Free Republic

In exclusive interview, prospective Democratic candidate pledges to continue 'unshakeable' US commitment to Israeli security, pursue 'aggressive diplomacy' vis-à-vis Iran, and make every effort to achieve peace for Israel 'without dictating terms' WASHINGTON - When he launched his US presidential campaign, only few people knew that Democratic candidate Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein. His political rivals, however, made sure to reveal this fact and attempted to paint him as a pro-Arab Muslim. Over the past few weeks, his rivals have spread rumors that Obama attended a madrasa (Islamic religious school) in Indonesia, which served as a terrorist training camp....

COLUMBIA, S.C. –For over a year, largely out of the media glare, Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign has been fighting a determined, low-intensity conflict against the viral e-mail that forwards the myth that Obama is a crypto-Muslim Manchurian candidate. ...The e-mails aren’t a well-funded, faux-grassroots smear like the attacks on John Kerry's war record. Instead, most observers believe, it's a largely organic expression of a dark place in the American consciousness. And the campaign is aware it is operating in a changed media landscape in which a powerful, false idea can spread deep into the American psyche, almost entirely under...

I work with a young leftist who is on some committee or something raising funds for Obama. I didn't get the chance to ask him what he thinks of Obama's muslim past…but he came over to me and was showing me his personally-signed copy of 'audacity of hope' - and I asked him what he thought of Obama's 'liberation theology church'. He started backing up with his book, saying he doesn't like to get involved with 'religion' - or 'peoples' religions'. And I said, well maybe you should look into it, because it's marxist. That's when he started walking really...

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have signed an agreement to end the country's post-election crisis. At a ceremony in Nairobi, the two men put their signatures to a power-sharing deal brokered by ex-UN head Kofi Annan. --snip-- Speaking after the signing, Mr Kibaki said: "This process has reminded us that as a nation there are more issues that unite than that divide us... "We've been reminded we must do all in our power to safeguard the peace that is the foundation of our national unity... Kenya has room for all of us." Political violence has ignited...

A barefoot old woman in a ripped dress is sitting on a log in front of her tin-roof bungalow in this remote village in western Kenya, jovially greeting visitors. Mama Sarah, as she is known around here, lives without electricity or running water. She is illiterate and doesn’t know when she was born. Yet she may have a seat of honor at the next presidential inauguration in Washington — depending on what happens to her stepgrandson, Barack Obama. Mama Sarah cannot communicate with Mr. Obama, who calls her his grandmother, because she speaks only her Luo tribal language and a...

Kenya's political rivals agreed Thursday to write a new constitution within a year as part of a deal to end postelection violence ... In Washington, President Bush said he will dispatch Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Kenya... Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating in the Kenya crisis, has hammered out a deal ... "The two parties agreed to write a new constitution," ... Opposition leader Raila Odinga ...

ELDORET, Kenya) — U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama phoned Kenya's opposition leader as diplomatic attempts to end Kenya's political crisis intensified Tuesday. The death toll from a week of violence after President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election has reached nearly 500, according to the government, though the opposition claimed the death toll could be up to 1,000. On Monday, Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga made key concessions under U.S. pressure. Obama — a Democratic Party candidate who is of Kenyan descent — called Odinga late Monday or early Tuesday, said Odinga's spokesman, Salim Lone. "He called to express grave concern...