Noam Chomsky: ‘President Obama Is Involved In War Crimes Right Now’

[Karmadillo]

I wonder if President Obama will discuss his war crimes once he finishes urging us to lower corporate tax rates.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/noam-chomsky-president-obama-is-involved-in-war-crimes-right-now/

Noam Chomsky: ‘President Obama Is Involved In War Crimes Right Now’
» 40 commentsby Colby Hall | 8:49 am, September 13th, 2010

In an interview for the New Statesmen, Alyssa McDonald writes:

What are your thoughts on President Obama?
He’s involved in war crimes right now. For example, targeted assassinations are war crimes. That’s escalated quite sharply under Obama. If you look at WikiLeaks, there are a lot of examples of attacks on civilians.

What did you think when he was given the Nobel Peace Prize?
Considering the history of the Nobel Peace Prize, it’s not the worst example. It was given to him before he had the time to commit many war crimes.

Is there any point in us being in Afghanistan?
We wouldn’t have asked in 1985: “Is there any point in the Russians being in Afghanistan?” The fact is that the invasion was a crime. Then comes the question: “Is there any point in continuing?” But that presupposes legitimacy. Putting aside questions of morality and legality and simply asking about the goals of the US government is a very narrow consideration.

Last Spring Chomksy earned some attention while receiving an award for lifetime contribution to critical scholarship by the University of Wisconsin, Chomsky warned that, if Americans are not careful, fascism was in its future :

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[Ken Burch]

1. As usual, Dr. Chomsky has it scoped out.

But this administration refuses to listen to anyone like him. Our foreign policy seems to be derived from weekly seances with Scoop Jackson and Dean Rusk.

[d_b]

2. kick

[BeyondGeography]

3. I feel a "let me tell you about my war crimes" segue any moment now

:silly:

[Drale]

4. Everyone who has been president during a war is guilty of "war crimes"

Abraham Lincoln suspended Habeas corpus and even complicated having all the supreme court justices arrested. FDR put Japanese Americans into camps and ordered the creation of the first nuclear bomb. Both those men helped save the US, Bush is guilty of war crimes but he helped destroy the US and Obama really hasn't had alot of time in my opinion to do anything of truly historic proportions yet.

[Karmadillo]

5. Kick.

nt

[thereismore]

6. The drone attacks are a violation of a number of treaties. nt

[Bragi]

7. Yep /nt

[ProSense]

8. Chomsky thinks every President is a war criminal.

He believes Clinton committed war crimes.

So I guess this means Bush was simply doing what every President before him did, right?

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Clinton is 'every President'? Where are your quotes about

Jimmy? You assert that Chomsky thinks a thing, but you do not even provide one quote. Not a shred of actual evidence that you are correct. Why is that?

[ProSense]

14. deleted dupe n/t

[ProSense]

15. "If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged."

If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged. By violation of the Nuremberg laws I mean the same kind of crimes for which people were hanged in Nuremberg. And Nuremberg means Nuremberg and Tokyo. So first of all you've got to think back as to what people were hanged for at Nuremberg and Tokyo. And once you think back, the question doesn't even require a moment's waste of time. For example, one general at the Tokyo trials, which were the worst, General Yamashita, was hanged on the grounds that troops in the Philippines, which were technically under his command (though it was so late in the war that he had no contact with them -- it was the very end of the war and there were some troops running around the Philippines who he had no contact with), had carried out atrocities, so he was hanged. Well, try that one out and you've already wiped out everybody.

<...>

Ford was only there for a very short time so he didn't have time for a lot of crimes, but he managed one major one. He supported the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, which was near genocidal. I mean, it makes Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait look like a tea party. That was supported decisively by the United States, both the diplmatic and the necessary military support came primarily from the United States. This was picked up under Carter.

Carter was the least violent of American presidents but he did things which I think would certainly fall under Nuremberg provisions. As the Indonesian atrocities increased to a level of really near-genocide, the U.S. aid under Carter increased. It reached a peak in 1978 as the atrocities peaked. So we took care of Carter, even forgetting other things.

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[blindpig]

12. He's right.

It's in the small print of the job description.

[robcon]

9. Has there ever been a U.S. president that Chomsky hasn't claimed to be a war criminal?

His act is getting tired.

[tex-wyo-dem]

19. Chomsky's "act," as you put it is to state the unvarnished obvious truth...

The Geneva Conventions are very specific in what is and what is not a war crime. If we are truely a democratic nation of laws then international laws should be upheld and applied to everyone, no matter their stature or what country they lead.

The omly reason many U.S. Presidents have not been convicted of war crimes is because of politico-economic clout and the PR facade of "doing the right thing.".

[Nuclear Unicorn]

10. OK, swell, but so what?

Everyone will still be voting D to keep the R out of the WH.

After all, the manadatory corporate subsidy a.k.a. health care reform will be at stake if the Rs get the WH. Who cares if 23 women and children get blasted to red goo just for living with a half dozen men with a fetish for explosives; as long as I don't have to see the bill for my cough drops it's all good.

At least we'll have the pride of calling them "our war crimes."

Embrace the goo.

[treestar]

13. If he's going to that level, then so are we

We don't get to dodge what an elected government does by electing people to blame.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

16. Sadly, he is correct.

Of all the things I have found distateful about Obama as President, this has to be the most galling. For a Democratic President to be actively engaging in war crimes and the cover-up of prior war crimes makes my stomach turn.

NOT IN MY NAME, OBAMA! :mad:

[Catherina]

17. Can't argue with that. Rec'd n/t

[arundhatiroyfan]

18. k&r nt.