NYT: Untested Aide Laid Legal Basis For White House Terror Policies

[understandinglife]

December 23, 2005

Untested Aide Laid Legal Basis For White House Terror Policies

By TIM GOLDEN

Moments after planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, lawyers in the Justice Department's elite Office of Legal Counsel began crowding into the office of one of the agency's newest deputies, John C. Yoo, to watch the horror unfold on his television set.

<clip>

Fearful of another attack and told that all "nonessential personnel" should evacuate, Mr. Delahunty and others streamed out of the department's headquarters and walked home. Mr. Yoo, then a 34-year-old former law professor whose academic work had focused on foreign affairs and war-powers issues, was asked to stay behind, and he quickly found himself in the department's command center, on the phone to lawyers at the White House.

Within weeks, Mr. Yoo had begun to establish himself as a critical player in the Bush administration's legal response to the terrorist threat, and an influential advocate for the expansive claims of presidential authority that have been a hallmark of that response.

While a mere deputy assistant attorney general in the legal counsel office, Mr. Yoo was a primary author of a series of legal opinions on the fight against terrorism, including one that said the Geneva Conventions did not apply and at least two others that countenanced the use of highly coercive interrogation techniques on terror suspects. Recently, current and former officials said he also wrote a still-secret 2002 memorandum that gave legal backing to the administration's secret program to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States without federal warrants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/politics/23yoo.html?ei=5094&en=fe2abc236496a01f&hp=&ex=1135314000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

The sound you hear, Mr Yoo, is a gigantic toilet being flushed, the contents of which are headed straight for your face...


Peace.

[Drum]

1. Caught-cha!!!

Kick & recommend!

:kick:

[Ouabache]

2. Yoo- hoo come out come out wherever you are

You just knew someone would do it.

[HuffleClaw]

3. oh, i'm sure they'll TRY to blame all sorts of folks

this yoo fellow included but ultimately its bush who will fall.

[Tuesday_Morning]

4. more about dear Mr. Yoo

from the same NYT article:

Mr. Yoo's January 2002 conclusions that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to the conflict in Afghanistan and that the conventions' minimum standards did not cover terrorists touched off a long, hard-fought battle within the administration, in which lawyers for the State Department and the military services strongly disputed his views. Thereafter, several senior officials said, those lawyers were sometimes excluded from the drafting of more delicate opinions.

For example, they said, Mr. Yoo's much-criticized 2002 memorandum with Mr. Bybee on interrogations - which said that United States law prohibited only methods that would cause "lasting psychological harm" or pain "akin to that which accompanies serious physical injury such as death or organ failure" - was not shared with either State Department or military lawyers, despite its implications for their agencies.

"They were not getting enough critical feedback from within O.L.C., or from within the Justice Department, or from other agencies," one former official said of Mr. Yoo's opinions. Officials said senior aides to Attorney General Ashcroft also complained that they were not adequately informed about some of the Mr. Yoo's frequent discussions with the White House.

Mr. Yoo said he had always duly notified Justice Department officials or other agencies about the opinions he provided except when "I was told by people very high in the government not to for classification reasons."

[bemildred]

5. Goodness, do I smell a scapegoat?

Here is Mr. Yoo in his own defense:

A president can pull the trigger

IRAQ SEEMS to have the imperial presidency in retreat. Last week the White House accepted Sen. John McCain's proposal to prohibit cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of enemy combatants. President Bush is under fire for authorizing the NSA's warrantless interception of international phone calls and e-mails that were linked to possible terrorists and that ended or originated in the U.S.

My name has come up for criticism over these issues because of my service in the Justice Department during Bush's first term. I've defended the administration's legal approach to the treatment of Al Qaeda suspects and detainees. I cannot address the National Security Agency's program, which remains classified. But both instances bring up the issue of presidential power in times of war, and I can speak directly to that: The Constitution creates a presidency that is uniquely structured to act forcefully and independently to repel serious threats to the nation.

Let's consider the president's right to start wars. Liberal intellectuals believe that Bush's exercise of his commander-in-chief power has exceeded his constitutional authority and led to a quagmire in Iraq. If only Congress had undertaken the solemn process of declaring war, they have argued, faulty intelligence would have been smoked out, the debate would have produced consensus, and the American people would have been firmly committed to the ordeal ahead. But they are off the mark.

Neither presidents nor Congress have ever acted under the belief that the Constitution requires a declaration of war before the U.S. can engage in military hostilities abroad. Although this nation has used force abroad more than 100 times, it has declared war only five times: the War of 1812, the Mexican-American and Spanish-American Wars, and World Wars I and II. Without declarations of war or any other congressional authorization, presidents have sent troops to fight Chinese Communists in Korea, to remove Manuel Noriega from power in Panama and to prevent human rights disasters in the Balkans. Other conflicts, such as the Persian Gulf War, received "authorization" from Congress but not declarations of war.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-yoo20dec20,1,7950818.story

[hatrack]

30. "Liberal Intellectuals believe. . . " Gosh, such powerful legal reasoning

He really has his feet firmly on the constitutional ground, doesn't he?

