This is a story that grew in the telling, about a non-existent travel ban to Pakistan in 1981.
An early article Was young Obama Indonesian citizen? by Aaron Klein from August 17, 2008 appeared on WorldNetDaily:
Prompted by Obama’s statements, ABC News contacted the presidential candidate’s campaign, which affirmed that in 1981 – the year Obama transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University – Obama visited his mother and sister Maya in Indonesia. Obama then went on to Pakistan with a friend from college whose family was from that country, the campaign said.
Obama was in Pakistan for about three weeks, said the campaign, staying with his friend’s family in Karachi and also visiting Hyderabad in Southern India [more likely Hyderabad in Pakistan, DC].
Pakistan in 1981 was under military rule. It was difficult for U.S. citizens to travel to the country without assistance. It would have been easier for someone to enter Pakistan on an Indonesian passport.
That story of difficulty turned into a “travel ban” to Pakistan for Americans. such as in the article Rathergate II: Certification of Live Birth a clear forgery by Janet Porter of Faith2Action 3 months later, also on WorldNetDaily:
…If [Barack Obama] traveled to Pakistan with an American passport, he wouldn’t have been allowed in – since Pakistan was in turmoil in 1981 and under martial law. It was also on the State Department’s travel ban list for U.S. citizens.
If he couldn’t get into Pakistan with a U.S. passport, perhaps he went there with an Indonesian passport. But the only way you can get one of those is if you are an Indonesian citizen.
The truth is that it was neither impossible nor difficult for Americans to visit Pakistan in 1981 according to a contemporary New York Times article and a followup article written by an American, Barbara Crossette, who visited there:
… It is possible to cross from India to Pakistan by train from Amritsar and Delhi, but border procedures can be long and complicated. A road crossing at Wagah is also open for a few daylight hours. Check schedules, and allow several extra hours for border formalities.
Tourists can obtain a free, 30-day visa (necessary for Americans) at border crossings and airports. Transportation within Lahore is plentiful, with taxis, scooter rickshaws and horse-drawn tongas (especially in the old city) readily available.
By 2009, the story had grown to add “independent confirmation of information we’ve had and from OUR OWN State Department” reported to have been said by Linda Starr a frequent contributor to Philip Berg’s ObamaCrimes web site.
Obama Conspiracy Theories broke the story from one of our contributors that the State Department Travel Advisory to Pakistan in 1981 confirms the newspaper account.
NO. 81-33A
Travel Advisory
Passport Services/Bureau of Consular Affa[irs]
Department of State/Wahington. D.C. 205__AUGUST 17, 1981
TRAVEL TO PAKISTAN
BEFORE TRAVELING TO PAKISTAN, AMERICAN CITIZENS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE FOLLO[WING] UPDATED VISA REQUIREMENTS: 30 DAY VISAS ARE AVAILABLE AT PAKISTANI AIRPORTS [FOR] TOURISTS ONLY. AS THESE VISAS ARE RARELY EXTENDED BEYOND THE 30 DAY TIME PER[IOD,] TOURISTS PLANNING TO STAY LONGER SHOULD SECURE VISAS BEFORE COMING TO PAKIS[TAN.] ANY TRAVELER COMING INTO PAKISTAN OVERLAND FROM INDIA MUST REPEAT MUST HA[VE A] VALID VISA, AS 30 DAY VISAS ARE NOT REPEAT NOT ISSUED AT THE OVERLAND BOR[DER] CROSSING POINT AT WAGHA.
ANY NON-OFFICIAL AMERICAN WHO IS IN PAKISTAN FOR MORE THAN 30 DAYS MUST REGIS[TER] WITH THE GOVERNMENT’S FOREIGNER REGISTRATION OFFICE. EXIT PERMITS ARE REQUI[RED] FOR THOSE WHO HAVE STAYED LONGER THAN 30 DAYS BEFORE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO LE[AVE T]HE COUNTRY. ALL AMERICANS TRAVELING TO PAKISTAN ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS OR [FOR] PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A VISA BEFORE ARRIVAL, AND, AS [THE] GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN’S CLEARANCE PROCESS IS OFTEN QUITE LENGTHY, WE WOULD URGE TH[OSE] COMING TO APPLY AT THE NEAREST PAKISTANI EMBASSY OR CONSULATE AS FAR IN ADVA[NCE] OF THEIR SCHEDULED ARRIVAL AS POSSIBLE.
