Kenya Detains Author Promoting Anti-Obama Book
by Gwen Thompkins
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All Things Considered, October 7, 2008 · The American author of a controversial book about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was reportedly on his way out of Kenya on Tuesday night.
Jerome Corsi had planned to make public statements in Kenya that were unflattering to both Obama and Kenya's prime minister. He had scheduled a news conference Tuesday morning at a fancy Nairobi hotel for the Kenyan launch of his book, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. It was the same hotel where Obama held his own news conference during a triumphant visit to Kenya in 2006. Obama's father was Kenyan, and he still has relatives in the country.
A news release about Corsi's event sent out to local and international media said that the author would expose "details of deep secret ties between Obama and a section of Kenyan government leaders … and [a] subsequent plot to be executed in Kenya should … Obama win the American presidency."
A second page listing Corsi's talking points never quite explained what plot might be afoot. It did, however, frequently mention Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is an ethnic Luo, as was Obama's father.
Corsi had apparently planned to talk about Odinga's ties to Kenyan Muslims and his conduct during Kenya's ethnic troubles earlier this year, which left more than 1,000 Kenyans dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. The violence followed a contentious presidential election in Kenya that pitted many Luos against a number of ethnic Kikuyus.
About 15 minutes before the news conference was set to begin, Kenyan immigration authorities questioned Corsi and his U.S. media liaison, Tim Bueler. Officials said Corsi and Bueler lacked work permits and the two were escorted into a police vehicle and whisked way.
Corsi's press relations representative in Kenya says pro-Luo forces pushed Corsi out.
edit: i can see why someone on the right would like to link obama to this guy's controversies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raila_Odinga#2007_presidential_electionControversy
In 2007 Raila Odinga was rumoured to have signed a secret memorandum of understanding with the National Muslim Leaders Forum,[22] NAMLEF. Kenyan Muslim leaders denied that the MOU promised to introduce Sharia for Muslims if it won elections, but said its deal with the Orange Democratic Movement was to end the current discrimination against Muslims.[23] It must however be noted that Muslims in Kenya are permitted by the constitution to practice Sharia law. They have Muslim courts known as Kadhi Courts which may minister justice in cases that involve Muslims who wish to follow sharia law. They may however not pass judgment in cases of murder or give death sentences.[citation needed]
In response to Odinga's widely praised role in leading the African criticism of Robert Mugabe's brutal behavior during the presidential elections in Zimbabwe, [1], in July 2008, Mr. Charamba, the permanent secretary at Zimbabwe's information department accused Mr. Odinga of being responsible for the death of thousands of kenyans after the 2007 Kenya general election. Recalling the post-election violence in Kenya earlier this year, Mr Charamba said: "Raila Odinga's hands drip with blood, raw African blood, and that blood is not going to be cleansed by any amount of abuse of Zimbabwe." [24] Obviously, Mr. Charamba, who is the chief person responsible for defending Robert Mugabe's despotic regime in Zimbabwe, is not a trusted international source. In fact, Prime Minister Odinga called for peaceful protests to Kenya's fraudulent elections. [2][3]
