Topic: WorldNetDaily
An August 2 WorldNetDaily article reports that "California attorney Orly Taitz, who has filed a number of lawsuits demanding proof of Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as president, has released a copy of what purports to be a Kenyan certification of birth and has filed a new motion in U.S. District Court for its authentication."
WND is curiously stingy on details. As such, this purported certificate is shrouded in more mystery than the official Hawaii birth certificate that WND can't decide is a forgery (despite declaring it to be authentic).
According to the article, "Taitz told WND that the document came from an anonymous source who doesn't want his name known because 'he's afraid for his life.'" This is the latest instance of many in which WND has allowed a critic of Obama to hide behind a cloak of anonymity, despite WND editor Joseph Farah's historic criticism of such anonymity. And WND's record of lies about Obama in general and the birth certificate in particular disqualify it from any credibility in asking its readers for trust.
As we've noted, WND has collaborated with Taitz in the past and refused to tell its readers about Taitz's dubious legal history. Did WND obtain the certificate by whatever means and is laundering it through Taitz? Who knows? We certainly can't trust WND to tell the full truth.
But there's another problem with this certificate. It states that it was issued by the "Republic of Kenya" on Feb. 17, 1964. As others have pointed out, Kenya was not a republic in February 1964; granted independence in December 1963, it was not declared a republic until December 1964.
Also, the Mombasa hospital in question has stated that it checked its records for the day Obama was born and found no record of him.
Further, as Media Matters notes: In order to believe Taitz and WND, one would have to assume that this document was requested 45 years ago -- two and a half years after Obama's birth -- preserved that entire time, withheld through the entire election and transition period, and yet somehow ended up in the hands of someone sympathetic to Orly Taitz.
These are authenticity issues WND does not address. Will it be as secretive about this purported certificate as it is other aspects of its Obama birth certificate coverage?
