THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Since there seems to be no way to put paid the the absolute lie that he is a muslim, perhaps he would be better served if he converted. With most Republicans to willing and stupid to disbelieve that piece of happy horseshit, it is no surprise that it has spread overseas as well. And to the one area that can spot an infidel a mile away.

One of the most persistent and widespread of these conspiracy theories gets more specific than its American variant: Obama isn't just a Muslim, this theory goes.... he's a Shiite Muslim.

This week, as the Obama administration announced that it was lifting sanctions on Iran as a result of a U.S.-led nuclear deal with Tehran reached in July, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, the head of general security for the emirate of Dubai, suggested that Obama's "Shiite roots" had helped him get elected in a bid to bring the United States and Iran closer.

"Mission accomplished," he added.

In follow-up tweets, Tamim suggested that Israel was actually behind the election of Obama and that the U.S. president would probably visit a number of Shiite religious sites in Iran soon.

It's worth noting that Tamim isn't an obscure figure. He is a former police chief of Dubai. His Twitter account has more than 1.2 million followers, and his tweets about Obama were retweeted hundreds of times. And neither is this the first time that this rumor has found voice.

Last year, a video featuring former Iraqi member of parliament Taha al-Lahibi appeared online and showed Lahibi reasoning that Obama's "Shiite background" had led him to work with Iran. Around the same time, Syrian writer Muhydin Lazikani told the London-based al-Hiwar television channel that Obama was the "son of a Shiite Kenyan father." The rumor goes back as far as the 2008 election, when state-run Iranian papers published articles that suggested Obama was a Shiite Muslim. There were even celebrations in Iraq's Shiite strongholds when he won the election in November 2008.

While those spreading the rumors were grinding their particular political axes, it does show the influence of the American president that they insist on using even the lies told about him.