At an event at the University of Illinois, Champaign, Law School titled “The First 200 Days, Foreign Policy Law Challenges for the Next Administration,” Harold Koh spoke last Friday about his life as a top legal advisor to Clinton under Obama’s Dept. of State.
Having previously argued, “U.S. targeted practices, including lethal operations conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, comply with all applicable law, including the laws of war,” Koh was challenged by students questioning the legality and morality of the ongoing covert drone wars inside the event. Outside the Law School, protesters from World Can’t Wait joined local activists from AWARE (Anti-War, Anti-Racism Effort), STEM Boycotts The War Machine, Neighbors for Peace, Central Illinois Prairie Greens, World Labor Hour and others. The local FOX affiliate broadcast interviews with law professor Francis Boyle and activist Karen Aram, who stated, “He is an advocate of drone warfare, he’s responsible for many deaths, not of soldiers, but of children, he’s killing civilians and this is what the American people have to recognize.”
Watch Professor Boyle explain how Harold Koh’s life of “service” for the American empire, from advocating for deadly political repression in Latin America under Reagan to providing legal cover for killer drones under Obama has led to this turning point in a career with the sort of reliability that makes him a likely candidate for Attorney General under Hillary Clinton.
Watch Harry Mickalide, a student from STEM Boycotts The War Machine describe what happened when he challenged Harold Koh to defend his support for killer drones.
Everyone protesting Koh’s appearance felt the event marked the start of the anti-war movement under Clinton – and needs to spread and grow quickly! 