$150K Reward Offered for Obama Khalidi Tape [With A Possibility Of Where The Tape Came From Thanks To Plagiarism]
Back on April 10, 2008 the LA Times published an article written by Peter Wallsten. In the article, supposedly based on this video, Wallsten said Obama addressed an audience during a 2003 farewell dinner which was sponsored by the AAAN (Arab American Action Network, which had been founded by Khalidi and his wife) for Khalidi, who was Obama's colleague at the University of Chicago, before Khalidi's departure for Columbia University in NY.
It was a celebration of Palestinian culture -- a night of music, dancing and a dash of politics. [...]
A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking.
His many talks with teh Khalidis, Obama said, had been "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases.... It's for that reason that I'm hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation -- a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid's dinner table," but around "this entire world." [...]
At Khalidi's going-away party in 2003, the scholar lavished praise on Obama, telling the mostly Palestinian American crowd that the state senator deserved their help in winning a U.S. Senate seat. "You will not have a better senator under any circumstances," Khalidi said.
TODAY
McCain's camp has demanded that the LA Times release the video of the party.
The LA Times told FOXNews that it won't reveal how it obtained the tape of Khalidi's farewell party, nor will the newspaper release it. Spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan said the paper is not interested in revisiting the story. "As far as we're concerned, the story speaks for itself," she said
"The Los Angeles Times did not publish the videotape because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it," the Times' editor, Russ Stanton, said. "The Times keeps its promises to sources."
The Obama campaign is dismissing the controversy as a "recycled, manufactured controversy." (Typical Obama, averting the truth while vying for the trust and vote of American people. As if one would expect the Obama camp to say anything different, well actually, the other options would be, based on history, to say that something was taken out of context, claim that it's un-American, deny he's ever said the words or send Joe Biden after them.....) An Obama spokesman says the Democrat has been "cleared and consistent on his support for Israel," and that he doesn't share the views of the Paletinian man, Rashid Khalidi.
Meanwhile, the LA Times, who has endorsed Obama, says its "not suppressing anything." It says it ran a detailed account of the events shows on the tape, more than six months ago.
Over on Doug Ross' blog, he states he received a tip from a person who "has provided useful, accurate and unique data from LA before. Take it for what it's worth, but I believe this person is on target.
"Saw a clip from the tape. Reason we can't release it is because statements Obama said to rile audience up during toast. He congratulates Khalidi for his work saying "Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine" plus there's been "genocide against the Palestinian people by Israelis."
It would be really controversial if it got out. That's why they will not even let a transcript get out.
Additionally Debbie Schlussel claims she knows where the video came from as she started the whole story, and LA Times reporter Wallsten plagiarized her.
The Los Angeles Times has a copy of the tape, but won't release it because they said the source--whom I believe is Arab American Action Network (AAAN) founder and anti-Israel Palestinian activist Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada--required it not be released as a condition of sharing it. That's because it likely shows Obama applauding an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel poem that was read at the dinner. [...]
In January, I wrote an exclusive column about Barack Obama's Nation of Islam staffers and "evolving" positions on Israel and the Jews. In March, I was contacted in writing by Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten, who told me he read my article and wanted to report on it for the L.A. Times. I agreed, provided that he credit me and/or mention my name and site in the article, to which he agreed. We spoke on the phone at some length.
In April, Wallsten wrote the story. Portions of it were lifted from my article. But I was never credited, contrary to Wallsten's promise. Even the Politico said Wallsten plagiarized me.
SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?
Rashid Khalidi
Well Rashid Khalidi is a professor and activist tied to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) who from 1976 to 1982 was reportedly the director of the official Palestinian press agency, WAFA, which was operating in exile from Beirut with the PLO. In the 1970s, when Khalidi taught at a university in Beirut, he often spoke to reporters on behalf of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization. Khalidi as a pro-Palestinian activist, has been a fierce critic of the American foreign policy and of Israel, which he has been accused of establishing an "apartheid system" of government. In the early 1990s, he advised the Palestinian delegation during peace negotiations but he has denied he was ever an employee of the group, contradicting accounts in the New York Times and Washington Times.
He is seen as a moderate in Palestinian circles, having decried suicide bombings against civilians as a "war crime" and criticized the conduct of Hamas and other Paletinian leaders. Still, many of Khalidi's opinions are troubling to pro-Israel activists, such as his defense of Palestinians' right to resist Israel occupation and his critique of U.S. policy as biased toward Israel.
While Khalidi was teaching at the University of Chicago, he and his wife lived in the Hyde Park neighborhood near the Obamas. The families became friends and dinner companions. In 2001, a social service group whose board was headed by Mona Khalidi received a $40,000 grant from a local charity, the Woods Fund of Chicago, when Obama served on the fund's board of directors.
Bill Ayers
Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn reported attended the dinner. According to Wallsten from the LA Times, "Wallston also said he did not know if Khalidi's good friend Bill Ayers was at the event or not."
REWARD
A letter was sent to the Associated Press and UrbanConservative.com offering a $150K reward for the person who can provide the video of Obama that is being held by the LA Times.
The content of the e-mail was as follows:
Attached you will find a $150,000.00 USD reward letter applicable to any individual or company that releases the video of Senator Barack Obama held by the Los Angeles Times.
My intentions are to make the video public exclusively through the media outlet of my choice with no motives or requirements for recognition.
Attached to the e-mail was the following scanned letter:
Maybe for once, a "secret" that Obama is trying to hide won't be hidden for long. Seriously. We cannot see any of Obama's college work. We cannot see his birth certificate. We cannot see his medical records. Now we cannot see The Times' video. What is it exactly that Obama is trying to hide. Because if he becomes president, he won't be able to hide everything forever.
Or, is it the LA Times who is trying to hide something... perhaps a bogus report back in April? Thoughts to ponder...
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