Did you just get this in the daily trash-talk points from Sid Blumenthal?

I want to be very clear. My intent is NOT to suggest any thing here that Obama did any thing bad in his visit of these 2 cities. I am curious as to why he visited these 2 strife ridden cities in 80's. I am surprised that media is not going after or checking out this visit to see what he did.

I want to support him but I want to make sure that we know ALL about him and there are NO SURPRISES.

Oh, of course, of course. You're just a neutral concerned citizen, who happens never to have posted anything here before.

Let's see. I visited South Africa when there was still petit-apartheid. Does that make me a racist? Does it make me a muslim?

I visited Jamaica when I was 20. Does that make me a Rastafarian?

I visited Israel in 1980, when the Pan Am plane was sitting on the tarmack in Lebanon, hijackers still aboard. Does that make me Jewish, or Muslim? or a hijacker?

I went to Egypt on the same trip; well, you get my drift.

After all, we don't accuse Bill Clinton of being a communist for going to Russia in college, or Hillary of being in with the Taliban after she claimed to have survived their sniper fire.

If this is all you have, go back and try again.

I think the law of parsimony applies here: the correct answer is the most simple one. As the article says, he was in Indonesia to see his mother and sister "and then travelled to Pakistan with a friend from college whose family was from there."

As the parent of kids who were recently in college, I can assure you that the most frequent reason for any extended travel (especially overseas) for that age/occupation group is that they know someone in the distant location: company they know they will enjoy, someone to show them around, FREE ROOM AND BOARD, the feeling that this is the time in their life to do some traveling, FREE ROOM AND BOARD.

Oh, and Obama was not, then or any other time, a "young muslim student". Repeating several times in a story about Obama being a young student still doesn't make it so.

We are not as stupid as you think we are.

I'm usually quite willing to assume ignorance rather than malice, but in this case, no. You know this is bogus. Question has already been asked and answered.

In 1981—the year Obama transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University—Obama visited his mother and sister Maya in Indonesia. After that visit, Obama traveled to Pakistan with a friend from college whose family was from there. The Obama campaign says Obama was in Pakistan for about three weeks, staying with his friend's family in Karachi and also visiting Hyderabad in Southern India.

Who is "Texas Voice," the poster of this piece?

This is TV's only post on TPM. No information whatsoever is offered by TV in the "Profile" section. Right there that's a flag.

TV, if you lack the self-confidence to share with readers who you are, if need to hide behind anonymity, then you won't be taken seriously.

Wow, Obama liked to TRAVEL when he was young. Sometimes to countries with people NOT LIKE US. He must hate America. Thank you for posting this so that we all know that Obama hates America and is probably a terrorist.

Whew that was a close one, he almost had me fooled thinking he was a brilliant, thoughtful, inspiring politician who was trying to appeal to the best in us and improve this country. That was before I knew he went to PAKISTAN and INDIA, countries full of America haters and people with weird religions. I feel like such a dupe.