Asshole.

[bemildred]

32. Yeah: "Let's consider the president's right to start wars."

Brilliant reasoning.

[Ian David]

6. Low-level scapegoat fallguy or evidence of something worse? n/t

[zann725]

40. Paging "Charles Grainer, Lindy what's her name?" Why always the li'l guy?

And the stories of the little guys to blame just keep getting sillier all the time.

Then again, the "big guys" can't take too many more indictments and criminal charges. Between DeLay and Frist and Abermoff, etc...they already have nearly every large "white collar" criminal law firm working round the clock now. Who will be left to defend the TRULY "innocent?" Oh my!

[havocmom]

7. "...academic work had focused on foreign affairs and war-powers issues"

War-powers issues? Is that a specialty represented in other administrations? Or is it something THIS administration had covered PRIOR TO 9-11?

The office of the guy with the history of work focused on foreign affairs and war-powers issues was a big hang out on 9-11.

Anybody else just hear a penny drop?

[me b zola]

26. It smells, doesn't it.......n/t

[havocmom]

33. Smells like one of those ..HOP thingies

Handy to have a professor with that particular area of expertise before the attack in NYC. Especially stinky considering all the really inept people the junta brought in/appointed. How uncanny that they thought to bring along an expert in War Powers in the early days of the malAdministration, before they had 9-11 to chant and use to justify everything, like War Powers, for example!

Keep this kicked for the day shift. Mighty interesting stuff in the OP.

[Beetwasher]

8. Black, Hispanic, Asian, All The Minorities in the Admin Get Saddled W/

the blame.

Condi-"Who could have imagined airplanes?"
Colin- "WMD! Anthrax! Botulism! Booga booga!"
Gonazales- Torture Memos
Now, I give you, Mr. Yoo- "Sure! Go ahead! Spy on whoever you want! I'm a lawyer, it's cool!"

[aquart]

17. Those poor, victimized white guys.

And they were trying to be so...so...humane and unprejudiced about things.

Well, I'm embarrassed about Wolfowitz. And Abramoff. How do the other minorities feel?

[Carolab]

22. Not to mention the Vietnamese prick who wrote the Patriot Act.

Viet Dinh.

What is it with these fascist Asian immigrants who are controlling the show here? Can anyone explain this to me?

[havocmom]

34. One might guess some Vietnamese could have legitimate reasons

to hold a grudge against Americans. Sorta like the Iraqis will have for friggin decades!

[Ian David]

9. Isn't that what happened when Jack Ryan first said Ramius was defecting?

I mean, the precedents are all set-out in that documentary, "Hunt For Red October" (based on the book by Alan Keyes supporter Tom Clancy) that forms the basis of much of Bush's policy.

(Yes, I know that movie isn't really a documentary or even based on fact).

[asjr]

10. Would someone here smarter than I make a

flow chart of the entire fleet of neocons involved in this mess? Or a family tree sort of chart. There is no telling how much more secrecy went on. I hope this Yoo guy gets taken to the cleaners.

[Rose Siding]

11. Well, *this* is tasty- his ties to VP's ofc led him to "bypass" process

Some current and former officials said the urgency of events after Sept. 11 and the close ties that Mr. Yoo developed with Mr. Addington (who is now Mr. Cheney's chief of staff), Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Flanigan and the general counsel of the Defense Department, William J. Haynes II, had sometimes led him to bypass the elaborate clearance process to which opinions from the legal counsel office were normally subjected.

[spindrifter]

12. If you really want to barf

check out what Mr. Yoo wrote for the American Enterprise Institute, where he has been a visiting scholar, about our old friend Harri Myers:

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.23292/pub_detail.asp

snip...

The president swung and missed.

His choice of his counsel, Harriet Miers, passes up a rare opportunity to change the direction of the Supreme Court. O'Connor provided decisive votes for affirmative action in colleges and universities, against bans on partial-birth abortion, against posting of the Ten Commandments in public spaces, and for the legal recognition of gay rights. Miers has no record on these and similarly controversial issues of constitutional law.

Although initially uneasy, conservatives rallied around John Roberts because of his outstanding record and the people he'd worked for. Liberals in favor of using the Supreme Court to decide social issues usually do not work for the likes of William Rehnquist, William French Smith, Fred Fielding and Kenneth Starr.

snip...

Another red flag for conservatives may be what is regarded as Miers's strongest credential: her work with the organized bar.

snip...

Miers is almost certain to be confirmed. She is not likely to prove a revolutionary conservative, though, but rather a gradualist judge, keen to balance conflicting values rather than declaring clear principles.
+++++++

Gads!!!

