MUST-READ: Foreign cash for votes? Obama's vote on Iran raises troubling questions about his PRIVATE meeting with top US Imam

Campaign funds related stories

1. WaPo confirms story about small donations fueling Obama's campaign is bogus; 75% from wealthy liberals, Hollywood elite
2. Video: Obama chose lobbyist money over public safety
3. Obama's Pakistani friends/fundraisers wont talk for fear of stoking rumors Obama is a Muslim; one accompanied BHO to Pakistan
4. AP finds Obama has accepted many foreign donations; no information on the $100+ million BHO received from donors under $200
5. MUST-READ: Foreign cash for votes? Obama's vote on Iran raises troubling questions about his PRIVATE meeting with top US Imam
6. Video of Libyan leader saying Arabs and Africans have given Obama money and calling Obama a muslim brother
7. Obama is a leading beneficiary of campaign contributions from scandal-plagued Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
8. Federal Elections Commission insider reports he is being stone-walled in his attempt to investigate Obama's dodgy funds
9. News of Obama's campaign fund CHEATING trickles out of the Mainstream Media
10. Obama's dodgy funds; freshman Chicago senator seems to have gone out of his way to assist evasion of Fed Campaign laws
11. Obama's recently located Boston-based auntie is an illegal alien; her financial contribution to Obama's campaign is illegal

What's wrong with this picture?

Obama requests private meeting with America's top Imam (see the inset of May 14, 2008 meeting); the Imam is seen above at an earlier date conferring with Hezbollah's notorious spiritual leader, Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadallah

The answer to what's wrong is contained in this article (packed with detailed support with links to source documents) which highlights Senator Obama's actions surrounding Iran and identifies several major unanswered questions. These open questions relate to the most fundamental area of responsibility for a Commander-in-Chief: keeping Americans safe and protecting our American way of life.

So why is this picture troubling? Bill Bennett wrote recently about Obama's policy towards Iran

Barack Obama’s stance toward Iran is as troubling as it is dangerous. By stating and maintaining that he would negotiate with Iran, “without preconditions,” and within his first year of office, he will give credibility to, and reward for his intransigence, the head of state of the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism. Such a meeting will also undermine and send the exact wrong signal to Iranian dissidents. And, he will lower the prestige of the office of the president: In his own words he stated, “If we think that meeting with the president is a privilege that has to be earned, I think that reinforces the sense that we stand above the rest of the world at this point in time.” Not only has his stance toward Iran caused concern among our allies in Europe, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton called it, “Irresponsible and frankly naïve"

This article contains 6 Exhibits, including the photo from his private meeting with America's top Imam as # 5, which show that Obama's "irresponsible and frankly naive" policy may result less from the naivety of the Harvard-educated attorney, and more from Obama's desire to pander to certain mid-east interests by showing his extreme opposition to the Senate's US policy on Iran.

The article also notes many significant questions about the first half of Obama's life, and the sources of up to $100 million of Obama's campaign funds for his 2008 Primary Campaign. Understanding where this money came from may provide a motive for some of his behavior. Several major Campaign Finance Watching organizations have already issued a formal letter requesting information.

Requests for additional information about Obama's past are typically met with no response apart from cries of racist smears. You may recall Obama already set the stage by announcing his opponents are "going to make me look scary...and did I mention I'm black?" But, despite his protestations, and request for blanket immunity, as he's running for the highest office in the land, we simply can't afford to give him a pass on these open issues. To quote Senator Obama, condescendingly chastising Senator Clinton on NBC's Today Show , "We're not running for President of City Council...we're running for the President of the United States of America."

LIST OF SIX EXHIBITS

Exhibit 1)

Sept 26. 07: Senate passes Kyl-Lieberman placing Iranian Revolutionary Guard on Watchlist

Exhibit 2)

Sept 26, 07: Obama misses the vote; later that day Obama issues press release saying he opposes the bill

Exhibit 3)

Sept 30 07 : Hezballah's spiritual leader Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadallah slams the vote claiming the US just declared war on Iran

Exhibit 4)

November 2: Obama tries to introduce resolution to reverse the earlier resolution that had passed easily. Had the resolution passed it obviously would have made Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadallah a happy man. Not a single other senator supported it.

