Obama's violent pal in Africa

Also: the Powell endorsement—liberal backs liberal (yawn)

By Wes Vernon

Barack Obama has all but telegraphed his intent to shut up anyone who dares to blow the whistle on his connections to terrorists and crooks. Accordingly, Jerome Corsi — whose best-seller Obama Nation tells the real Obama story (complete with full documentation) would be at or near the top of Obama's enemies list. Another major target of an Obama administration would be Mark Hyman — award-winning commentator for Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

The case of Raila Odinga

Raila Odinga — a Marxist thug politician in Kenya — has been backed to the hilt by Obama. Corsi and Hyman have been publicizing — or trying to publicize — the connection far and wide.

Odinga ran for and lost the presidency of Kenya in late 2007. His backers — egged on by the sore loser himself — took the approach of vote for our candidate or risk being hacked to death.

This column made mention of the communist terrorist Odinga last month (see "Keep your eye on the ball: Obama is the issue" — Sept. 15) in our review of Corsi's book. The time has come to revisit the issue more in-depth — thanks in large part to Mark Hyman's recent efforts to get the story on the web, over the air, and in print.

Vote for me or I'll burn your church down

In December, Odinga tried to oust incumbent President Mwai Kibaki, a friend of the United States. Odinga lost by 230,000 votes, thus entitling Kibaki to a second term.

Whereupon, Odinga fomented riots which took more than 1,500 Kenyan lives and displaced more than a half million. Scores of Christian churches were set ablaze. In one case, about 50 parishioners, mostly women and children, were locked inside a church before it was set ablaze. Those who tried to escape were hacked to death by a mob 2,000-strong. Villages were destroyed. Atrocities were perpetrated by Muslims against Christians.

The Marxist makes a deal

Out of all this came the revelation that Odinga had made a secret deal with the Muslim community that if elected, he would recognize Islam as "the only true religion." Islamic leaders would have an "oversight role to monitor ALL other religions" (emphasis in Hyman's original); Shariah courts would be installed, along with a ban on Christian preaching; and there would be an adoption of a women's dress code and bans on alcohol and pork.

A little help from his American friend

Barack Obama visited Kenya in 2006 to campaign on behalf of Odinga — then a member of parliament who represented an area populated by the Lou Tribe and the birthplace of Obama's father. Obama and Odinga were inseparable during the Illinois senator's six-day visit, according to Hyman. They traveled together as Obama addressed several of his friend's rallies. Odinga visited Obama several times during his visits to the U.S. in 2005 and 2006.

The post-election violence came to end only after President Kibaki offered Odinga the post as Prime Minister (an offer that was accepted).

In fact, earlier this month Jerome Corsi visited Kenya to continue his ongoing investigation of Obama's ties there. The author was detained by government officials as he was about to hold a news conference on the Obama-Odinga connection.

Finally, as Corsi was released to a plane to take him out of Kenya, one of those who had barred him from holding the news conference bid him the unfriendly adieu — "See you in hell!"

Troubling trends

In Kenya, officials on behalf of the Communist East German-educated Odinga detain an investigating author as he was about to drop what was described as a "hot potato." Here in this country, Obama's supporters at ACORN appear to be working feverishly to steal the election through voter fraud, as the candidate's friends prepare to use the jack boot to shut down conservative talk radio if he is elected. There seems to be a pattern here.

Powell's endorsement of Obama

The "shock" expressed in some Republican circles that Colin Powell would endorse Barack Obama's bid for the White House — and thus throw under the bus the party that advanced his career during three Republican administrations (Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43) — reflects a political naiveté inflicted on the public for years. It is a line of propaganda that comes from the same mainstream media that could not understand why conservatives never bought into the alleged "golden opportunity" to nominate Nelson Rockefeller as the "obvious" superior choice for President years ago.

Powell's strengths (and weaknesses)

The general has served us well in the military. How he has served us politically is open to debate.

For example

As Secretary of State, Powell kept his mouth shut knowing full well that it was his close friend Richard Armitage who had leaked the name of CIA bureaucrat Valerie Plame to Robert Novak, and that "Scooter" Libby had not. He watched as Patrick Fitzgerald drew his prosecutorial bead on Libby and Karl Rove, while Bob Novak was paying through the nose in legal fees. All the while Secretary Powell lifted nary a finger to do the honorable thing and straighten out what he knew to be a legal travesty, fueled with an abundance of media hype.

The '96 media Powell boomlet

Recall that the media defined Powell as a good Republican when they tried to sell him as the "logical" candidate for the GOP nomination in 1996. There was just one problem. Republicans did not buy it. Nonetheless, the mainstream media slandered anyone who — to borrow a metaphor from the Wizard of Oz — dared to pay attention "to that man behind the curtain."

And who was that man?

Powell has been serving behind political enemy lines all along. He talks like — in fact, has described himself as — a Rockefeller Republican — a vanishing breed symbolized today by the likes of New Jersey's former Governor Christine Todd Whitman.

One could even go a step beyond that and say the general talks like a Democrat. The dead giveaway came during his Obama endorsement on Meet The Press, when Powell said, "I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court."

Holy cow! If anything unites most Republicans, it is that we need to reverse the out-of-control oligarchy imposed by a runaway judiciary that has abused its lifetime appointments and tossed the Constitution out the window, thereby grabbing powers reserved for the legislative and executive branches.

Race?

I am not as certain as others that Powell's backing of Obama is primarily race-related. The general's support of affirmative action? So what? That's been a sacred litmus test of the true "liberal" for years, white or black.

Powell is just following the line perpetrated by those establishment liberals (black and white) who opposed Michael Steele for the U.S. Senate in my state of Maryland, and joined the "high tech" lynch mob that tried to keep Clarence Thomas off the Supreme Court. Powell supports Obama because he sees the Illinois senator as a kindred liberal soul. This has less to do with skin color and more to do with Powell showing his true political colors.

Not all in the family

It should be noted that General Powell's son Michael — a former FCC chairman — is solidly in the McCain-Palin camp and has been working for its victory. Thus, we can apply the age-old admonition: The sins of the parent should not be visited upon the child.

© Wes Vernon