Retract Peace Prize’: Russian NGOs blast Obama over ‘killing people’ confession
Published time: November 19, 2013 10:10
Edited time: November 20, 2013 13:43
U.S. President Barack Obama.(AFP Photo / Michael Francis McElroy)
Two major military-related groups, Officers of Russia
and Soldiers’ Mothers, have addressed the Nobel Committee with a
request to evaluate the inhumane statements made by the US president
about drone warfare.
“
I would like to bring to your attention that [we] were
surprised and outraged by the statement made by the Nobel Prize laureate and US
President Barack Obama quoted in the book ‘Double Down’ by
Mark Halperin and John Heilemann,” the head of the Officers
of Russia NGO, Anton Tsvetkov, wrote in the letter to the
committee, Infox.ru quoted.
“
While discussing the use of drones in counter-terrorist
operations in a closed conference with his aides, Barack Obama
cynically noted he was ‘very good at killing people.’ In
connection with this we ask you to give an official legal and
moral assessment of Barack Obama’s words concerning their
compatibility with the high title of the Nobel Peace Prize
laureate,” he added.
Tsvetkov told reporters at a press conference in Moscow that
military professionals in his organization were strongly against
the use of drone aircraft in combat as this weapon often causes
casualties among civilians. He claims the Officers of Russia
possess information proving that Obama personally sanctioned the
combat use of drones during missions in Pakistan, Yemen,
Afghanistan, Somalia and other countries.
The chairwoman of the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee, Flora
Salikhovskaya, said
that her group supports this
address, adding that solving all problems through military force
has become Obama’s trademark.
“
As a mother and a Human Rights advocate, I cannot understand
his drive. I cannot understand the statement by the president of
a nation that he can kill people. Obama must either apologize
before everybody for his statement or give the [Peace] prize back
and admit that he has not yet grown up to bear this high
title,” she noted.
A high-placed member of Officers of Russia, Aleksandr Mikhailov,
noted that in Russia even military snipers never boasted about
their proficiency in killing.
“
They usually say that they work with targets. One should
never brag of such things!” Mikhailov told a news
conference.
Both NGO leaders said they hope the Nobel Committee members will
heed their letter. They added that many pundits had noted that
the Peace Prize handed to Obama was a sort of 'advance' given in
return for promises and press statements made during the previous
election campaign. But in reality the deeds of the US leader
contradict his earlier rhetoric and this means that the ‘advance’
can be rescinded, the activists underlined.
Since taking office in 2008, and winning the Peace Prize in 2009,
Obama has greatly expanded the use of drones and targeted
killings in foreign nations. The Bureau of Investigative
Journalism in London earlier reported that he had authorized 326
strikes in Pakistan alone. It also estimates that, since George
W. Bush took office for his second term in 2004, the strikes have
killed anywhere between 2,500 and 3,600 individuals, and that
between 416 and 948 of those individuals were civilians.
The White House claims the number of civilians killed by drones
is much lower than that, but it has never released its own
figure. Obama himself justified the drone program earlier this
year, saying that it prevented the deaths of even more civilians
at the hands of terrorists.
The official position of the US side is that all ‘military-age
males’ within a strike zone should be considered combatants and
treated accordingly.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
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