THIS SUPERSEDED REQUIREMENTS SET FORTH IN DEPARTMENT PUBLICATION M-264, [“VISA] REQUIREMENTS OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.[“]
EXPIRATION DATE: INDEFINITE.
The whole Indonesian passport idea is impossible anyway because of the Indonesian law prohibiting dual citizenship. Indonesian Naturalization Law.
Update:
The next year, President Ronald Reagan hosted the Pakistani President Zia in Washington and made a toast to him that included:
Our relationship is deep and long-standing. It stretches back to Pakistan’s first days of independence. It stretches forward as far as we can see. It’s based on mutual interest, yes, but also on shared visions and goals in the world around us. It is based, as well, on the fact that the people of both our countries sincerely value the good relations and the affinity between us.
Our people already work together in significant ways through educational exchanges, tourism, economic cooperation, and through bonds of family and friendship. We have cooperative programs in science and technology and in agriculture, and we hope to explore with the Government of Pakistan various ways of enhancing cooperation.
December 7, 1982
Hmmmm….
I see your NYT travel piece but not the reaffirmation of it from October 1981
INDIAN GUESTHOUSE
🙂
Doc C.,
The following article on The Betrayal blog. Would this perhaps to be a good time to go enlighten them with your facts/evidence? That is of course if you get through “moderation.” LOL.
http://www.oilforimmigration.org/facts/?p=844
Dr. Orly Taitz – More details on the trip to Pakistan, from a reader Linda
Why??? The original piece by Jake Tapper at ABC is wrong so it reasons the whole reporting may be just as wrong.
Anybody realize there is a city named Hyderabad in Pakistan (much much closer to Karachi where the international airport is) as well as one in India? Why would he go to India exactly? I understand he was in Pakistan for 3 weeks in 1981 but tainted sources only make for sloppy foundations is all I mean with that. Anybody ever look to see how friggin’ far Karachi is from Hyderabad, India anyway???
Second, all that info about the “strife” in Pakistan is just selective quoting from another State Department document – a backgrounder. The Pope visited Pakistan that year (and missed 1 idiot with ahand grenade who pulled the pin a half a day to soon it admittedly), many U.S. government and business officials visited Pakistan in 1981 to try and get them to take aid in return for stopping the nuclear pissing contest it was having with India. They were under Martial law from 1977 – 1985 as a matter of fact and weren’t arming anybody we didn’t want them to. The airline controllers were out on strike but they managed to hijack a Pakistani flight anyway – Russia got blamed for playing politics and not reining in their operatives.
Long story short – there was nothing “unusual” about the conditions in Pakistan during 1981 as far as I can tell. Its all hype and no substance. The fact that the Travel Advisory exists is enough for me. Feel free to run with the info if you like – its been cleaned up since the original post HERE.
George O., III,
That was meant to be a joke. Big waste of time to try and post on these “patriot” blogs. They prefer to buy into this “conspiracy theory” and never check anything themselves anyway. I guess it is as good a reason as any to “dislike/hate” President Obama.
I’ve already posted George’s information on the State Department Travel Advisory on The Betrayal.
LoL!!! I didn’t mean to rag on you, Bogus.
The fact there is a “new” Pakistan related post being recycled today pretty much means some lurker has already tipped ’em off about it’s existence and the re-write is well under way by now.
🙂 😉
I see Crazy Cousin Odinga is back. I did that nonsense aroundHERE back in March of 2008.
The MOU signed by rival political parties is a normal practice in Kenya and was nothing more than a ploy to drum up attention in that last Kenyan election. The previous Kenyan Administration signed one too.
Odinga lost the election but because with the help of the pinhead patriots brigade and the attention they conjured up about these allegations, he managed to have the former UN Chief come out and negotiate a power sharing deal –with Odinga as the Prime Minister.
CIA Factbook says Kenya is 75% Christian anyway.
