US activist demands Obama apology for Muslims killed in terror drone hits

An American anti-war activist interrupted President Barack Obama speech in defense of his targeted-killing policy, demanding that he apologize for all Muslims killed in assassination drone attacks and compensating families of innocent victims.

Co-founder of anti-war activist group Code Pink, Medea Benjamin, interrupted Obama’s speech several times on Thursday at US military-financed National Defense University in Washington before being forcibly removed from the venue and briefly detained and interrogated by multiple US security agencies.

“Will you apologize for the thousands of Muslims that you have killed? Benjamin shouted, addressing Obama, as she was being dragged out of the auditorium where the American president was speaking. “Will you compensate the families of innocent victims?”

Benjamin further posed a series of tough questions to Obama while being removed from the place: “Can you tell the Muslims that their lives are as precious as our lives? Can you take the drones out of the hands of the CIA? Can you stop the signature [terror drone] strikes that are killing people on the basis of suspicious activity?”

Benjamin also implored Obama to shut down the notorious US military detention and torture camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and releasing the captives held in indefinite detention there for nearly 11 years without charges or trials.

“You are commander in chief! You can close Guantanamo today! You can release those 86 prisoners,” she said, referring to those detainees that have already been cleared for release but still held captive at the infamous facility.

“It’s been 11 years,” Benjamin added. “Abide by the rule of law. You’re a constitutional lawyer!”

In response, Obama acknowledged that the points raised by Benjamin were “tough issues” that need attention but insisted “obviously, I do not agree with much of what she said.”

Benjamin was reportedly detained and briefly questioned by US military personnel, Secret Service officers and FBI agents and then released after her forced removal from Obama’s speech.

When asked why she spoke out during Obama’s speech, Benjamin said, “We have been so disappointed with Obama; we expected him to make serious changes like taking drones out of the hands of the CIA, stopping the signature strikes, apologizing to innocents who have been killed, families of the innocent, and announcing that he, as Commander-in-Chief, would close Guantanamo; so when he did not I felt compelled to speak out,” according to antiwar.com news website.

Benjamin, 60, launched Code Pink as an anti-war women’s group in 2002. She has focused on assassination drone warfare in recent years, authoring a 2012 book titled “Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.”