Nader says that "Obama is a war criminal"

monovillage

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By PATRICK GAVIN | 9/25/12 12:56 PM EDT

It’s no surprise that Ralph Nader isn’t a fan of former President George W. Bush. After all, the longtime activist ran against him in both 2000 and 2004. But Nader’s even less a fan of President Barack Obama, if only because he thinks Obama was capable of so much more.

On issues related to the military and foreign policy, Obama’s worse than Bush, “in the sense that he’s more aggressive, more illegal worldwide,” Nader told POLITICO, going so far as to call Obama a “war criminal.”


“He’s gone beyond George W. Bush in drones, for example. He thinks the world is his plate, that national sovereignties mean nothing, drones can go anywhere. They can kill anybody that he suspects and every Tuesday he makes the call on who lives and who dies, supposed suspects in places like Yemen and Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that is a war crime and he ought to be held to account.”

Is Ralph Nader (ex -Green Party presidential candidate) accurate?
Is Barack Obama a war criminal?
Should he be prosecuted in an international court of law?
Do the same people that claimed that George Bush was/is a war criminal hypocritically avoid calling Obama a war criminal because they're stupid? cowards? partisan? or all 3?

Please stay on topic which is Nader calling Obama a war criminal.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81649.html
 

Smoblikat

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Nov 19, 2011
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Technically you have to declare a war to be a war criminal :p

Both bush and messiah are war criminals, and both should be punished. To be deliciously ironic they should stick obama in GT Bay.
 

cybrsage

Lifer
Nov 17, 2011
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Obama violated the War Powers Act, but since Congress did not bother to prosecute him for it, he is not a war criminal.

No US President is a war criminal except in the minds of some deluded fools.
 

Hayabusa Rider

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Jan 26, 2000
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Is Ralph Nader (ex -Green Party presidential candidate) accurate?
Is Barack Obama a war criminal?
Should he be prosecuted in an international court of law?
Do the same people that claimed that George Bush was/is a war criminal hypocritically avoid calling Obama a war criminal because they're stupid? cowards? partisan? or all 3?

Please stay on topic which is Nader calling Obama a war criminal.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81649.html

Bush and Obama are using forces in different ways and there are times when I think Obama is correct, but it is interesting that he carries forward Bushes policies with things like extraordinary rendition and in fact weakens citizen rights withing our borders more than Bush and it's curiously ignored.

As I've said many times one side holds the other to a higher standard than they'd be willing to accept for themselves.
 

crownjules

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War crimes are the following:

- Mass murder of civilians
- Genocide
- Using weapons of mass destruction
- Mistreatment of POWs
- Planning, initiating, and carrying out wars of aggression (or assisting someone that does)

So I'd say no, Nader is not all that accurate in saying Obama is worse. You might get Obama on 4, but he did not plan and carry out the War in Iraq which was one of belligerence on the US's part. Unless you can somehow say that using drones sparingly for tactical strikes are "wars of aggression". I feel like the term war crimes gets bandied around too much.
 
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AyashiKaibutsu

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Jan 24, 2004
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Bush and Obama are using forces in different ways and there are times when I think Obama is correct, but it is interesting that he carries forward Bushes policies with things like extraordinary rendition and in fact weakens citizen rights withing our borders more than Bush and it's curiously ignored.

As I've said many times one side holds the other to a higher standard than they'd be willing to accept for themselves.

I think if there was a viable alternative such things would be ignored much less. Our choices are either those things + some small amount of rational problem solving or those things + no viable plans and a return to even more of Bushes failed policies. If sanity ever returns to government, he'll probably get a lot more shit for it in hindsight.
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
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“He’s gone beyond George W. Bush in drones, for example. He thinks the world is his plate, that national sovereignties mean nothing, drones can go anywhere. They can kill anybody that he suspects and every Tuesday he makes the call on who lives and who dies, supposed suspects in places like Yemen and Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that is a war crime and he ought to be held to account.”
The man has a point. This country is essentially without due process and simply does what it wants. To foreigners, to prisoners in GITMO, and to ourselves.

I do not want a lawless government that abuses the notion of war powers.
 

monovillage

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Back in the day I didn't think that Bush was a war criminal that should be prosecuted in an international Court/tribunal etc. and I don't think that Obama is one either. I'm not a member of the radical group: Code Pink though.
 

Thump553

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
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Nader is, as always, an idiot.

I don't know about the "as always" part, but the man certainly jumped the rails 15-20 years ago. The man did some great things early in his career but became way too self-important and judgmental.
 

SheHateMe

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Am I the only one that noticed how similar Mono's thread was to the ones Incorruptible posts? Just a thought.


Calling Obama a "War Criminal" sounds a bit dramatic to me. I cannot think of anything that occurred during his Presidency that was indicative of war criminal behavior. I mean, yea, we shot up that mansion and kill OBL...but atleast we didnt wage war on the wrong country and the wrong people doing so.
 

werepossum

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Jul 10, 2006
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I don't know about the "as always" part, but the man certainly jumped the rails 15-20 years ago. The man did some great things early in his career but became way too self-important and judgmental.
I'd say always, but then I've never forgiven him for killing the Corvair.
 

bfdd

Lifer
Feb 3, 2007
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The man has a point. This country is essentially without due process and simply does what it wants. To foreigners, to prisoners in GITMO, and to ourselves.

I do not want a lawless government that abuses the notion of war powers.

This. What ever happened to accountability for your actions?
 

Hayabusa Rider

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I think if there was a viable alternative such things would be ignored much less. Our choices are either those things + some small amount of rational problem solving or those things + no viable plans and a return to even more of Bushes failed policies. If sanity ever returns to government, he'll probably get a lot more shit for it in hindsight.

That's probably true. I think Obama's legacy will be "the least bad of the choices offered". I hope for a higher standard but I see the Reps as having gone completely off the deep end, and the Dems making banality a core philosophy. I just hope we don't go to the "banality of evil" some day.
 

monovillage

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Am I the only one that noticed how similar Mono's thread was to the ones Incorruptible posts? Just a thought.


Calling Obama a "War Criminal" sounds a bit dramatic to me. I cannot think of anything that occurred during his Presidency that was indicative of war criminal behavior. I mean, yea, we shot up that mansion and kill OBL...but atleast we didnt wage war on the wrong country and the wrong people doing so.

I didn't call him a "war criminal", Nader did.