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Is Obama also a war criminal ?


There is absolutely no doubt about Bush/Cheny et al being among the greatest war criminals of all time - lying to get us into a war whose real intent was resource theft and expansion of the empire's overseas network of bases, and torture including that which went beyond waterboarding, etc. For these crimes they deserve new ring in Dante's Inferno.
But is Obama, for whom we had such high hopes, sliding down or already on the same morally-bankrupt path. Decade's ago a Republican president made it illegal to assassinate foreign officials, a practice until then widely practiced by the CIA. Well just what should we call the killing of an Al Quaeda member, or even suspected terrorists, from 10,000 ft via a predator drone controlled by an operator using a joystick thousands of miles away? Is this less somehow less reprehensible - even though 10's of nearby innocents may also perish - than death by an exploding cigar or an assassin's bullet? What kind of nation deems it acceptable - always in the name of promoting peace and democracy - to conduct such operations worldwide? And should our current leader - who has expanded these killings initiated under Bush - be held less culpable than the Bush crime family?

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Unfortunately many activists are calling Obama a war criminal for not immediately doing what they want him to do. It is a fair statement to say he inherited this mess.

While I am one of the most adamant voices that call for fast change from Bush's policies,
I think we are making a
"huge mistake"
calling him a war criminal.

John H Kennedy, Denver CO, 44 yr Democratic voter, Obama supporter,
organizer of Impeach Colorado Coalition http://ImpeachCO.com
and http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG

.

Bill McLaughlin
I believe that there is a pretty strong case that killing via predator drones violates international law. In any event it is, in my view, a terrorizing and inhuman way to assassinate people we don't like who may or not be terrorists and seems also to be in violation of Ford's prohibition of assassination. While Obama may, like Bush, feel no obligation to respect international law it is distressing that he seems also to be violating U.S. law.
It can be argued that after all he inherited Bush's mess. But the fact is that he has greatly expanded this program. Morality aside, I think that use of the drones is absolutely despised by Pakistani's and serves as a powerful recruitment tool. I do not subscribe to the idea that we must give him a chance - rather we must call him out when his policies conflict with our moral values. For more info on this subject see the latest New Yorker and google on Seymour Hersh's lectures and writings.

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