Hugh Hewitt writes:
You have got to read the first selection on the "Pastor's Page" from Senator Obama's church bulletin, dated June 10, 2007, titled "Open Letter to Oprah." It was not authored by Pastor Jeremiah Wright, but by Ali Baghdadi. It includes this remarkable assertion:
I must tell you that Israel was the closest ally to the White Supremacists of South Africa. In fact, South Africa allowed Israel to test its nuclear weapons in the ocean off South Africa. The Israelis were given a blank
check: they could test whenever they desired and did not even have to ask permission. Both worked on an ethnic bomb that kills Blacks and Arabs.
The accompanying biographical note reads:
Ali Baghdadi, an Arab-American activist, writer, columnist; worked with several African-American groups on civil and human rights issues since the mid sixties; acted as a Middle East advisor to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad the founder of the Nation of Islam, as well as Minister Louis Farrakhan; visited more than 80 countries throughoutthe world and met with many of their leaders, including Mandela, Castro, Saddam Hussein, Hafez Assad, Qathafi, Abdallah ibn Abdel-Aziz, Rafsanjani, Ayatollah Khamenei, among many others.
Senator Obama's church has a wonderful reputation for providing services for many among Chicago's urban poor, but those services clearly take place in the context of a political environment very hostile to Israel.
[Me] - I continue to be amazed that Obama can in good conscience present himself as a man of all Americans and at the same time identify himself with this church and its politics.