Ham Murabi
Plumbing the Depths
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2002
- Posts
- 23,159
Obama's Connection to Slumlord Tony Rezko
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 8:00 AM
By: Charles R. Smith
There is an old proverb: Lay down with dogs — wake up with fleas. Right now the case of Tony Rezko is biting the Obama campaign and to scratch it will open up old wounds.
Rezko is a Syrian immigrant who rose to power inside Chicago, becoming a well-known "slumlord" and a player in Illinois politics. He was convicted in June of 16 counts of corruption. According to the charges, Rezko ripped off $6 million from the state of Illinois through kickbacks while working for the administration of current Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Rezko was also one of Obama's earliest supporters.
In 1995, when Obama ran for a seat in the Illinois Senate, Rezko, through two of his companies, donated thousands of dollars to the Obama campaign. Ironically, Obama won the election in a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects.
In 2003, Rezko held a lavish fundraiser at his Wilmette, Ill., mansion for Obama's Senate election. In fact, Rezko raised big dollars for Obama.
Still, Rezko and Obama had more than just a political relationship. In 2005, when Rezko was under federal investigation for influence peddling, Obama and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a Chicago doctor.
The doctor sold one parcel to Obama for $1.65 million, $300,000 below the market price, while Rezko's wife paid full price, $625,000, for an adjacent vacant lot. Curiously, Mrs. Rezko made a $125,000 down payment and obtained a $500,000 mortgage when financial records shown at the Rezko trial noted that she had a salary of only $37,000 and assets of $35,000. The court records also show her husband had few assets at the time.
Obama claims that in buying his house in 2005, he also got a low mortgage rate from Northern Trust bank because another bank made a competitive bid for his loan. The only problem is the Obama campaign refuses to identify the other bank or show any proof of a competitive loan offer.
Six months later, Obama purchased a 10-foot wide strip of the Rezko property, paying Rezko's wife $104,500. According to Obama, the 10-foot strip was for a bigger yard. Still, the deal also rendered the Rezko parcel too small to build on, thereby increasing the value of Obama's property.
So where did the money come from to back all the land deals? Allegedly, Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born billionaire living in London, loaned Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before the day the sale of the house and lot closed in June 2005. Auchi noted that he was a business partner of Rezko and thus had "no involvement in or knowledge of" the property sale. However, through various business deals, Rezko wound up owing Auchi more than $27 million.
So what did Auchi see in Rezko that enabled him to pony up millions of dollars to the Chicago fixer?
In April 2004, Auchi attended a dinner party in his honor at Rezko's Chicago home. Barack Obama also attended, and according to one guest, raised his glass in a toast to the Iraqi billionaire.
According to a detailed document prepared for the Department of Defense, Nadhmi Auchi is not your ordinary billionaire.
"Auchi brokered weapons deals with Italian and French companies selling arms to Iraq, and is believed to have been one of Saddam Hussein's principal financial intermediaries in the West. Auchi is the largest single stakeholder in BNP Paribas, the sole bank managing the U.N.'s oil-for-food programs in Iraq," notes the Defense document.
The 2004 Pentagon report clearly notes that Auchi was a global arms dealer and Iraqi billionaire "who, behind the facade of legitimate business, served as Saddam Hussein's principle international financial manipulator and bag man."
The report states that "significant and credible evidence has been developed that Nadhmi Auchi has engaged in unlawful activities" such as bribing "foreign governments and individuals prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom to turn opinion against the American-led mission to remove Saddam Hussein."
He also helped "arrange for significant theft from the U.N. oil-for-food program to smuggle weapons and dual-use technology into Iraq."
It is interesting to note that Obama opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq that eventually overthrew Saddam Hussein. It is also very interesting to note that an Iraqi billionaire, well known for his close working relationship with Saddam should allegedly meet the rising star of Chicago.
Still, the fact that the Defense Department found "credible evidence" that Auchi was seeking to bribe "foreign governments and individuals" to turn opinion against the "American-led mission to remove Saddam Hussein" certainly has nothing whatsoever to do with the anti-war Obama.
Of course, it is just co-incidence that a timely loan by this friend of Saddam found its way through the hands of a now-convicted Rezko to assist Obama in obtaining his million-dollar mansion.
In fact, the candidate for change has not been very forthcoming about the whole affair. After long delays, Mr. Obama met with the editorial boards of the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune in March to answer their questions about his connection to Rezko and Auchi. Obama stated that he had no recollection of ever meeting Auchi.
He also said he didn't understand house buying and selling, a rather silly answer for someone expected to become the resident of the White House. Obama basically gave vague answers to all the other questions and has avoided any further discussion of the Rezko matter.