Exhibit 5)

May 14 08 Obama meets privately with America's top Imam. Obama could easily have invited him to take part in an already scheduled meeting with 20 other local leaders. Obama declined; instead Obama requested a private meeting with the Imam. The same Imam also confers in private with Hezbollah's notorious spiritual leader, Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadallah

Exhibit 6)

June 7 2008 Libya's leader says Arabs had sent money to support Obama's campaign during a videotaped speech

Here's the details.


1) Kyl-Lieberman Amendment (excerpt)
Sec. 1538 of H.R. 1585

(b) Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate--

(1) that the manner in which the United States transitions and structures its military presence in Iraq will have critical long-term consequences for the future of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, in particular with regard to the capability of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to pose a threat to the security of the region, the prospects for democracy for the people of the region, and the health of the global economy;

(2) that it is a critical national interest of the United States to prevent the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran from turning Shi'a militia extremists in Iraq into a Hezbollah-like force that could serve its interests inside Iraq, including by overwhelming, subverting, or co-opting institutions of the legitimate Government of Iraq;

(3) that the United States should designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as established under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and initiated under Executive Order 13224;

2 Obama did not actually vote on the amendment – he was campaigning at the time. But he did publicly oppose it, calling it excessively provocative:

Obama press release (Sept. 26, 2007): Senator Obama clearly recognizes the serious threat posed by Iran. However, he does not agree with the president that the best way to counter that threat is to keep large numbers of troops in Iraq, and he does not think that now is the time for saber-rattling towards Iran. In fact, he thinks that our large troop presence in Iraq has served to strengthen Iran - not weaken it. He believes that diplomacy and economic pressure, such as the divestment bill that he has proposed, is the right way to pressure the Iranian regime. Accordingly, he would have opposed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment had he been able to vote today. Source

3 Hizbullah spiritual leader: Senate declared war on Iran"

Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah slams vote to label Revolutionary Guard a terror organization

Senate votes 76-22 in favor of amendment placing Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on US terrorist blacklist, a move that could lead to harsh economic sanctions.The US blacklist, which already includes al-Qaeda and Hizbullah, bars named groups from gaining access to the US financial system.

Hizballah 's spiritual leader, in response to a Senate resolution on Wednesday calling on the State Department to include the dominant branch in Iran's army on its list of terrorist organization said on Sunday:

"The American Senate's decision to include the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which are an integral part of the Iranian army, as a terrorist organization, amounts to a declaration of war and so does the Senate's daring decision to vote in favor of a resolution to divide Iraq," Fadlallah said.

"This reflects the dangerous intentions for the region and we can see it as an American move ahead of more wars in countries in the region in order to destabilize them and shake their security and politics," he added.

"He who follows America's political moves understands clearly that the Bush administration has not given up its ambition to plunge the region into war and chaos," he said. "The American Congress is pretending to be trying to change the attitude of this administration but in fact they are working together and are towing the line of the Zionist lobby to widen the scope of American aggression in the region.

4) Obama, who rarely shows up for work since his campaign began and misses 89% of Senate votes in the last quarter of 2007, goes out of the way during that last quarter of 2007...despite the overwhelming support for the passed Kyl/Lieberman amendment ...to show up in DC, and propose a new resolution on November 1 which would reverse Kyl/Lieberman and "coincidentally"satisfy Hussein Fadallah's concerns about the US declaring War. To provide cover, Obama claimed he was doing it to constrain President Bush, but the following AP story reveals that he was trying to nullify the Kyl/Lieberman amendment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama introduced a Senate resolution late Thursday that says President Bush does not have authority to use military force against Iran, the latest move in a debate with presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton about how to respond to that country's nuclear ambitions.

Clinton's campaign accused Obama of playing politics instead of taking a leadership role from the outset.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the Illinois senator drafted the measure in an effort to "nullify the vote the Senate took to give the president the benefit of the doubt on Iran."

Burton was referring to an amendment sponsored by Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, that passed 76-22 on Sept. 26 and designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

Here's the official record of the resolution from the Thomas Library of Congress
Notice Obama could not find a SINGLE OTHER SENATOR to COSPONSOR. His resolution of course died.

