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Last Chance to Get the Bushies
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A new Justice Department report could contain a bombshell that would spell fresh legal trouble for top Bush officials. The report may link controversial memos on civil liberties and torture—written by Justice Department lawyer John Yoo—directly to the White House, putting Yoo and other Bushies in the crosshairs of criminal prosecution.
John C. Yoo is a study in contrasts. He’s a soft-spoken legal scholar viewed by his colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley as a model of civility. But he’s also emerged as the public face of Bush-era torture policy, the author of a series of radical legal documents described by Yale Law School’s Jack Balkin as a “theory of presidential dictatorship.”
In law-school classrooms around the country, Yoo’s name is invoked as an example of a lawyer who, stirred by political calculus, acts unethically or at least unwisely. His appearances often draw crowds of angry protestors who shower him with epithets like “war criminal” and tie him personally to the torture and death of prisoners in the war on terror. Now, under advice of counsel, Yoo has stopped booking appearances. There is a distinct chill in the air.
John Yoo authored the Bush memos on torture and suspending civil liberties. But an upcoming Justice Department report could contain new revelations—perhaps that the memos were written to provide legal cover for programs already in place. Will Yoo’s fate decide that of top Bush officials?
In one of the memoranda the Obama Justice Department released last Monday, Yoo, then deputy assistant in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, argued that President Bush was free to use the U.S. military domestically in counterterrorism operations and needn’t be bothered by the Fourth or First amendments. In an op-ed published last week in the Wall Street Journal, Yoo explained that fears about the Bill of Rights are misplaced—it was all just an exercise in justifying self-defense against a Mumbai-style attack and the references to the First Amendment are gratuitous.
But Yoo offers no clear explanation about the circumstances that led to his writing the memo nor do we know how it was used. The memo could have been written to authorize a sweeping domestic-surveillance operation put in place by military intelligence agencies, which former National Security Agency employees have now explained was actually in place and being tinkered with as Yoo was crafting his memorandum. No doubt Congress will soon give Yoo an opportunity to answer questions about the memo under oath.
One part of John Yoo seems to enjoy the public controversy and approaches debate with zeal, while another part of him must feel at least a bit of anxiety. Just as his successors at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel left behind two memoranda repudiating Yoo’s work in devastating terms—disclosed by the department last week—the Justice Department’s ethics watchdog is now finalizing its own report.
Sources at the department who have examined this report state that it echoes some of the harshest criticisms that have appeared in the academic literature, but the report’s real bombshell, they say, will be its detailed disclosure of Yoo’s dealings with the White House in connection with the preparation of the memos. It is widely suspected that the Yoo memos were requested as after-the-fact legal cover for draconian policies that were already in place (“CYA memos”). If the Justice Department internal probe concludes this is the case, that could have clear consequences for the current debate surrounding the Bush administration’s accountability for torture.
Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey repeatedly responded to calls for criminal inquiries by stating that administration officials relied on the memos and that they were entitled to do so. Whether this defense even exists for policy makers is a matter of dispute among lawyers; but if it does exist, then the reliance has to be in good faith. Mukasey’s rationale is crumbling away.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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The reason Yoo told the president not to worry about the first amendment is because Republicans hate it. America has a well known Liberal Bias, and if you just go letting people print facts and opinion, it turns out we're all liberal to a degree: we want everyone to be free.
And Yet I keep seeing Newt Gingrich on meet the press. I thought we voted on that issue already. We don't like him. Republican Books don't make money. Their newspapers are insolvent and backed by people losing millions a year. All to present the illusion of a silent majority. But they are a minority now, the thing they hate the most.
Do I dare begin to hope that these nasty people will be going to jail one day?
Here's the key sentence in this article: "For the legacy of the Bush administration, John Yoo is the canary in the coalmine. He is the most public face attached to policies he facilitated but did not originate."
