Posted on 01/19/2007 8:22:03 AM PST by Rutles4Ever
Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?
This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama.
An investigation of Mr. Obama by political opponents within the Democratic Party has discovered that Mr. Obama was raised as a Muslim by his stepfather in Indonesia. Sources close to the background check, which has not yet been released, said Mr. Obama, 45, spent at least four years in a so-called Madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia.
"He was a Muslim, but he concealed it," the source said. "His opponents within the Democrats hope this will become a major issue in the campaign."
When contacted by Insight, Mr. Obama’s press secretary said he would consult with “his boss” and call back. He did not.
Sources said the background check, conducted by researchers connected to Senator Clinton, disclosed details of Mr. Obama's Muslim past. The sources said the Clinton camp concluded the Illinois Democrat concealed his prior Muslim faith and education.
"The background investigation will provide major ammunition to his opponents," the source said. "The idea is to show Obama as deceptive."
In two best-selling autobiographies—"The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance"—Mr. Obama, born in Honolulu where his parents met, mentions but does not expand on his Muslim background, alluding only to his attendance at a "predominantly Muslim school."
The sources said the young Obama was given the name Hussein by his Muslim father, which the Illinois Democrat rarely uses in public.
His father was black and came from Kenya. Mr. Obama’s mother, the daughter of a farmer, came from Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Obama's parents divorced when he was two years old. His father returned to Kenya.
Later, Mr. Obama's mother married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Mr. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.
The sources said the background check concerned Mr. Obama's years in Jakarta. In Indonesia, the young Obama was enrolled in a Madrassa and was raised and educated as a Muslim. Although Indonesia is regarded as a moderate Muslim state, the U.S. intelligence community has determined that today most of these schools are financed by the Saudi Arabian government and they teach a Wahhabi doctrine that denies the rights of non-Muslims.
Although the background check has not confirmed that the specific Madrassa Mr. Obama attended was espousing Wahhabism, the sources said his Democratic opponents believe this to be the case—and are seeking to prove it. The sources said the opponents are searching for evidence that Mr. Obama is still a Muslim or has ties to Islam.
Mr. Obama attends services at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago’s South Side. However, he is not known to be a regular parishioner.
"Obama's education began a life-long relationship with Islam as a faith and Muslims as a community," the source said. "This has been a relationship that contains numerous question marks."
The sources said Mr. Obama spent at least four years in a Muslim school in Indonesia. They said when Mr. Obama was 10, his mother and her second husband separated. She and her son returned to Hawaii.
"Then the official biography begins," the source said. "Obama never returned to Kenya to see relatives or family until it became politically expedient."
In both of his autobiographies, Mr. Obama characterizes himself as a Christian—although he describes his upbringing as mostly secular.
In “The Audacity of Hope,” Mr. Obama says, "I was not raised in a religious household." He describes his mother as secular, but says she had copies of the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita in their home.
Mr. Obama says his father was "raised a Muslim, but by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist...." Mr. Obama also describes his father as largely absent from his life. He says his Indonesian stepfather was "skeptical" about religion and "saw religion as not particularly useful in the practical business of making one's way in the world ...."
In the book, Mr. Obama briefly addresses his education in Indonesia. "During the five years that we would live with my stepfather in Indonesia, I was sent first to a neighborhood Catholic school and then to a predominantly Muslim school; in both cases, my mother was less concerned with me learning the catechism or puzzling out the meaning of the muezzin's call to evening prayer than she was with whether I was properly learning my multiplication tables."
No muslim should hold elective office in this country. Its akin to electing a Nazi in 1942. How dumb are we?
If true, this is a good thing Hillary is bringing it up. It's a slam dunk the GOP is too chicken to do it.
But they'd better get used to the idea Hillary's pit bulls are going to do this to whatever candidate the GOP nominates. If they nominated Mother Theresa, she will end up looking like Hitler by the election!
I'm not so sure Hillary's camp started this. If they did, it could simply be to get the Muslim question out in the open to see if she should offer him the VP position or not.
The battle Billary will wage against any opponent is worth the price of admission.
Madrassa, apostate, fatwa...
Please, pass the popcorn!
But Republicans and Independents will not.
I'd vote for Muslim before I'd vote for a Mormon...
Then you're mad.
"She's hit on the one tactic that will endear her to people around here - attack him for the crime of being Muslim."
Not. I can multitask when it comes to distrust and dislike.
Being a closeted muslim isn't a sufficient reason to oppose this POS?
The muslim cult has sworn that the western society we are a part of will be destroyed.
Barack Hussein Obama is a member of this muslim cult, whether he will publicly admit to it or not.
The koran (pp be upon it) specifically gives his type permission to lie to the infidel in order to succeed in the overthrow and domination of western civilization and all of Christianity.
He was born to a muslim father...ergo...he is muslim.
For him to deny such is an act of apostasy, the punishment for that denial (unless given permission by a ranking muslim moon-god cult leader) is death.
This man is dangerous.
Not only is he a stinking liberal progressive gun-grabbing welfare-promoting, kumbaya-chanting, birkenstock-wearing warm and fuzzy abortion-supporting idiot, he is also a muslim undercover.
He should be opposed for everything, anywhere, anytime.
I'll even vote for a damn Hillary before I'd vote for this POS.
Even of her own stinking communistic political aspirations, this is the most valuable service the Clinton woman has ever done for the country.
I'm betting Obama will withdraw a few weeks before Iowa.
Whether or not your arguement holds water that "around here" people think being Muslim is criminal...let's look at an important fact.
If Obama was a Muslim, and has become a Christian- regardless of his sincerity- he's now a target for islamic extremists.
As to other reasons he's qualified or not qualified for being POTUS, the position he's in as an apparent former Muslim- disqualifies him.
I don't think Obama is particularly Christian. He doesn't even attend church. Frankly, I think Muslims would consider him winning the nomination as a coup d'etat.
Well, to each his own.
But I'd place my trust in a Mormon long before I'd trust a lying, cheating moon-god worshipping muslim.
Maybe that story about golden tablets hidden in a cave and an angel named Moroni is a little hard to fathom, but it sure beats the muslim cult and all it entails.
And remember a little thing known as 911?
That was perpetrated by 19 muslims, not 19 Mormans.
I have absolutely no problem with the Mormon religion and the fact that somebody professes to be a Mormon would not enter into the equation, but to be a muslim...now that's a totally different animal.
What are your fellow Iowans' thoughts on Clinton?
(The female half of the two-backed monster.)
And everyone, including Hillary's shock troops, know that if Oboma were simply sitting in the Senate voting with Hillary instead of out there challenging here, they would not give one hoot in hell what his religious persuasions were. Disgusting people.
Guess Hillary's handlers have told her that muslims who seek the US's destruction will still vote for her no matter how much she rips on Obama, rather than republicans, because Hillary and muslims have a common goal for the US.
It might. But not necessarily. This could be a ploy of the Hillary camp where they use Obama to show how enlightened Hill is. They use this stuff to get the word out about him and that could keep him from getting the nomination. But then she could come to the "realization" that someone's past should not be used against them in the future, that we need to understand the needs and concerns of Muslims. Remember, Hill is the woman who kissed Arafat's wife to be photographed doing it. I don't think for a minute she is critical of Muslims. She could just too easily be toying with all of us and laying the groundwork to show us how emphathetic she is and what a great listener. And she will certainly want the Muslims' vote. This way, she works both sides of their issue. She IS the woman who likes to conduct listening tours. Don't trust anything this woman does.
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