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<H1 class=title>Cornel West: Obama “Is a War Criminal”</H1>
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<DIV class=submitted><FONT size=4><STRONG>Tue, 05/14/2013 - 14:28 — Jacob
Chamberlain<BR><BR>http://blackagendareport.com/content/cornel-west-obama-%E2%80%9C-war-criminal%E2%80%9D<BR></STRONG></FONT></DIV></DIV><BR><SPAN
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<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>by Jacob Chamberlain</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4><STRONG>“<FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif">I would rather have a white president fundamentally
dedicated to eradicating poverty and enhancing the plight of working people than
a black president tied to Wall Street and drones," activist-academic Dr. Cornel
West told British journalists. Barack Obama, like his predecessor, should be
tried for war crimes.</FONT></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT
size=4><STRONG></STRONG></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT color=#280099><FONT
size=4><STRONG><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif">Cornel West: Obama “Is a War
Criminal”</FONT><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif">
</FONT></STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>by Jacob Chamberlain</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4><STRONG><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>This article previously appeared in </I></FONT><FONT
color=#0000ff><U><A href=""><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>Common
Dreams</I></FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>.</I></FONT></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT
color=#2323dc><FONT size=4><STRONG>“<FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>You can't
meet every Tuesday with a killer list and continually have drones drop
bombs.”</I></FONT></STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4><STRONG><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif">In an interview with the </FONT><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>Guardian</I></FONT></STRONG></FONT><A href=""
target=_blank><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><U><STRONG> published on
Sunday</STRONG></U></FONT></FONT></A><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>, renowned professor and prolific critic of the
"military-industrial-complex" and rampant "plutocracy" in the U.S. and around
the world, Dr. Cornel West explained his views on the state of America today and
his fall from grace, by design, with President Barack Obama: "He's just too tied
to Wall Street. And at this point he is a war criminal."</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>"They say I'm un-American," West told
interviewer Hugh Muir, referring to Obama's team.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>But from someone who actively campaigned for
the man, only to be quickly and vastly disappointed, West sees in Obama the
epitome of Washington corruption:</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>"He talked about Martin Luther King over and
over again as he ran," West said of their campaign stops together, adding later,
"You can't just invoke Martin Luther King like that and not follow through on
his priorities in some way."</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>"King died fighting not just against poverty
but against carpet-bombing in Vietnam; the war crimes under Nixon and
Kissinger."</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in" align=center><FONT
color=#2323dc><FONT size=4><STRONG>“<FONT face="Arial, sans-serif"><I>He hasn't
said a mumbling word about the institutions that have destroyed two generations
of young black and brown youth, the new Jim Crow, the prison industrial
complex.”</I></FONT></STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>West goes on:</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4><STRONG>“<FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif">You can't meet every Tuesday with a killer list and
continually have drones drop bombs. You can do that once or twice and say: 'I
shouldn't have done that, I've got to stop.' But when you do it month in, month
out, year in, year out – that's a pattern of behavior."
[...]</FONT></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4><STRONG>“<FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif">I think there is a chance of a snowball in hell that he
will ever be tried, but I think he should be tried and I said the same about
George Bush. These are war crimes. We suffer in this age from an indifference
toward criminality and a callousness to catastrophe when it comes to poor and
working people." [...]</FONT></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>"I knew he would have rightwing opposition, but
he hasn't tried," West said of Obama's unwillingness to curb Wall Street's hold
on Washington. "When he came in, he brought in Wall Street-friendly people – Tim
Geithner, Larry Summers – and made it clear he had no intention of bailing out
homeowners, supporting trade unions."</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4
face="Arial, sans-serif"><STRONG>And later:</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.06in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT size=4><STRONG>“<FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif">And he hasn't said a mumbling word about the
institutions that have destroyed two generations of young black and brown youth,
the new Jim Crow, the prison industrial complex.</FONT><FONT
face="Arial, sans-serif"> </FONT><FONT face="Arial, sans-serif">It's not about
race. It is about commitment to justice. He should be able to say that in the
last few years, with the shift from 300,000 inmates to 2.5 million today, there
have been unjust polices and I intend to do all I can. Maybe he couldn't do that
much. But at least tell the truth. I would rather have a white president
fundamentally dedicated to eradicating poverty and enhancing the plight of
working people than a black president tied to Wall Street and
drones."</FONT></STRONG></FONT></P></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>