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Title: [John] Yoo Said Bush Could Order Civilians 'Massacred'
Source:
readersupportednews.org
URL Source: http://readersupportednews.org/news ... rder-civilians-to-be-massacred
Published: Feb 20, 2010
Author: Michael Isikoff, Newsweek
Post Date: 2010-02-20 17:26:17 by Ferret Mike
Keywords: None
Views: 522
Comments: 33
he chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report by released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility. The views of former Justice lawyer John Yoo were deemed to be so extreme and out of step with legal precedents that they prompted the Justice Department's internal watchdog office to conclude last year that he committed "intentional professional misconduct" when he advised the CIA it could proceed with waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques against Al Qaeda suspects. The report by OPR concludes that Yoo, now a Berkeley law professor, and his boss at the time, Jay Bybee, now a federal judge, should be referred to their state bar associations for possible disciplinary proceedings. But, as first reported by NEWSWEEK, another senior department lawyer, David Margolis, reviewed the report and last month overruled its findings on the grounds that there was no clear and "unambiguous" standard by which OPR was judging the lawyers. Instead, Margolis, who was the final decision-maker in the inquiry, found that they were guilty of only "poor judgment." The report, more than four years in the making, is filled with new details into how a small group of lawyers at the Justice Department, the CIA, and the White House crafted the legal arguments that gave the green light to some of the most controversial tactics in the Bush administration's war on terror. They also describe how Bush administration officials were so worried about the prospect that CIA officers might be criminally prosecuted for torture that one senior official - Attorney General John Ashcroft - even suggested that President Bush issue "advance pardons" for those engaging in waterboarding, a proposal that he was quickly told was not possible. At the core of the legal arguments were the views of Yoo, strongly backed by David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's legal counsel, that the president's wartime powers were essentially unlimited and included the authority to override laws passed by Congress, such as a statute banning the use of torture. Pressed on his views in an interview with OPR investigators, Yoo was asked: "What about ordering a village of resistants to be massacred? ... Is that a power that the president could legally -" "Yeah," Yoo replied, according to a partial transcript included in the report. "Although, let me say this: So, certainly, that would fall within the commander-in-chief's power over tactical decisions." "To order a village of civilians to be [exterminated]?" the OPR investigator asked again. "Sure," said Yoo. Yoo is depicted as the driving force behind an Aug. 1, 2002, Justice Department memo that narrowly defined torture and then added sections concluding that, in the end, it essentially didn't matter what the fine print of the congressionally passed law said: The president's authority superseded the law and CIA officers who might later be accused of torture could also argue that were acting in "self defense" in order to save American lives. The original torture memo was prompted by concerns by John Rizzo, the CIA's general counsel, that the agency's officers might be criminally prosecuted if they proceeded with waterboarding and other rough tactics in their interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, an allegedly high-level Al Qaeda-linked operative who had been captured in Pakistan and in the spring of 2002 was transferred to a CIA "black site" prison in Thailand. Rizzo wanted the Justice Department to provide a blanket letter declining criminal prosecution, essentially providing immunity for any action engaged in by CIA officers, a request that Michael Chertoff, then chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, refused to provide. It was at that point that Yoo began crafting his opinion, the contents of which he actively reviewed with senior officials at the White House. "Let's plan on going over [to the White House] at 3:30 to see some other folks about the bad things opinion," he wrote in a July 12, 2002, e-mail quoted in the OPR report. The report describes two meetings at the White House with then-chief counsel Alberto Gonzales and "possibly Addington." (Addington refused to talk to the OPR investigators but testified before Congress that he did in fact have at least one meeting with Yoo in the summer of 2002 to discuss the contents of the torture opinion.) After the second meeting, on July 16, 2002, Yoo began writing new sections of his memo that included his controversial views on the president's powers as commander in chief. When one of his associates, Patrick Philbin, questioned the inclusion of that section and suggested it be removed, Yoo replied, "They want it in there," according to an account given by Philbin to OPR investigators. Philbin said he didn't know who the "they" was but assumed it was whoever it was that requested the opinion (technically, that was the CIA, although, as the report makes clear, the White House was also pressing for it). Yoo provided extensive comments to OPR defending his views of the president's war-making authority and disputing OPR's take that he slanted them to accommodate the White House. He did not immediately respond to NEWSWEEK'S request for comment Friday night.
Poster Comment: Well, the U.S. Army sure has wiped out civilians in the past. the Sand Creek Massacre is one example of what we did to the Indians as we wiped out people in our way as we over ran this contenent in the 1800s. I'm not surprised to hear this at all in regards to how the Bush Administration viewed the legalities of war.
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#1. To: Ferret Mike (#0)
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
In reality, we and zion, are the rogue states today. Dear God, this mindless slaughter must stop.
That would be true if there were only a declaration of war.
www.libertysflame.com
Where were you at the beginning of time?
"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." -- Ronald Reagan, circa 1977
At the beginning of time, I was where I am now, and for as much longer as I'm meant to be here. Then, I'll return to where I always was, and always will be.
