Obama Is A War Criminal: Prof. Cornel West

Cornel West, the Princeton University professor and civil rights activist, insists that President Barack Obama is a war criminal because of the administration’s controversial drone policy.

West offered his comments about Obama on Tavis Smiley’s radio show, “Tavis Talks.”

The controversy came to a head recently when a document (the so-called Kill Americans memo) was leaked to NBC News that indicated the Obama administration claimed it has the legal authority to use drones to kill American citizens anywhere in the world without the benefit of legal counsel or due process.

John Brennan, the man who has been nominated by Obama to lead the CIA, has so far refused to answer whether the administration would use drone strikes on American soil. US Senator Rand Paul has vowed to block the nomination until Brennan responds to that question.

Former third-party presidential candidate and consumer activist Ralph Nader has previously declared that Obama has committed war crimes in connection with overseas military and foreign policy decisions such as drone attacks in particular.

This is what Prof. Cornell West said about the “immoral” drone attacks:

“…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. 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. If you and I, brother Tavis, if we kill an innocent person, we’re going to jail.”

According to the Raw Story, US drone strikes may have killed over 200 children in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia from 2002 through Obama’s first term and that approximately 4,600 deaths overall can be attributed to drone attacks in those countries.

[Image credit: Albert H. Teich / Shutterstock.com]

Listen to Dr. Cornel West’s comments about Obama’s drone policy: