Obama is a war criminal

[CapnAwesome]

I constantly hear on here about how Bush is a war criminal. I actually agree, Bush clearly committed war crimes again and again. However what I have never heard or seen a thread on is how Obama is also a war criminal. The best excuse that the more adamant Obama supporters on these boards have managed is that he inherited the situation from Bush. Now lets do a hypothetical for a moment. I hate to bring up the Nazis in an argument (Godwin's law and all) but they are just the most obvious example of war crimes. Imagine that Hitler died early and someone else took over power. Imagine that that person knew all about the Holocaust and other war crimes being committed by the Nazis. Now imagine that he not only continued, but expanded those programs. Would we say he was not a war criminal because he didn't invent them himself? Of course not. It's an absurd argument that ignores what a war criminal is. Someone who commits war crimes. Here is a summary from the website warcriminalswatch.org

Obama war crimes under definitions set forth above

Obama has expanded Bush’s “War on Terror” to a “Global Battlefield” where suspected terrorists anywhere can be subjected to “targeted killings” by drone strikes without charge or trial. This has happened not only in Afghanistan and Iraq but also in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and possibly Mali. The “collateral damage” from these strikes has killed large numbers of women and children as well as young men of military age whom the Obama administration arbitrarily counts as combatants.

Several leaders accused of Bush-era war crimes remained in the Obama administration – for example, Stanley McChrystal, Robert Gates, David Petraeus and Jonathan Fredman, and of course John O. Brennan – now head of the CIA. All have been involved in military and domestic "national security" policy. In April 2012 Brennan was the first Obama administration official to publicly acknowledge the CIA drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan and elsewhere. In his speech at the Wilson Center, he argued for the legality, morality and effectiveness of the program. In 2011/2012 he also helped to codify the process, under the aegis of the Disposition Matrix database by which people outside of war zones are put on the list of drone targets. The reorganization helped "concentrate power" over the process inside the White House administration. The war in Afghanistan was expanded during Obama’s first administration. Military strategy was then under the direction of Gen. David Petraeus, an expert in counterinsurgency. The war continues with fewer US troops and unknown numbers of contractors.

Withdrawal from Iraq has faded into the future. When and if the troops do go, thousands of private military contractors remain. Meanwhile the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, with the increasing threat of a full-scale civil war.

Despite Obama’s promises, Guantánamo still has not been closed. It should be noted that 86 of the remaining prisoners have already been cleared for release by the Guantánamo Review Task Force, a group of 60 officials and lawyers from government departments and intelligence agencies who reviewed all the Guantánamo cases in 2009. Many of the prisoners have remained in detention because they are Yemenis. By order of Obama all the remaining 166 prisoners are now held in “indefinite detention” – without charge or trial. Most of the men have been there for 10 or 11 years.

In 2012, a harsher military administration was imposed at Guantánamo. Despairing of their release, the prisoners have staged a prolonged hunger strike. Unless action is taken soon (as June 2013) the strike will result in prisoner deaths.

An unknown number of prisoners in secret detention centers or "black sites" around the world are not allowed access to courts or lawyers or even knowledge of the charges or evidence against them.

Detainees are still enduring prolonged isolation, sleep, sensory deprivation and force-feeding. These techniques cause extreme mental anguish and permanent physical damage and are not permitted under international law. In other words, the US still engages in torture.

Solitary confinement has also taken place on US soil without trial or conviction. Two examples: first, Syed Fahad Hashmi, a Muslim-American student, was held for two and a half years in downtown Manhattan under Special Administrative Measures (SAMS) and subsequently in Colorado under the same conditions after receiving a sentence of 25 years based on a (plea-bargained) informant’s testimony. Second, Bradley Manning, accused of providing material to WikiLeaks, was held in solitary confinement from late May 2010 until April 2011. Even inside his cell, his activities were heavily restricted: banned from exercising, under constant surveillance and denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including a pillow or sheets for his bed. He was forced to strip naked for inspections and, for the one hour per day when he was freed from isolation, he was barred from accessing any news or current events programs. Bradley Manning’s trial is currently under way with access by news media severely restricted by the military.

No constraints by courts or Congress have been placed on the Obama administration’s war crimes. Despite Obama’s declaration of transparency in government, a wall of secrecy shrouds the conduct of wars, including drone war and covert operations. Meanwhile former Bush officials have new roles in society: professor, lawyer, corporate manager, lecturer on the lucrative speaker circuit and even Obama administration officials. Only the public can demand that these criminal policies stop now! We have an obligation not only to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity after they occur but to put an end to the shameful policies which allow them to continue.

#bothsidesdo