No, this does not need suppressed.
The poster -- Texas Voice -- has presented some data on the context of Obama's recently disclosed admission that he visited Pakistan in 1981. The context of his visit "When you are young, you are trying to know who you are and you do different things to define your identity. For Obama it is even more profound as he is from mixed race with a muslim father and it is only natural to know who he is and purpose of his life.
"Let me set the stage for you. I want to explain to you what I know about Karachi (Pakistan) and Hyderabad (India) and why young muslim students used to visit these 2 cities in 70's & 80's.
Knowing Karachi (Pakistan) and Hyderabad (India), they are no tropical Islands or paradises. As most of you know Pakistan was in a turmoil during 70's & 80's because of dictatorship and afghanistan war. I know lot more about Hyderabad in India. It has a significant muslim population and there is lot of religious tension and unease in the same time period 70's & 80's.
Lot of young muslim students trying to define their identity often visited troubled areas in Pakistan (like Karachi) and muslim majority areas in India (like Hyderabad). Both these cities were a hot bed of religious strife and extremism.
"I want to be very clear. My intent is NOT to suggest any thing here that Obama did any thing bad in his visit of these 2 cities. I am curious as to why he visited these 2 strife ridden cities in 80's. I am surprised that media is not going after or checking out this visit to see what he did.
"I want to support him but I want to make sure that we know ALL about him and there are NO SURPRISES."
Obama had so far as I could discover, never disclosed this information before. He indicated that one of his roommates, who was only detailed as "Sadik," had been here past the end of his visa. In those days, that happened all the time (1980s). Obama does not provide a last name, or any other biographical information about "Sadik." Why not?
Obama indicated he had two friends who were at either Occidental College, or, Columbia University. He named them and both can be googled. The name "Soomro," should have raised another level of interest, since that name has been associated with a Sindh family which goes back to the Partition of Pakistan/India. The grandfather was, in fact, a confidant of Jinna, the President of Pakistan. Jinna was also a militant Islamists and would not compromise with Gandhi on the formation of a new, Muslim centered nation. The country of Pakistan was broken into East and West Pakistan, originally. The eastern of the two was reamed Bangladesh, and is adjacent to Burma (Myanmar).
Google Mian Mohammadian Soomro and you will see that he was born in 1950 v. 1961 for Obama. In 1981, Mohammadian Soomro was 31 and already in the banking business. He was apparently known as a torch bearer for the famous Soomro family in Sindh State. He became a governor of Sindh, and if you review his resume, he has been on the boards of directors, or, a key officer of several banks in Saudi Arabia.
One source who responded to me from India opined that perhaps Obama hadn't really visited Hyderabad, India, but Hyderabad, Pakistan. I don't know if that is the case, because other than his "self-innoculation" admission that he visited Pakistan, Obama hasn't laid out the trip's itinerary at all.
My source also suggested that in all likelihood, in that era (1981), Obama's Pakistani friends were well connected and upper class (with money). It is possible that Obama's entree to Mr. Soomro was arranged by a third party. Obama has used the disclosure in San Francisco to buttress his claim that he is more conversant with "foreign policy issues," than either Clinton or McCain.
I'd like to point out the duplicity involved with Senator Clinton's claim to having beenn in Kosovo when snipers were blazing away, and the absolute FIRE STORM of criticism she received for exaggeration, or, out right lying. How come nothing of the kind for Obama and his comments about Pakistan? He also has prided himself on understanding the environment of street Pakistanis, since he allegedly saw Kenya, Indonesia and Pakistan from the streets, and among "the people," who were humble, poor, disenfranchised, etc.
How hypocritical to have the trip arranged by a well-connected banker already known in Pakistan, (possibly Yemen and Indonesia) as well as Saudi Arabia. Recent comments made by now former Prime Minister Soomro indicated that he felt the relationship Pakistan & Iran has had was more workable than anything the Americans would like to see occur in Pakistan's new government.
Obama has been highly critical of General Musharraf. And yet, his old friend, Mr. Soomro (who says he telephones Obama at times), was a confidante of Musharraf. We don't know why, but it is very interesting in the least.
The complete itinerary of Obama has never been clarified. He allegedly only spent four days in Jacobabad. He is not clear about the other two cities. Were they the only three cities he visited? I believe his overall itinerary was: Indonesia, Pakistan, Kenya. Or, perhaps Kenya, Pakistan, Indonesia.
We have plenty of information that in 1981, the U.S. was working intimately with Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, in funneling money and weapons to the "mujahadeen" fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. There were also a cadre of such mujahadeen called "Arab Afghans," which meant: Arab Muslims from all over the Arabic World (sometimes referred to as 'The Hub Of Islam,' including: Ayman al Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden.
