Thread: Mutiny in the Party? Prominent Democratic Intellectual Calls Obama a “War Criminal”

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Mutiny in the Party? Prominent Democratic Intellectual Calls Obama a “War Criminal”


Lily Dane
Activist Post

Dr. Cornel West, a prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America, used to be an Obama supporter. Lately, though, the tide has turned, and he has been publicly referring to the president as a “war criminal”. West joins a growing number of former fans who no longer support the president due to his dubious ethics.



During a recent discussion on Real Time, Bill Maher questioned Dr. West about his labeling of Obama as a “war criminal”. West stated that he is “telling the truth about Obama” and expressed that while he doesn’t hate the president (and added that he prays for him and his family), he finds it outrageous that innocent children and civilians are being killed in drone strikes authorized by Obama.

“I called Bush a criminal,” he said, “and he only had 45 drones.”

Dr. West also specifically criticized Democrats who attack Bush for his war record but say nothing about Obama when he continues it, calling them “morally bankrupt.”

During a February 2013 discussion on the Tavis Smiley show, West said, “The chickens are coming home to roost. We’ve been talking about this for a good while, the immorality of drones, dropping bombs on innocent people; it’s been over 200 children so far. These are war crimes.”

“I think we have to be very honest, let us not be deceived – Nixon, Bush, Obama, they’re war criminals” West continued. “They have killed innocent people in the name of the struggle for freedom, but they’re suspending the law, very much like Wall Street criminals. The law is suspended for them, but the law applies for the rest of us.”



West also criticized Obama when the president won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, saying that it would be difficult for Obama to be “a war president with a peace prize.” In an April 2011 interview, Dr. West said that Obama is “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of plutocrats. And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it.”

Dr. West has also blasted Obama for his “perceived willingness to use shady, possibly illegal tools in the war on terror.” In January, West said that Obama’s approval of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was reminiscent of FBI surveillance of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., stating that provisions in that law would allow authorities to lock away agitators like King without “due process or judicial process.”

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

Lily Dane is a staff writer for The Daily Sheeple, where this article first appeared. Her goal is to help people to “Wake the Flock Up!”

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/07/...emocratic.html

The Truth About Drones

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2013 23:24 -0400

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

A lot of Americans have an impression that drone strikes are less damaging to civilian populations that conventional airstrikes. This would be false. In fact, earlier this month I highlighted an article from the Guardian that demonstrated how in reality drone strikes are 10x more likely to harm civilians per incident. Now, thanks to a recently leaked document we find that many more civilians including children have been killed in these strikes than many of us would like to admit.



In fact, of the 746 people killed in drone strikes in Pakistan from 2006-2009, an incredible 20% were civilians and 94 (13% of the total) were children. More from the Huffington Post:

London’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism released a leaked Pakistani report on Monday that details numerous civilian casualties by drone strikes in the country’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The document provides crucial new data on civilians casualties of U.S. and NATO strikes in Pakistan.

The 12-page dossier was compiled for the the authorities in the tribal areas, the Bureau notes, and investigates 75 CIA drone strikes and five attacks by NATO in the region conducted between 2006 and 2009. According to the document, 746 people were killed in the strategic attacks. At least 147 of the victims were civilians, and 94 were children.

While a majority of earlier tallies relied on media reports of drone strikes, the FATA list was compiled by government officials who were sent out to investigate damage in the wake of attacks. According to the Bureau, on several occasions officials registered different casualty rates than media outlets reported.

ProPublica notes the U.S. government denies large civilian casualty counts, but it refuses to release its own numbers.

Most. Transparent. Ever.
Full article here.

Here are the first three pages of the leaked report - click image for link to full report:


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-0...h-about-drones