S.J.RES.23 : A joint resolution clarifying that the use of force against Iran is not authorized by the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq, any resolution previously adopted, or any other provision of law.
Sponsor: Sen Obama, Barack [IL] (introduced 11/1/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Committees: Senate Foreign Relations
Latest Major Action: 11/1/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Why would the Senator that is best known for 140+ "present" votes in the Illinois State Senate, and for failing to go out on a political limb on many key issues, go out of his way to introduce a resolution to a US Senate to overturn a resolution that only 37 days earlier that Senate had overwhelmingly passed. It had also passed the House of Representatives one day earlier. What had changed in that 37 days? Obama had already established for the record that had he been present on September 25 he would have voted against the Kyl/Lieberman amendment. There was certainly no significant action by Iran in those 37 days to justify a softening in US posture. But something had happened ...publicized outrage from Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadallah, Hizbullah's spiritual leader.


5) Obama meets privately with Hizbullah's spiritual leader's friend, Imam Hassan Qazwini, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of America

May 14 08 Obama meets privately with America's top Imam. Obama could easily have invited him to take part in an already scheduled meeting with 20 other local leaders. Obama declined; instead Obama requested a private meeting with the Imam. The same Imam also confers in private with Hezbollah's notorious spiritual leader, Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadallah

Imam Hassan Qazwini the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of America - Dearborn Michigan, the largest Mosque in North America met yesterday Wednesday May 14, 2008 with Senator Barack Obama the Democratic presidential candidate. The private meeting between the two took place at Macomb Community College - Michigan. In this meeting Imam Qazwini and Senator Obama discussed the upcoming presidential election, the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East and the War in Iraq.

Furthermore, in the end of the meeting Imam Qazwini offered a copy of his newly released book ‘American Crescent’ (see cover at right) to senator Obama. Imam Qazwini also invited Senator Obama to visit the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. Source

The photo showing the Imam meeting Obama was published in the Detroit Free Press. Additionally, Imam Qazwini is close to Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadallah (Photo Source: Debbie Schussel.com)


6) And to make it even more troubling watch Libya's leader explains that Arabs from mid-east countries and African have been sending money to Obama's campaign...(Qadaffi says on the video its legal...but how he could possibly know is not clear as there are many significant legal restrictions see f below).


This video follows on from an earlier video from Al Jazeeri showing Palestinians working for Obama during the primary season



Maybe the enthusiasm of these Gaza-based Palestinian nationals explains why Obama on June 6, 2008 did a flip flop on the position he took at AIPAC on June 5, 2008 that Jerusalem should not be divided.

So What is Wrong with this Picture?

Now lets return to the opening question. Whats wrong? Obama is on the wrong side of every vote that will keep this country safe. Maybe, not surprisingly as his views are consistent with Hezballoh's spiritual leader


Ed Rendell said two months ago that 50% is not known about Obama.
Rendell was wrong. Its well over 50%

To say the least, Obama's private meeting, mystery donors and Iran-friendly, Hezballah-friendly, Senate conduct, when all taken together make me very uncomfortable.

If any candidate would act this way, it would be grounds for concern. In Obama's case the urgency of understanding his highly unusual behavior, is even greater when taken together with:

a) Obama's failure to disclose a 3 week trip to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan until it slipped out trying to out-do Clinton in a debate
b) falsely denying that he had ever prayed in a mosque,
c) his relationships with Obama's top money-man Syrian-born felon, Tony Rezko ...(Iran and Syria are tight allies)

d) his failure to provide basic information about his siblings including his half-brother George from his father's fourth wife, or his step-mothers. Very little is known about his other half-siblings...seen at right...we know for example that his brother Roy converted to Islam and is virulently anti-European ...as Obama wrote in his autobiography Roy told him

the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture.