Nimrods 😉
Dr. C.,
Darn, I missed it. Where did you post it?
It has not passed moderation and I doubt it will. The Betrayal is an advocacy web site.
Here on Obama Conspiracy Theories, the controversy over citizenship et al. IS the issue. On the Betrayal the controversy is a means to an end.
Dr. C.,
Guess that explains why I didn’t see it. LOL
I’m never sure if something has been mentioned in a comment around here already, so better safe than sorry I guess…
The Story of Barack Obama’s Mother
By Amanda Ripley – Honolulu
TIME Magazine
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
I know that is kind of lame as far as “evidence” goes but I figure if no one else is going to play with a full deck, why should I?
Six year olds just don’t appreciate the value of a paper trail.
Yes, I guess I should add that for completeness. Thanks,
He was setting up a cover. Just like they did when they published the birth in the Hawaiian newspaper. It’s been a plan since the day he was born. (kidding)
You story seems to add up but is missing some answers.
First is when did Obama travel to Indonesian in 1981 and then to Pakistan for Three weeks with his college friend as Obama campaign said?
My best guess was between College school years April to August. If true then the Travel Advisory NO.81-33A posted in the story doesn’t apply to Obama travel, do to late August date it was issue. So what was the Travel Advisory during the time Obama was traveling?
Father Time,
More articles are at the top of the page:
The truth is that it was neither impossible nor difficult for Americans to visit Pakistan in 1981 according to a contemporary New York Times article and a followup article written by an American, Barbara Crossette, who visited there:
The travel reporter’s article I referenced was dated June 14 which would have described a trip taken at the earliest the end of May.
Why don’t you go look it up for yourself? There are 27,000 web sites out there discussing this topic. Perhaps one of them has some evidence. (I’m just joking.)
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I attempted to enter Pakistan in 1981 and was turned away, twice. My fellow workers with Pakistan relatives were granted access, but the 3 US workers were held. The only people getting those temperary visa’s were the press, businessmen traveling with diplomats and direct relatives only. If he did get in with A US visa, he had to have payed at least $2000 for it plus his friends family had to have high level influence to get a US student in. Knowing what it was like then, it just seems extremely unlikely he used an US visa.
Why would he need a US visa?
At least we agree that there was not a travel ban and that the State Department mentions how
Seems to be rather ironic. Perhaps it takes a more resourceful person to get into Pakistan?
Barbara Crossette’s story in the NY Times says she had no problem.
Obama was traveling with a friend. He stayed with the friend’s family.
Wonder why you couldn’t travel?
A “US Visa” would not get anyone into Pakistan. He would need a Pakistani visa, issued on his US “passport”.
(When someone clearly doesn’t understand the difference between a passport & a visa, it makes me seriously doubt the veracity of their story.)
Your comment, contradicting published accounts, is just a little too convenient. The nObama crowd is happy to accept anonymous statements (Polarik, Shuhubia) as facts and to make up the evidence they need (fake quotes from Pinckney and Jay).
Your comment is not evidence, and I have no reason to believe it.
“I attempted to enter Pakistan in 1981 and was turned away, twice. My fellow workers with Pakistan relatives were granted access, but the 3 US workers were held.”
Maybe you didn’t get in because you were attempting to enter on a business trip without getting your paperwork in order first.
But traveling as a tourist at that time was apparently no problem.
From the state dept. advisory :-
“30 DAY VISAS ARE AVAILABLE AT PAKISTANI AIRPORTS [FOR] TOURISTS ONLY.”
“ALL AMERICANS TRAVELING TO PAKISTAN ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS OR [FOR] PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A VISA BEFORE ARRIVAL”
If someone obtains a US Passport the application and issue of the document should easy be traceable by the office that issued the passport. Has that proof ever been established?
Passport records are confidential for living persons in the United States. While the public has passport records for Obama’s mother, we do not have them for Barack Obama himself. However, the Hawaii Department of Health says they have verified Obama’s birth in Hawaii, and there is no legal means through which Barack Obama could have become a citizen of Indonesia even if he tried, we can conclude with confidence that The premise in the title of my article must be false.