US actors and liberal intellectuals joined a list to be published Friday of nearly 2,000 people accusing President Barack Obama of allowing human rights violations and war crimes.
"Crimes are crimes, no matter who does them," the statement reads over pictures of Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush due to appear in the New York Review of Books.
The statement, published as a paid advertisement, accuses Obama, who was elected in 2008 with the enthusiastic support of US liberals, of continuing Bush's controversial approach to human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in domestic security.
It takes aim especially at Obama's decision -- reported by US officials -- to authorize the killing of a radical Islamic cleric and US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, who is accused of ties to Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
"In some respects this is worse than Bush," the statement says. "First, because Obama has claimed the right to assassinate American citizens whom he suspects of 'terrorism,' merely on the grounds of his own suspicion or that of the CIA, something Bush never claimed publicly."
They are also upset that Obama hasn't tried to bring charges up on Bush and company but if they are so confident that their accusations are correct, then wouldn't Obama have to bring himself up on any charges they insist he bring against the "Bush Regime?"
You can see the PDF poster for yourself here.
Some of the signatories:
Rocky Anderson • Edward Asner • William Ayers
William Blum • Fr. Bob Bossie • Elaine Brower
Matthis Chiroux • Noam Chomsky
James Cromwell • Carl Dix • Daniel Ellsberg
Jodie Evans • Hester Eisenstein • Donald Freed
Ann Fagan Ginger • Mike Gravel • Stephen Hays
Chris Hedges • Dahr Jamail • Kathy Kelly
Uzma Khan • Joyce Kozloff • Emily Kunstler
Sarah Kunstler • Dennis Loo • Peter McLaren
Ray McGovern • Ann Messner • Tom Morello
Tomás Olmos • Bill Quigley • Michael Ratner
Rev. Dr. George F. Regas • Mark Ruffalo
Cindy Sheehan • Jed Stone • Frank Summers
David Swanson • Debra Sweet • Sunsara Taylor
Cornel West • Andy Worthington • Ann Wright
Four bulletin points in the statement:
1.It is now common knowledge that Barack Obama has openly ordered the assassination of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki is suspected of participating in plots by Al Qaeda. He denies these charges. No matter. Without trial or other judicial proceeding, the administration has simply put him on the to-be-killed list.
2. Whistleblowers in the military have now leaked a video showing U.S. troops firing on an unarmed party of Iraqis in 2007, including two journalists, and then firing on those who attempted to rescue them, including two children. As ugly as this video of the killing of 12 Iraqis was, the chatter recorded in the helicopter cockpit is even more monstrous. The Pentagon says that there will be no charges against these soldiers and the media absolves them of blame. “They were under stress,” the story goes; “Our brave men and women must be supported.” Meanwhile those who leaked the video came under government surveillance and are targeted as “national security” threats.
3. The Pentagon has recently acknowledged, after denials, a massacre near the city of
Gardez, Afghanistan, on February 12, 2010. Five people were killed, including two pregnant women, leaving 16 children motherless. The U.S. military first said the two men killed were insurgents and the women were victims of a family “honor killing,” but the Afghan government accepts the eyewitness reports that U.S. Special Forces killed the men (a police officer and a lawyer) and the women, and then dug their own bullets out of the women’s bodies to destroy evidence. Top U.S. military officials have now admitted that U.S. soldiers killed the family in their house.
4. Just weeks earlier, a story broken in Harper’s by Scott Horton carried news that three supposed suicides of detainees in Guantánamo in 2006 were not suicides, but homicides carried out by American personnel. This passed almost without comment.
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