Cornel West on the US President's war crimes

Cornel West, renowned Professor at Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary and social justice activist doesn't hold back on his assessment of US President Barrack Obama, calling him a 'war criminal' and 'tied to Wall St'.

Hard not to disagree with Cornel West's assessment.

Here is what Cornel West had to say about the US President on a recent speaking tour:

“(W)hen you look at the prison industrial complex and the new Jim Crow: levels of massive unemployment and the decrepit unemployment system, indecent housing; white supremacy is still operating in the US, even with a brilliant black face in a high place called the White House. He is a brilliant, charismatic black brother. He’s just too tied to Wall Street. And at this point he is a war criminal. You can't meet every Tuesday with a killer list and continually have drones drop bombs. You can do that once or twice and say, ‘I shouldn’t have done that, I’ve got to stop.’ But when you do it month in, month out, year in, year out—that’s a pattern of behavior. I think there is a chance of a snowball in hell that he will ever be tried, but I think he should be tried…These are war crimes. We suffer in this age from an indifference toward criminality and a callousness to catastrophe when it comes to poor and working people.”

Cornel West's comments should also be seen in light of Obama's embrace of 'never ending war'. The New York Times is reporting today that the Obama administration is seeking new powers to allow it to enrage in continuous wars against those it defines as its enemies without recourse to the Congress and Senate.


 In his recent comments, West added to his charge list the following:

“When he came in, he brought in Wall Street-friendly people—Tim Geithner, Larry Summers—and made it clear he had no intention of bailing out homeowners, supporting trade unions. And he hasn’t said a mumbling word about the institutions that have destroyed two generations of young black and brown youth, the new Jim Crow, the prison industrial complex. It’s not about race. It is about commitment to justice…Maybe he couldn't do that much. But at least tell the truth. I would rather have a white president fundamentally dedicated to eradicating poverty and enhancing the plight of working people than a black president tied to Wall Street and drones.”