Obama and Odinga, a Curious Relationship

Raila Odinga, the current Prime Minister of Kenya, recently boasted that he has a “close personal friendship” with Barack Obama. When Obama went to Kenya in August of 2006, he was hosted by Raila and spoke in praise of him at rallies in Nairobi. Obama’s praise for Odinga was so blatant that a Kenya government spokesman denounced Obama during his visit as Raila’s “stooge.”- Source, The Midnight Sun

Barack Obama's father, a native Kenyan, was closely aligned to Raila's father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a former Vice President of Kenya and a Marxist enthusiast who once boasted that "Communism is like food to me"

Here are some facts about Raila Odinga, the man Barack Obama has befriended and lauded:

In August of 2007 - while running for the Kenyan Presidency - Raila Odinga signed an agreement with Kenyan Muslim leaders promising, among other things, the implementation of Sharia law in certain parts of Kenya, censorship of Christian programming on government airwaves, and a ban on Christian open-air gatherings in Muslim areas as well.

[Incidentally, when Raila Odinga lost the presidential election in December, he claimed the vote was rigged, whereupon his tribal followers went on murderous rampages such as in the town of Eldoret, where on New Years Day dozens of people were burned to death in a church set on fire… Throughout Kenya, hundreds of people were politically murdered. Source-The Midnight sun]

The following are just a few quotations from Odinga's agreement with the Muslims leaders:

"Within 6 months re-write the Constitution of Kenya to recognize Shariah as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim declared regions."

"Within one year facilitate the establishment of a Shariah court in every Kenyan divisional headquarters."

"Popularize Islam, the only true religion, in the Coast and North Eastern Regions by ordering every primary school in Kenya in the regions to conduct daily Madrassa classes."

"No Muslim residing in Kenya whether a citizen, visitor or relative of any of the above shall be subjected to any process involving the laws of a foreign country and in particular any Muslim arrested or suspected of Terrorism or any other International crime shall only be tried within the borders of Kenya and shall be granted a competent lawyer of his/her choice at the expense of the Government."

Not only does the above violate international treaties on criminal extradition, but also means that Kenya would be essentially a safe haven for terrorists -- the Taliban tried a similar ploy with Osama bin Laden.

"Impose a total ban on open-air gospel crusades by worshipers of the cross in the Coast and North Eastern regions."

"Outlaw gospel programs (preaching, purported faith healing, etc.) on KBC, the National Broadcaster."
Sources - Eakenya.org, The Obama Odinga Connection - on the sidebar, The Midnight Sun

And here's another interesting tidbit: Odinga named his son Fidel Castro.

In an interview with the New York Times [see the end of the video] Odinga defended that decision saying: "That was in the 60's. [Odinga starts to laugh] It was very fashionable to be leftist. Fidel Castro then symbolized the resistance against imperial domination. Of course, the world has since changed."