So the house (or mansion) that Obama built allegedly has some interesting foundations that were laid by arms sales, illegal oil deals, and Saddam Hussein. Of course, the mainstream media is nowhere to be seen covering this explosive combination. Still, the old axiom of dogs and fleas proves true. One does not have to look far to find an infestation inside Obama's house.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 8:00 AM
By: Charles R. Smith
There is an old proverb: Lay down with dogs — wake up with fleas. Right now the case of Tony Rezko is biting the Obama campaign and to scratch it will open up old wounds.
Rezko is a Syrian immigrant who rose to power inside Chicago, becoming a well-known "slumlord" and a player in Illinois politics. He was convicted in June of 16 counts of corruption. According to the charges, Rezko ripped off $6 million from the state of Illinois through kickbacks while working for the administration of current Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Rezko was also one of Obama's earliest supporters.
In 1995, when Obama ran for a seat in the Illinois Senate, Rezko, through two of his companies, donated thousands of dollars to the Obama campaign. Ironically, Obama won the election in a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects.
In 2003, Rezko held a lavish fundraiser at his Wilmette, Ill., mansion for Obama's Senate election. In fact, Rezko raised big dollars for Obama.
Still, Rezko and Obama had more than just a political relationship. In 2005, when Rezko was under federal investigation for influence peddling, Obama and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a Chicago doctor.
The doctor sold one parcel to Obama for $1.65 million, $300,000 below the market price, while Rezko's wife paid full price, $625,000, for an adjacent vacant lot. Curiously, Mrs. Rezko made a $125,000 down payment and obtained a $500,000 mortgage when financial records shown at the Rezko trial noted that she had a salary of only $37,000 and assets of $35,000. The court records also show her husband had few assets at the time.
Obama claims that in buying his house in 2005, he also got a low mortgage rate from Northern Trust bank because another bank made a competitive bid for his loan. The only problem is the Obama campaign refuses to identify the other bank or show any proof of a competitive loan offer.
Six months later, Obama purchased a 10-foot wide strip of the Rezko property, paying Rezko's wife $104,500. According to Obama, the 10-foot strip was for a bigger yard. Still, the deal also rendered the Rezko parcel too small to build on, thereby increasing the value of Obama's property.
So where did the money come from to back all the land deals? Allegedly, Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born billionaire living in London, loaned Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before the day the sale of the house and lot closed in June 2005. Auchi noted that he was a business partner of Rezko and thus had "no involvement in or knowledge of" the property sale. However, through various business deals, Rezko wound up owing Auchi more than $27 million.
So what did Auchi see in Rezko that enabled him to pony up millions of dollars to the Chicago fixer?
In April 2004, Auchi attended a dinner party in his honor at Rezko's Chicago home. Barack Obama also attended, and according to one guest, raised his glass in a toast to the Iraqi billionaire.
According to a detailed document prepared for the Department of Defense, Nadhmi Auchi is not your ordinary billionaire.
"Auchi brokered weapons deals with Italian and French companies selling arms to Iraq, and is believed to have been one of Saddam Hussein's principal financial intermediaries in the West. Auchi is the largest single stakeholder in BNP Paribas, the sole bank managing the U.N.'s oil-for-food programs in Iraq," notes the Defense document.
The 2004 Pentagon report clearly notes that Auchi was a global arms dealer and Iraqi billionaire "who, behind the facade of legitimate business, served as Saddam Hussein's principle international financial manipulator and bag man."
The report states that "significant and credible evidence has been developed that Nadhmi Auchi has engaged in unlawful activities" such as bribing "foreign governments and individuals prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom to turn opinion against the American-led mission to remove Saddam Hussein."
He also helped "arrange for significant theft from the U.N. oil-for-food program to smuggle weapons and dual-use technology into Iraq."
It is interesting to note that Obama opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq that eventually overthrew Saddam Hussein. It is also very interesting to note that an Iraqi billionaire, well known for his close working relationship with Saddam should allegedly meet the rising star of Chicago.
Still, the fact that the Defense Department found "credible evidence" that Auchi was seeking to bribe "foreign governments and individuals" to turn opinion against the "American-led mission to remove Saddam Hussein" certainly has nothing whatsoever to do with the anti-war Obama.
Of course, it is just co-incidence that a timely loan by this friend of Saddam found its way through the hands of a now-convicted Rezko to assist Obama in obtaining his million-dollar mansion.
In fact, the candidate for change has not been very forthcoming about the whole affair. After long delays, Mr. Obama met with the editorial boards of the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune in March to answer their questions about his connection to Rezko and Auchi. Obama stated that he had no recollection of ever meeting Auchi.
He also said he didn't understand house buying and selling, a rather silly answer for someone expected to become the resident of the White House. Obama basically gave vague answers to all the other questions and has avoided any further discussion of the Rezko matter.
So the house (or mansion) that Obama built allegedly has some interesting foundations that were laid by arms sales, illegal oil deals, and Saddam Hussein. Of course, the mainstream media is nowhere to be seen covering this explosive combination. Still, the old axiom of dogs and fleas proves true. One does not have to look far to find an infestation inside Obama's house.
