OK folks...
What are the implications...? Where will this trial lead? Obama has a lot of questionable friends and I feel is hiding much. And a familiar theme is starting to unfold...OBAMA IS A LIAR!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Follow the Money: Obama's Alsammarae "fairy tale"
RezkoWatch has written a number of articles about Aiham Alsammarae, indicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko's former classmate in the late 1970s at the Illinois Institute of Technology and former business partner.
Writing in the March 17, 2008, issue of Newsweek, Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff reported that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)'s campaign "released e-mails" from October 2006 between his U.S. Senate office and U.S. officials "on behalf" of Alsammarae, who was still "imprisoned in Iraq." Although "the Obama camp initially declined to release the e-mails", during the first week of March 2008 they did. The "e-mail exchange appears routine," they wrote.
On Oct. 16, 2006, Obama's Senate office received a faxed plea from Al-Sammarae's son. ... A onetime Iraqi exile, Al-Sammarae returned to Iraq after Saddam's fall to serve as Iraq's Electricity minister but was sentenced to two years in prison for corruption. Al-Sammarae's son claimed in the fax that his father was railroaded for exposing Iraqi government incompetence, and feared his life was in danger in prison. ... Obama's office sent an inquiry to the U.S. consul in Iraq expressing the Al-Sammarae family's concern and requesting "an update on the status of this case." The consul responded with an e-mail explaining that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad had monitored the case to ensure that Al-Sammarae was "being treated in a humane manner."
Hosenball and Isikoff wrote that they had not obtained any response to "requests for comment" from Alsammarae or his family. Furthermore, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said "the inquiry about Al-Sammarae 'was based on a request from a constituent.' Obama's office marked the file 'no further action.' Al-Sammarae escaped from prison and reportedly headed back to Chicago," Hosenball and Isikoff wrote.
There are several problems with this scenario. The information provided by the Obama campaign to Newsweek's Hosenball and Izikoff is a little light on details.
First of all, it ignores the fact that in 2006 Alsammarae made two escapes from the Baghdad jail which is located within the Green Zone. His first was on October 11, 2006. The second, and final one, was on December 16, 2006.
Secondly, the information provided by the Obama campaign states that Alsammarae's son, Ramy Alsammarae, faxed a plea for help to Obama's Senate office on October 16, 2006. This, however, leaves out the strong possibility that Obama may have been contacted earlier.
This information is also at odds with the account published a day earlier, on October 15, 2006, by the Chicago Tribune. Staff reporter Aamer Madhani reported that on October 13, 2006, Alsammarae's daughter, Dania, who was attending medical school in Dublin, had gone to the U.S. Embassy there but was "told that since
was convicted, there was little that could be done." It is unknown whether Obama's office was made aware of this contact.
However, Madhani also wrote the "families have also reached out to the offices of Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, all in hopes of keeping him out of a prison run by the Iraqi Interior Ministry." This clearly indicates that Obama's office had been contacted for assistance prior to the receipt of the faxed appeal on October 16, 2006.
In fact, as related to Newsweek's Hosenball and Isikoff, the single contact by Alsammarae's son with the Obama campaign clearly does not indicate that his office had been contacted for assistance by Alsammarae or his family members on any other occasion.
The Obama campaign also totally left out the fact that Alsammarae is a bit more than the family member of a "constituent". Alsammarae, the former Iraqi Minister of Electricity, is still wanted by Interpol for the theft of $650 million in Iraqi reconstruction funds stolen from the Coalition Provisional Authority between 2003 and 2006.
A brief chain of events regarding Alsammarae's incarceration and escapes is outlined below.
August 2006 - Alsammarae charged with theft of Iraqi reconstruction funds. After learning of charges against him, presented himself at the Baghdad police station, and was taken into custody.
October 11, 2006 - The Iraqi court overturned first count against Alsammarae involving payments for a single electricity generator in southern Iraq.
October 11, 2006 - Alsammarae made his first escape from jail in Baghdad's Green Zone.
October 13, 2006 - Alsammarae's daughter, Dania, contacted the U.S. Embassy in Dublin.
October 15, 2006 - As reported by the Chicago Tribune, Alsammarae, being held at an Iraqi police station outside the Green Zone, didn't want to return to his jail cell. He said that he was afraid of being killed.
October 16, 2006 - Alsammarae's son, Ramy, faxed a plea for help to Obama's Senate office in which he claimed that "his father was railroaded for exposing Iraqi government incompetence, and feared his life was in danger in prison."
December 16, 2006 - Alsammarae escaped for a second time from the jail inside Baghdad's Green Zone and arrived back in the U.S. in late December 2006 or early January 2007.
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