Obama’s Saddam Connection?

phk
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Obama’s Saddam Connection?

« on: February 04, 2008, 03:17:57 AM »

Obama’s Saddam Connection?

When I first saw the names Barack Obama, Tony Rezko and Nadhmi Auchi a week ago in some random newspaper report, I was sure that some reporter would extrapolate these connections further to include the name “Saddam Hussein”. Well, I guess I expected too much from the American press, and it fell to The Times (UK) to spell out the obvious.

Back in the opposition days, the name “Nadhmi Auchi” was just another front for Saddam’s intelligence service, or so we thought. Auchi (…a Chaldean Christian; there’s a Muslim family by that name too) knew Saddam intimately enough in his youth to the point of conspiring together to pull off an assassination attempt on Soviet-leaning Iraqi strongman Col. Abdul-Karim Qasim in 1959. Auchi was considered one of Saddam’s guys, who mysteriously left his job in the Ministry of Oil to start a business in Luxembourg with school-pal Nasseer ‘Abid (…Shia from Nassiriya). Auchi’s brothers stayed behind in Iraq and fixed deals with their brother to bring oil industry spare parts, but one of them got too greedy and went too far—from the regime’s perspective—in hoarding kickbacks and was executed over corruption charges in the mid-1980s on Saddam’s personal orders. Yet, even after this, Auchi maintained a connection to Saddam, according to what we in the opposition believed at the time.

A very reliable source of mine who knows Auchi very well disputes any intelligence or money laundering roles that Auchi may have performed on behalf of Saddam, but then again, had that been true, enough people would have formed a different impression about Auchi and this stigma of him being one of Saddam’s ‘secret men’ would have faded away—but it never did. What is certain is that Auchi never turned against Saddam even after his brother was murdered, and may have stuck to the Ba’athist talking points when talking politics.

Auchi has faced all sorts of controversy and legal action in Europe, and at one point had difficulty obtaining a visa to visit the United States. I’m not fully sure, but I think that Auchi eventually did make it to Michigan and was honored at some ceremony there; I remember seeing something in the local Iraqi-American press to that effect. I could be wrong, but some reporters should be checking this out.

What if there had been an Obama-Auchi meeting that may have been arranged by Rezko? Has any reporter asked Obama about this to his face? What if either Rezko or Auchi sold Obama on how the Saddam regime sees things, and that’s why Obama took a stance against the Iraq war?

Was Obama influenced by a Saddam connection?

The only Iraqi-American spy to be tried so far was working out of Chicago, so we know that the Iraqi Intelligence Service had an operation in the same city that Obama is from. Why is it a stretch to think that the Saddam regime was peddling its influence on US politicians wherever it may catch on, even in a place like Chicago? Didn't the Soviets do this? Didn't the Soviets train Iraq's spies? Wouldn’t a rising politician with a weird Muslim background seem like a softer target to approach? Especially if he were connected with someone like Rezko, who himself had a connection to someone like Auchi?

How many of Obama’s impressions on Iraq and the Middle East were formed through conversations with fellows like Rezko, a Syrian?

Shouldn’t some reporters ask these questions? Shouldn’t an Iraq-obsessed organization like MoveOn.org do more due diligence on such questionable connections before endorsing Barack Obama?

But then again, I’m expecting too much from American reporters who can’t see beyond their agendas, their sloth and their many neuroses over not being invited to cool cocktail parties.

UPDATE:

I should note that I have seen that picture of Rezko with the Clintons at the White House. But a President and his First Lady (...Talisman Gate endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination due to her sober Iraq stance) take a lot of pictures with a lot of people and host a lot of visitors at their presidential home. But it's one thing to receive someone at your house, and a whole different thing to receive your house from someone. "Lack of judgement"--yeah, there's been a lot of that going around lately...

UPDATE 2:

According to The Times:

The Times has, however, discovered state documents in Illinois recording that Fintrade Services, a Panamanian company, lent money to Mr Obama’s fundraiser in May 2005.

Fintrade’s directors include Ibtisam Auchi, the name of Mr Auchi’s wife. Mr Auchi’s spokespeople declined to respond to a question about whether he was linked to this business.

But according to this Middle Eastern business site that had profiled Auchi's General Mediterranean Holding Company, Nadhmi Auchi himself is directly associated with Fintrade Services of Panama! That means that there's a direct money trail between Barack Obama and Nadhmi Auchi!

This is huge!

Look, it's hard to believe that Obama is tainted with Auchi's money; how would he even consider running for the presidency while knowing that something like this lurks in the closet? But this doesn't look good at all, and Obama needs to explain that this has nothing to do with his views on Iraq.

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Gabu
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	Re: Obama’s Saddam Connection? « Reply #1 on: February 04, 2008, 03:30:18 AM »
	« Edited: February 04, 2008, 03:32:09 AM by Gabu »

So, let me get this straight, it goes something like this:

There's Saddam Hussein...
...and he was known by a man named Nadhmi Auchi...
...and this man has a wife named Ibitsam Auchi...
...and this woman is a director in Fintrade Services...
...and this company lent money to Barack Obama's fundraiser in 2005...
...and this obviously proves a direct connection between Saddam Hussein and Barack Obama.

This is satire, right? No one is actually seriously asserting this, right? If this counted as a "connection", then pretty well every single person in the world has "connections" to everyone else on the planet.

PS:

Quote from: Huma Abedin 08' on February 04, 2008, 03:17:57 AM

Wouldn’t a rising politician with a weird Muslim background seem like a softer target to approach?

Oh good, the article also got in a "Barack Obama = Muslim" reference for good measure. Just when its credibility couldn't get any worse.

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