jewish heritage into Israel.
Thank you.
Is Satloff being a bit naive here ?
” the custodians of Yad Vashem, the Israeli national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, for not being more energetic in seeking out Arab rescuers.
Jews from Arab lands have also been strangely reluctant to address their experiences — positive and negative — during the Holocaust.”
I have his book. He has accounts of Arabs going out of their way to protect & support native Jews & also accounts of Arabs taking advantage of the trouble & behaving cruelly.
Some Mizrahim are angry with Arabs & have had bad experiences. Some have had only positive experiences. Only the bad experiences are publicized for obvious reasons. This is an ugly can of worms in Israel & we say little about it in public.
"Why do we care about this?"
Good question. It really doesn't matter. Hussein Obama is a Marxist, Socialist, DemocRAT or all three. That combination will get you killed faster than Sharia law will.
5.56mm
Yes, he was/is (?) a Muslim.
A well kept secret these days.
Because Obama's Muslim connections and his work with them in Kenya needs to be fully understood. That is because Obama supports and campaigned for a man called Odinga, who lost his election and sent his Luo people into the streets of Nairobi to rape , murder and pillage Kikuyu, in a genocidal wilding.
Thats why we care about this.
Obama was in on the groud floor in Kenya, and now is running for the presidency, And no one wants to talk about it, because its politically incorrect.
We gonna adjust that just a little bit.
Because Obama's Muslim connections and his work with them in Kenya needs to be fully understood. That is because Obama supports and campaigned for a man called Odinga, who lost his election and sent his Luo people into the streets of Nairobi to rape , murder and pillage Kikuyu, in a genocidal wilding.
Thats why we care about this.
Obama was in on the groud floor in Kenya, and now is running for the presidency, And no one wants to talk about it, because its politically incorrect.
We gonna adjust that just a little bit.
BellSouth said we’d get it out here next month. Before that, they said we’d have it in Dec. If they don’t come through this time, I’m going to Hughes satellite.
Thank you. :)
I wonder why he doesn’t hold one of his rallies in that garb. lol
That's the most ironic phrase I've ever heard. They're not Jewish?
I think there should be. Just by digging around tonight I found stuff about obama, that was simply astounding.
“The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
- Plato -
No, they’re Russians that either have a very tenuous connection to Judaism (i.e. one grandparent was a Jew) or aren’t Jewish at all & entered Israel with forged papers. The Jewish Agency was eager to bring as many bodies as possible & didn’t care much who was coming in. The children of these Russian immigrants feel very uncomfortable living in the Middle East with Jews & Arabs & there’s been an outbreak of neo-Nazi gangs.
Where islam is involved, the media will be silent on it. obama appears to be their darling now. Damn msm all the way around.
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