[depakid]

13. He ought to be disbarred

No two ways about it.

[laststeamtrain]

14. Mr. Yoo is teaching at UC Berkeley now, another tenured fascist, huh? n/t

[EFerrari]

15. The administration there was barely able to keep him after

the torture scandal. I don't believe he will be there much longer.

[aquart]

16. What does he teach? Legal ethics?

[EFerrari]

18. God, I hope not! But, next time those kids start picketing his

office, this alumna will go across the bay and partake with them. :toast:

[goforit]

35. I'm sorry, but I can't believe this neonazi would be at a libral school.

This is unbelievable!!!

Students haven't protested his employment?

[lovuian]

19. This is incredible the President who has massive legal people

at his disposal and he gets this flunkie to determine the law...

No excuses... He gets Intel from flunkies... His flunkies expose
Plame...Bush needs to take responibilities for his actions...

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

39. His intel didn't come from flunkies

It was cooked up by Cheney's office and used in the most deceitful way possible, ignoring all intelligence that said no WMD (most of it) and pimping the few scraps that said there were WMD.

There was no failure of intelligence. Just lying.

[The Magistrate]

20. Ah, Mr. Yoo....

As smarmy and vicious a reptile as ever slithered through a pile of leaves....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[understandinglife]

21. "As smarmy and vicious a reptile as ever slithered through a pile of ...

... leaves..."

You do have a way with words, Sir.

Happy holidays!


Peace.

[The Magistrate]

23. And The Best Of The Season To You And Your's, Sir

"I don't need to compromise my priciples: they don't make any difference to what happens to me anyway."

[Nothing Without Hope]

24. ***Another full thread on JOHN YOO & HIS MEMOS: ***

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5643999
Thread title (12/20 GD): New LAT op/ed from JOHN YOO, the legal enabler of the IMPERIAL BUSH

Be sure to look at the links below the excerpt, which is from a self-serving op/ed Yoo wrote in the LA Times. The links are to other imortant Yoo information. There is additional material, especially from the New Yorker, in the replies to thread.

Yoo's memos assured Bush that he could legally ignore the Geneva Conventions and that the President has the ONLY power to declare war. The War Powers controversy now up at DU over Daschle's statements about what happened in 2001 has to have the Yoo connection added to it. Daschle says Congress expressly forbade Bush War Powers in the US. But Yoo told Bush that Congress would have no such power to deny him.

K & R

[Nothing Without Hope]

25. Important to remember that Yoo clerked for Clarence Thomas, whom Bush

regards as a great legal mind - along with Scalia - because they flatter him and tell him what he wants to hear.

Given Clarence Thomas' notorious laziness, I think it's likely Yoo helped write his Supreme Court decisions and did a lot of the work in that office. Surely Thomas would have given Yoo a glowing recommendation.

When Yoo told Bush that he was above the law, that he could set aside the Geneva conventions at his whim, that he has the SOLE POWER TO DECLARE WAR according to the Constitution - Bush would take it for gospel. It's exactly what he wanted to hear, after all, and that's always the only thing Bush would listen to. According to Yoo's "unique" reading of the Constitution, Congress would not be able to refuse Bush the right to declare war whenever and wherever he wanted, with no interference. His old friend Gonzales, who also got where he is today by knowing how to toady and get his hands dirty for his boss, would back up Yoo's pronouncements.

Now Yoo is a professor at UC Berkeley, where he is teaching the next generation of young legal minds what's REALLY important - making it up as you go along, to please your boss, who will grease the way for you.

[Demeter]

27. Bush Also Asks Janitor About Lump on His Body

Because a qualified physician might give him bad news. Better the answers you want than the truth.

[alcibiades_mystery]

29. Or about what he's been doing with the lump on the bed

:rofl:

[1democracy]

41. About that lump of inert material on his neck...

it's his head!!!

[DemReadingDU]

28. K&R

[UTUSN]

31. & This YOO-hoo Is the BRAINS Behind Beto GONZALES

the one who does the real memo-writing that Beto signs and reads off of. The hand in the sockpuppet.

[goforit]

36. Can we the people say to Bush the laws of the Patriot Act don't apply like

the laws of the Geneva Convention don't apply to him?

Food for thought!!!

Up yours Mr. YOO!!!!

[goforit]

37. Mr. Yoo essentially all on his own, destroyed our Judicial system!!!

So let me ask all of you...


Is this the birth of all ANARCHY?

[robbedvoter]

42. Ugh...impeach Yoo?

Smells of misdirection to me. Like when Hadley took the blame for the yellow cake (16 words) after Tennant declined to do so.

[goforit]

44. True.....Cheney/Bush are responsible!!!.....Love the dove!!!

[greiner3]

38. Spin this one out your way, W, if you can. n/t

[Malikshah]

43. Is this the man? How unassuming...and evil

Where is that Legion of Doom Wall of Shame when you need it?