There was underlying "corruption" in the Bush administration, fueled by Neocon ideologues. Yoo is simply "the canary". Make no mistake; there is more to come. Something evil or manipulative or both will wriggle out from every 'rock' lifted now. After all, the Justice Dept. has even started to look at the role of Cheney and Rove. Then we'll all see how much Yoo was a pawn in a bigger conspiracy to replace the presidency with a dictatorship that served narrow political interests.
xbainx,
Are you kidding me? Reprblicans hate free speech? You must not realize that it the Libs that are trying to get the fairness doctrine, i mean the censorship doctrine passed. Thats your free speech loving party.
Republican papers going insolvent? I didnt relize the Times was right winged... And Ann Coulter has the more number one books and sold the more copies of them than any left winger you can name.
Your whole comment was a lie from start to end but that would be normal for a liberal, right? Just say anything to get your point across regardless of fact.
I for one am glad that Obama will no longer be torturing prisoners of war as I would much prefer to loose another 3000 americans to another 9-11 that could prossibly be prevented with a little arm twisting of prisoners...
"It is widely suspected that the Yoo memos were requested as after-the-fact legal cover for draconian policies that were already in place"
It is widely suspected Scott horton is a moron.
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motrbotr
if you were tortured by a foreign country in a secret prison for a crime you did not commit, would you feel more or less hatred towards that country.
how does torturing people make us safer?
I've been hoping that by month four, or thereabouts 'cause goodness knows there's been no shortage of things to do during the first hundred days, that there would be some sort of contempt of congress citations for folks who did not respond to various congressional inquiry subpoenas, such as Chaney and Rove.
I think this would go a long way toward restoring the traditional checks and balances between the three branches of gov't, and reviving America's faith in gov't as a whole.
Mr Republican: You are a nut job...should be in a padded room...Bush kept us safe...except for 9/11...crazzy... whako...misspelled...wordz....
This is a shame. 8 comments while Chris Brown and Rihanna have 10 pages. Meghan McCain still can't find a man has 6 and hooker updates has 2.
Rome is burning.
I thought that Obama was going to work on the future instead of the past. I think the Dems have their hands full with the economy. Lets work on that instead of the Republican past mistakes. There is always mistakes to go around.
Does anyone doubt that George W. Cheney called Yoo into his office and said, " this is what we're going to do, I want you to write a legal justification."
Listen Motrbtr,
I don't want to keep getting into these flamewars with you retards, but I'm right. Every paper that is Right Wing in this country loses money, as in doesn't turn a profit. They are funded by think tanks like The Heritage Foundation and billionaires like Rupert Murdoch.
I can name hundreds of "Liberal" best sellers. These would be written on topics such as race, science, religion, politics, economics, and history. The reason books by Right Wingers sell is because their readership wants to be reassured in their beliefs. They are propaganda pieces. I bet if I picked up "Outdoors" magazine it would confirm my belief that camping is awesome. They are selling you.
America hates Republicans. It's been established. May your party never recover.
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This and other travesties will continue if we are unable to pressure our Attorney General, the Congress, and the Obama Administration to prosecute the members of the Bush Administration that broke so many Federal Laws.
Our unnecessary wars will go on and on if we continue to refuse to examine the violations of Federal Law, Treaties, and the Geneva Convention on Torture by the Bush/Cheney Administration.
When are our Attorney General, our Congress, and the Obama Administration going to do something about investigating and prosecuting the Bushies that broke so many Federal Laws?
We must pressure our Attorney General holder, the Congress and the Obama Administration to appoint a Special Prosecutor to indict these criminals.
All of our country's problems can be traced to their blatant abuse of power.
WE CANNOT SUCCESSFULLY MOVE FORWARD Until We Examine the many Crimes
of the Bush Administration.
Sign the National Petition to Prosecute Bush, Cheney, and the appointees that violated so many Federal Laws, including the one against Torture at AngryVoters.org
http://AngryVoters.org
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GEORGE BUSH SAID ,THE CONSTITUTION, WAS GD PEICE OF PAPER, SO HE SHREDDED IT, I HOPE TO SEE HIM HELD ACCOUNTABLE, AT SOME POINT
Thank you.
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