Yet Obama also write's in that same autobiography, Dreams of the Father, that he is "proudest of his brother Roy. Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. He converted to Islam, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol."

e) the full nature of his relationship with his so-called cousin and current Kenyan leader Raila Odinga seen at right, on whose behalf Obama took time to advise about his own political campaign during his Obama's campaign for the White House. After initially losing the election to become leader of Kenya, Raila was given the top job after six months of killing in that trouble-torn nation. (Raila's campaign theme..."change".)

f) Nor has Obama provided information about around $100 million of campaign funds Obama says he's received in small bills such as $5, 10, $20...and we don't know how this $100 million relates to the money that Libya's leader says was sent to Obama "their Muslim brother" by people in Arab and African countries

On June 22, 2008, 8 widely respected Campaign finance watching organizations

CAMPAIGN FINANCE INSTITUTE
CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS
COMMON CAUSE
DEMOCRACY 21
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE UNITED STATES
PUBLIC CITIZEN
SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION
U.S. PIRG

sent Obama a request for information including this paragraph:

You have justified your decision to opt out of the public funding system in part because of your campaign’s heavy reliance on small donors. We observe, however, that as of May 31, 51 percent of your money has come from donations greater than $200, and that 33 percent has come from donations of $1,000 and over. We do not expect you to disclose the same information about your smaller donors that the FEC requires for larger contributors, but concurrent with your July FEC report and updated with every report until the election cycle’s conclusion, we request that you provide a breakdown of the number of these smaller contributors by ZIP code and foreign country (since Americans living abroad may contribute), along with the cumulative amount of money you have received during this campaign from small donors in each ZIP code and country. This information will provide the public with more comprehensive insight into the demographics of your donors.

A review of Obama's website shows that he made it easy for foreigners to contribute even providing a pull down menu listing for following 227 nations.

1. Afghanistan
2. Albania
3. Algeria
4. American Samoa
5. Andorra
6. Angola
7. Anguilla
8. Antigua and Barbuda
9. Argentina
10. Armenia
11. Aruba
12. Australia
13. Austria
14. Azerbaijan
15. Bahamas
16. Bahrain
17. Bangladesh
18. Barbados
19. Belarus
20. Belgium
21. Belize
22. Benin
23. Bermuda
24. Bhutan
25. Bolivia
26. Bosnia and Herzegovina
27. Botswana
28. Brazil
29. British Indian Ocean Territory
30. British Virgin Islands
31. Brunei
32. Bulgaria
33. Burkina Faso
34. Burundi
35. Cambodia
36. Cameroon
37. Canada
38. Cape Verde
39. Cayman Islands
40. Central African Republic
41. Chad
42. Chile
43. China
44. Christmas Island
45. Colombia
46. Comoros Islands
47. Congo
48. Cook Islands
49. Costa Rica
50. Cote D'ivoire
51. Croatia
52. Cuba
53. Cyprus
54. Czech Republic
55. Denmark
56. Djibouti
57. Dominica
58. Dominican Republic
59. East Timor
60. Ecuador
61. Egypt
62. El Salvador
63. Equatorial Guinea
64. Eritrea
65. Estonia
66. Ethiopia
67. Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
68. Faroe Islands
69. Fiji
70. Finland
71. France
72. French Guiana
73. French Polynesia
74. French Southern Territories
75. Gabon
76. Gambia
77. Georgia
78. Germany
79. Ghana
80. Gibraltar
81. Greece
82. Greenland
83. Grenada
84. Guadeloupe
85. Guam
86. Guatemala
87. Guinea
88. Guinea-Bissau
89. Guyana
90. Haiti
91. Holy See (Vatican City State)
92. Honduras
93. Hong Kong
94. Hungary
95. Iceland
96. India
97. Indonesia
98. Iran
99. Iraq
100. Ireland
101. Israel
102. Italy
103. Jamaica
104. Japan
105. Jordan
106. Kazakhstan
107. Kenya
108. Kiribati
109. Kuwait
110. Kyrgyzstan
111. Laos
112. Latvia
113. Lebanon
114. Lesotho
115. Liberia
116. Liechtenstein
117. Lithuania
118. Luxembourg
119. Macau
120. Macedonia
121. Madagascar
122. Malawi
123. Malaysia
124. Maldives
125. Mali
126. Malta
127. Marshall Islands
128. Martinique
129. Mauritania
130. Mauritius
131. Mayotte
132. Mexico
133. Micronesia
134. Moldova, Republic of
135. Monaco
136. Mongolia
137. Montserrat
138. Morocco
139. Mozambique
140. Myanmar
141. Namibia
142. Nauru
143. Nepal
144. Netherlands
145. Netherlands Antilles
146. New Caledonia
147. New Zealand
148. Nicaragua
149. Niger
150. Nigeria
151. Niue
152. Norfolk Island
153. Northern Mariana Islands
154. Norway
155. Oman
156. Pakistan
157. Palau
158. Panama
159. Papua New Guinea
160. Paraguay
161. Peru
162. Philippines
163. Pitcairn Island
164. Poland
165. Portugal
166. Puerto Rico
167. Qatar
168. Reunion
169. Romania
170. Russian Federation
171. Rwanda
172. Saint Kitts and Nevis
173. Saint Lucia
174. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
175. Samoa
176. San Marino
177. Sao Tome and Principe
178. Saudi Arabia
179. Senegal
180. Serbia and Montenegro
181. Seychelles
182. Sierra Leone
183. Singapore
184. Slovakia
185. Slovenia
186. Solomon Islands
187. Somalia
188. South Africa
189. South Korea
190. Spain
191. Sri Lanka
192. St. Helena
193. St. Pierre and Miquelon
194. Sudan
195. Suriname
196. Swaziland
197. Sweden
198. Switzerland
199. Taiwan
200. Tajikistan
201. Tanzania
202. Thailand
203. Togo
204. Tokelau
205. Tonga
206. Trinidad and Tobago
207. Tunisia
208. Turkey
209. Turkmenistan
210. Turks and Caicos Islands
211. Tuvalu
212. Uganda
213. Ukraine
214. United Arab Emirates
215. United Kingdom
216. United States
217. Uruguay
218. Uzbekistan
219. Vanuatu
220. Venezuela
221. Viet Nam
222. Virgin Islands (U.S.)
223. Wallis and Futuna Islands
224. Western Sahara
225. Yemen
226. Zambia
227. Zimbabwe

