It's the appearance of impropriety that's a problem, Sen. Obama (Updated 2x)

There is so much satisfaction to be had when things just seem to fall into place.

Today, for example, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air made an interesting find. Morrissey posted a YouTube video clip of an April 2004 Chicago television interview with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in which Obama said that he had never called for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq and wanted to "complete the mission there." You can watch the interview below.

Morrissey did not give the exact date of the interview. A quick check of the YouTube page shows it to have been April 5, 2004.

Cha-Ching!

Why is April 5, 2004, significant? Well, it was a mere two days after the famous April 3, 2004, private party at now-convicted felon, political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko's Wilmette mansion which he hosted in honor of Iraqi-British billionaire businessman Nadhmi Auchi.

This is the very same party reportedly attended by the newly-minted Illinois senatorial candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama. It is the very same party at which then Illinois State Senator Obama reportedly "made a few toasts" to Mr. Auchi. It is the very same party which neither Sen. Obama or Mr. Auchi now recalls attending.

In April 2008, Chicago Tribune reporter John McCormick asked the following quesstion:

Why, just weeks after winning the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in 2004, would Barack Obama attend a party for a controversial Iraqi-born billionaire whom Rezko was trying to lure into an investment?

The impropriety of Sen. Obama attending that particular event honoring Mr. Auchi is more troubling now than ever before.

Mr. Auchi has gone to great lengths over the past few months to challenge and cause to be removed articles published about him in British and Italian publications. Martin Bright of The New Statesman wrote in April that Mr. Auchi "has been on the warpath since his name was connected with Tony Rezko, the Illinois fundraiser currently on trial in America, who was one of Barack Obama's earliest backers."

Why would Mr. Auchi want to distance himself from Tony Rezko and Sen. Obama?

It is purely speculation, but we still have that proposed power plant at Chamchamal in Kurdish Iraq that was to be jointly built and managed by partners Rezko and fellow Chicagoan and former Iraqi Minister of Electricity, Aiham Alsammarae. (The contract was signed with Rezko under cover of Alsammarae's official authority. Alsammarae is now wanted in Iraq for the theft of $650 million in reconstruction funds.) A reported but unconfirmed third partner is Mr. Auchi.

Obama's position on Iraq as seen in this April 2004 interview raises more questions. We do know that two years later, in April 2006, Sen. Obama's Moline, Ill., office began negotiations, in conjunction with Gov. Rod Blagojevich's homeland security office, for a facility in Illinois that would train Iraqi security guards for the Chamchamal power plant. The company that had the contract for this training was Companion Security, of which Tony Rezko was a partner.

We also do know from the January 16, 2007, ex parte between Tony Rekzo and Judge Amy St. Eve that the security contract was cancelled in June 2006. Rezko engaged in communications with the Iraqi government in an attempt to revive it. Daniel Frawley, also involved with Companion Security, continued to meet with Seamus Ahern at the Moline office well into August 2006. All negotiations ceased in November 2006, when the contract cancellation was final.

What else happened during the fall of 2006 that might have influenced this result? Alsammarae was convicted of fraud in Iraq and incarcerated within Baghdad's Green Zone. Rezko returned to the United States and was arrested following an indictment by a federal grand jury.

Oh, yes. In November 2006, after all was said and done, Sen. Obama admitted to Chicago newspaper reporters that buying that Hyde Park townhouse adjacent to the vacant lot purchased by Tony Rezko's wife, Rita, was a "boneheaded" move.

So, it should be plain to see that there is at least an appearance of impropriety here. The thread that is interwoven within the sordid tapestry that is Sen. Obama's friend, political and personal real estate fairy, Tony Rezko, is none other than Sen. Obama.



Update #1: It is important to keep in mind that Sen. Obama has made exactly one trip to Iraq, and that was in January 2006, when he was part of a Congressional delegation (CODEL) led by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) which also included Sen. Christopher Bond (R.-Mo.) and Rep. Harold Ford (D.-Tenn.), but he was actually only in Iraq for a mere two days.

Sen. Obama spent only two days in Iraq before separating from the delegation to "spend eight days in Israel, Kuwait, Jordan and the Palestinian territories." The rest of the delegation later went to Afghanistan and Pakistan without Obama.

This begs the question at what point Sen. Obama obtained the expert knowledge necessary for his April 5, 2004, televised statements.

Update #2: Posting at his new blog, John Batchelor adds Young Mr. Obama surrounded by intrigue and shadows.