Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Obama has attacked seven predominately Muslim countries in his less-than six years as president of the United States, and yet, with the exception of the perennially loony Code Pink, there doesn’t seem to be a single card-carrying, sign-waving, rabble-rousing war protester out there.
Even “the most trusted name in [liberal] news” is asking why.
CNN’s Michael Smerconish brought Tom Hayden on his show Saturday to ask that very question–why the “Sounds of Silence?”
Hayden is director of the California-based Peace and Justice Resource Center, was a familiar activist during the 1960s anti-war movement, and is the former husband of actress “Hanoi Jane” Fonda.
If anyone should know, that person would be Hayden.
“If the president says there’s no military solution, and he also says it’s going to be a war that lasts beyond his presidency, I can guarantee you there will be a big anti-war movement,” Hayden told Smerconish.
But we haven’t seen much yet.
Watch the interview via CNN. Story continues after video.
At the beginning of his presidency, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” according to the Nobel Prize official website.
Since accepting the award, he has attacked Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, according to Britain’s The Independent, and in the majority of these cases, he did so without Congressional authority.
Yet the only voice out there protesting the president’s actions seem to be Code Pink. It held a demonstration Thursday in front of the White House, according to a press release published on its website, which stated:
Code Pink activists will gather at the White House to protest military intervention in Syria and Iraq against ISIS and call on Obama to return his Nobel Peace Prize. Activists will mourn those affected by war and call for nonviolent solutions to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Code Pink will read messages from people around the world, including Nobel Peace Laureates, saying why Obama should return the prize that he does not deserve.
Code Pink staunchly opposes the use of military force in Iraq and Syria which both results in civilian deaths and is environmentally damaging. The decision to intervene militarily without authorization by Congress or the Security Council violates international law, the UN Charter, and is also in violation of the US Constitution.
At the close of the Smerconish-Hayden interview, the longtime activist revealed when he thought widespread anti-war demonstrations might begin.
“I think it will take until a little after the election, and then you’ll see a lot of action,” Hayden said.
Although he didn’t say which election, my money’s on 2016–not the midterms. I predict they won’t gain steam until sometime after Obama is safely out of office–especially if he’s replaced by a Republican.
(h/t The Right Scoop and SooperMexican)