Notice the list includes Lebanon home of Hizballah's Sheik Mohammad Hussein Fadallah and Iran...as well as many small African nations. The list is 220+ countries longer than Senators Clinton's and McCain's list on their websites. Also see Calling all Detectives at Obama WTF

Talking of small African nations its also worth noting that since his return from his lengthy trip to Africa in the Summer of 2006, Obama's most significant legislative achievement came a few months ago on December 7 when in another of his infrequent appearances in the US Senate that quarter which was dominated by campaigning in Iowa, he found time, not to promote his Illinois constituents, but to introduce
S. 2433 The Global Poverty Act:

* Declares it official U.S. policy to promote the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme global poverty in half by 2015.

* Requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to carry out that policy.

* Includes guidelines for what the strategy should include - from aid, trade, and debt relief, to working with the international community, businesses and NGOs, to ensuring environmental sustainability.

This legislation is supported by a broad range of groups, including Bread for the World, CARE, Oxfam America, Habitat for Humanity International, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Borgen Project, United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, RESULTS, and Micah Challenge USA.

If passed, it will cost taxpayers $845,000,000,000 over the next 13 years, in addition to our current foreign aid expenditures. The Bill was referred to the Council on Foreign Affairs Committee for further review.

I agree with Douglas Turner, the senior correspondent in the Washington Bureau of The Buffalo News who recently wrote:

Obama just created a newsworthy “Fight the Smear” task force to combat lies told about him on talk radio and the Internet. Better he should have one to deal forthrightly about the facts of his life and his current goals.

The type of basic information that Douglas Turner, the Campaign Finance Institute, the Center for Responsive Politics, Democracy 21, The League of Women Voters United States, Public Citizen, Sunlight Citizen, US PIRG, and Common Cause are requesting is basic. While many journalists are having troubling pinning down Obama's shifting positions on critical issues, these groups of concerned citizens and journalist Douglas Turner are seeking simply biographical facts and campaign funding disclosure. Surely its in Senator Obama's best interests to promptly come clean and provide the American people with answers to these simple questions to make sure a "Foreign-cash-for-votes" scandal doesn't plague the rest of his campaign.