December 22, 2016
Obama's Legacy Part 2
One of the highest honors a
human being can receive is the Nobel Peace Prize. It has been highly revered,
however now it's value has dropped precipitously, and is nothing more than a moment in time accented by a few photo ops,
some diplomas and a coin.
A human achievement that's
not worth the metal its minted from.
So what happens if you make a
mistake?
That very thing happened in
2009. You see, the Peace Prize is awarded for achievements. They awarded Obama
this BEFORE achievements. OOPS
Nobel panel saw Obama peace prize as ‘mistake,’ new book claims
The former director of Norway’s Nobel Institute revealed this week that he regrets the committee’s decision to give the 2009 Nobel Peace award to President Obama.Geil Lundestad, director at the institute for 25 years, said in his just-published memoir that he and the committee had unanimously decided to grant the award to Mr. Obama just after his election in 2009 more in hopes of aiding the American president to achieve his goals on nuclear disarmament, rather than in recognition of what Mr. Obama had already accomplished.
That Awkward Moment When One Nobel Peace Prize Winner Bombs Another
US/NATO planes bombed a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan on Saturday. The attack lasted an hour, and continued even after medics “frantically phoned NATO and Washington” to tell them what they were bombing.
It was no use. The attackers already knew full well what their target was. Doctors Without Borders had long ago provided them with the GPS coordinates of their facilities. And the US-installed Afghan government, which had raided that very same hospital in July of this year, had requested the strike, claiming the hospital was being used by insurgents
The attack killed 22 people, including 12 medical workers and 10 patients. Three of the patients were children. The first bombardment targeted the Intensive Care Unit, where an eyewitness nurse said,“Patients were burning in their beds.” And a hospital caretaker said that he could hear women and children, “screaming for help inside the hospital while it was set ablaze by the bombing.”
Doctors Without Borders won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. President Obama was awarded his in 2009. As Commander-in-Chief of the military that bombed the Doctors Without Borders hospital, this makes Obama perhaps the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to bomb another Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Last Year President Obama Reportedly Told His Aides That He's 'Really Good At Killing People'
This will not go over well for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
According to the new book “Double Down,” in which journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann chronicle the 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama told his aides that he’s “really good at killing people” while discussing drone strikes.
Peter Hamby of The Washington Post noted the moment in his review of the book.
The reported claim by the commander-in-chief is as indisputable as it is grim.
Obama oversaw the 2009 surge in Afghanistan, 145 Predator drone strikes in NATO’s 2011 Libya operations, the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and drone strikes that killed the Pakistani Taliban leader and a senior member of the Somali-based militant group al-Shabab this week.
His administration also expanded the drone war: There have been 326 drone strikes in Pakistan, 93 in Yemen, and several in Somalia — killing upwards of 4,000 people overall — under Obama, compared to a total of 52 strikes under George Bush.
The Double Tap
OK I know war is a dirty business. It has been from day one. However when you make your public persona about being someone that's good and kind, and then continually use this tactic...and make the statement, that it's legal.
That's wrong...morally and ethically wrong.
So, what is a "Double Tap?"
Let's let the BBC explain:
Drones kill rescuers in 'double tap', say activists
The first round of missiles struck a tent in Zowi Sidgi, a village in North Waziristan, at dusk on 6 July 2012. A small group of miners and woodcutters had gathered there for dinner, according to Amnesty International's Mustafa Qadri.The tent burned. Friends and family members came running to help. A moment later, there was another drone strike. Many of the people who had come to assist their friends and relatives in the tent were also killed.
Altogether 18 people died in the two rounds of drone strikes. One of the victims was a 14-year-old boy. The strikes in Zowi Sidgi fall into a special category of attacks, said Qadri, a lethal operation that includes two phases.
This practice, known as a "double tap", as journalists have described, is being used more often.
If you're a military-aged male, you're considered a
targetMustafa Qadr, Amnesty International" They appear to be targeting
those who have come in to help those who are injured," said Qadri.
"And that's particularly shocking."
In a May speech at Fort McNair in Washington, however, US President Barack Obama said the drone strikes in Pakistan and other countries are "effective" and "legal".
"Before any strike is taken, there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured - the highest standard we can set," he said.
A Human Rights Watch study on drone strikes in Yemen has also been released. For the Human Rights Watch report, researchers looked at six strikes that took place in Yemen from 2009-13. Researchers claim that two of the attacks violated the laws of war "because they struck only civilians or used indiscriminate weapons".