ISI absolutely REFUSED to allow the U.S. to have any direct dealings with these mujahadeen. They could not train them, nor could they know, entirely, who these folks were. For the very best description of these people, see Josepf Bodansky's "Obasam bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America." He has laid out in detail the many sides of Pakistani ISI. It is not a bit unheard of for such agencies, in such times, to have it's "ear to the ground," about foreign visitors. It would have been of interest to ISI to certainly know about visitors coming from Indonesia to Pakistan, or coming from Kenya, to Pakistan, and, to have a mother who was connected with the U.S. Government.
I'd suggest that people google "Stanley Ann Dunham," Obama's mother. She worked for: USAID; the Ford Foundation; Women's World Banking. At some point, Mohammadian Soomro's banking business including a woman's bank of Pakistan. It is also likely that he would have known about the activities of USAID's and The Ford Foundation's activities in Pakistan, since they were both agencies which funneled money into many, many projects in Pakistan in this time frame.
I would also suggest that people google: "USAID as C.I.A. Front agency," and "Ford Foundation as C.I.A. front agency."
None of this should be a surprise, because while I was not aware of it at the time, when I was in Vietnam as a combat soldier, USAID WAS a front company for the C.I.A. There is every reason to believe that the USAID officers in the Tehran Embassy at the time of it's over run, were C.I.A. front officers. One source suggested that the Ford Foundation was clearly well associated with C.I.A. front activities in India AND Pakistan. Same for Ford Foundation. I have no idea about Women's World Banking ... yet.
Just not googled it.
Mr. Soomro was, until recently, the interim government Prime Minister to General Pervez Musharraf. He was not neutral so far as Musharraf went. He was reported by some papers in Pakistan to have been a clear associate of Gen. Musharraf. The contextual details of the poster "Texas Voice" indicates that the environment of Karachi, Hyderabad, and Jacobabad, was active politically ... "As most of you know Pakistan was in a turmoil during 70's & 80's because of dictatorship and afghanistan war. I know lot more about Hyderabad in India. It has a significant muslim population and there is lot of religious tension and unease in the same time period 70's & 80's.
Lot of young muslim students trying to define their identity often visited troubled areas in Pakistan (like Karachi) and muslim majority areas in India (like Hyderabad). Both these cities were a hot bed of religious strife and extremism."
Please read that carefully. See references above to the interaction between C.I.A. and ISI. And the domination of I.S.I.'s ability to control American access to "mujahadeen." I totally agree with "Texas Voice'" suggestion that every know exactly what Obama is about.
In court, when someone introduces a line of reasoning, say, to buttress their character, they may suddenly open the entire area to cross-examination. Obama, not the Clintons, or the GOP, has done exactly that, with his admission of being in Pakistan. He has not provided more details.
Allegedly, there was an article in the Karachi Daily Times (English), which broke a story in March, about Obama's disclosure of visiting Pakistan. I haven't been able to verify that, yet. However, he was very specific about his views on Islam and a Muslim Conference, if he were President, and how, again, his street experience trumps the experiences of Clinton and McCain.
And yet, as with so much else in this campaign, it is whack hard on those two, especially Clinton.
There should be more American media interest in this, but so far, nada.
There are powerful reasons for the Democratic National Committee to have vetted the entire itinerary of Barack Obama in this time frame. Why? To counter any NEW bombs which might absolutely take Obama into a fire storm of criticism, if, for instance, ANY of the people he associated with in Pakistan, have since been identified, for instance, as operatives of ISI, or, al-Qaeda, or any other Islamist group. If he is clean, that's fine. If not, then the Democrats voting now should know that if there are now doubts about certain parts of THIS story, everyone should KNOW it.
Obama "self-innoculated" himself on the cocaine use. He then whined when someone said something about his coke use. African-American communities all across America have been devastated by crack cocaine use. There are big differences in marijuana and cocaine particularly, crack, so far as how African-Americans who have seen their communities sink under it's use, are concerned. Yet, when the owner of JET or EBONY made those claims, he was denounced as being unfair, and playing dirty politics.
Self-innoculation, so far as Obamistas are concerned, cannot mean any future negative discussion on same.
It is also possible that the Pakistan disclosure came because whoever peeked at his State Department Passport files blew the whistle on the Pakistan trip. Until then, unless I am greatly mistaken, Obama had never referred to it.
Taking the disclosure, and then running with it, as an example of his hubris (my view), or his supreme experience in foreign policy (his view), is a way to further say: hey, I'M the one who disclosed this. You can't USE THIS against me.
Remember this: the GOP attack machine took a bona fide combat veteran of Vietnam, with a Purple Heart and 2 Bronze Stars for valor, and turned him into a Presidential candidate who was a liar, a cheat, and someone who "self-inflicted" his wounds.
And, made it all come out so that he got 3 million votes less than a goof ball Texas Air National Guard pilot who refused an assignment in Vietnam. And, a Vice President with 5 deferments on his draft status.
I think it behoove the DNC to look deeper into this.
The connections multiply. Probably, nothing sinister.
Bu how come no one has bothered to ask some follow up questions of Senator Obama?