The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised. Art. 43. The authority of the legitimate power having in fact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country. Art. 44. A belligerent is forbidden to force the inhabitants of territory occupied by it to furnish information about the army of the other belligerent, or about its means of defense. Art. 45. It is forbidden to compel the inhabitants of occupied territory to swear allegiance to the hostile Power. Art. 46. Family honour and rights, the lives of persons, and private property, as well as religious convictions and practice, must be respected. Private property cannot be confiscated. Art. 47. Pillage is formally forbidden. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hague04.asp You are wrong. It is a war crime to attack and kill non-belligerents. Technically according to the Laws of War : Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 1907 the attacks on Tokyo, Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were war crimes. The URL to this and some of the appropriate articles are listed in the above quoted material.
Our constitution doesn't recognize international law that is contrary to our constitution. You are saying using nukes is illegal. Oh yeah....fuck the UN
www.libertysflame.com
Do you ever remember a time (even a moment) that you were not?
"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." -- Ronald Reagan, circa 1977
In this temporal existence, of course not.
You can't .... ever.
"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." -- Ronald Reagan, circa 1977
Wrong. I just cited one of the Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America we are obligated to adhere to. This was signed by the Executive branch, (President, and ratified by Congress, and the Supreme Court has not ruled them moot for any reason. Go ahead and argue with me, but I know this stuff pretty darn well. In fact, I had good teachers one of whom was former Senator Tom Dodd at his home in Old Lyme, CT(, Chris Dodd's Dad who was a U.S. official at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials), and I spent a load of time studying this at the library at the JFK Center for Military Assistance on Ardennes St. at Ft. Bragg, N.C. So far I'm afraid you sound pretty clueless on this stuff. In fact, you have yet to get any fact right.
I well know we have a sorry history of obeying the laws of war and adhering to many of the treaties we have signed and ratified. Believe me, this does not make me happy.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
Agree completely. Not here, not now. Hopefully, one day.
You are a dyn-a-mo. I will be in Austin, Tx for a couple of days within the next couple of weeks. Lets schedule a serious political chat over a brew and BAR-B-Q if your schedule permits.
"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." -- Ronald Reagan, circa 1977
You should have killed him when you had the chance. ;)
www.libertysflame.com
Treaties with the UN are unlawful. They are not a country.
www.libertysflame.com
That is a very interesting point.
I can see that you've been keeping up with your studies at the Yoo-Horiuchi School of Christian Ethics. Distance learning, is it?
Deceptive as usual. Why did you leave off the ;)?
www.libertysflame.com
Because I knew that you would reply with "Deceptive as usual. Why did you leave off the ;)?" Now go pound sand, you heathen.
Pound sand? I don't have any sand. I pound something else.
www.libertysflame.com
Won't touch that one with a barge pole.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
Not into poles. I'm into something that rhymes with them though.
www.libertysflame.com
Can someone explain how he got that job at Berkley, that bastion of so-called liberalism? Anyone?
Click for Privacy and Preparedness files Alex Jones is the Robert Tilton of the conspiracy world. ~Mister Clean Live free or He served as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1933 and 1934, the highlight of his career there being his participation in an unsuccessful trap set for famed gangster John Dillinger.[4] He was then Connecticut director of the National Youth Administration from 1935 to 1938. He was assistant to five successive United States Attorneys General (Homer Cummings, Frank Murphy, Robert Jackson, Francis Biddle and Tom Clark) from 1938 to 1945.[5] As a special agent for the Attorney General, Dodd was basically a trial-level federal prosecutor. He worked primarily on criminal and civil liberties cases, including the prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1930s.[5] In 1942 he was sent to Hartford to prosecute a major spy ring case in which five men were accused of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 by conspiring to gather and deliver U.S. Army, Navy, and defense information to Germany or Japan. Four of the five pled guilty; Dodd tried and won the conviction of the fifth, Reverend Kurt Emil Bruno Molzahn.[6] (snip) Dodd was given several awards in recognition of his work at the Nuremberg trials. Jackson awarded him the Medal of Freedom in July 1946 and President Harry Truman awarded him the Certificate of Merit, which Jackson personally delivered to him in Hartford in the fall of 1946.[5] Dodd also received the Czechoslovak Order of the White Lion.[3] In 1949, the Polish government had intended to award Dodd with a badge of honor called the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, but Dodd rejected the medal due to his commitment to human rights and views that the Polish government was imposing a tyranny similar to that imposed by the Nazis, and accepting an honor from the President of Poland would be like accepting one from the Nazis.[14][15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Dodd Tom Dodd was a friend of my family and became a personal friend who helped mentored my interest in politics and when he was a retired old man I got the privilege of keeping him company. Read the above Wiki quote and see just who you so casually think should have died before he did. He developed an alcohol problem later in life and this caused serious problems hurting his Senate career and hurt his health. but no one should be assassinated for being afflicted with the disease of alcoholism. The man I knew was in the sunset of his life and in many ways he was like a grandfather to me. I'm just going to leave this as a reality check for you to ponder, Stone. Think about how you have tried to witness your faith to me to try to convince me Christianity is a religion of love and peace. This post I am responding to of yours' is a perfect example why I don't take this serious. Really; hating Chris Dodd, so without knowing what sort of life his Dad led you would casually and snidely remark I should have killed him when I was in my early teens. I don't take kindly to that whatsoever. He was a nice man who you should be so lucky to be half as decent or successful as.
OK, you go off half cocked about treaties that are most certainly not U.N. derived and expect me to take your comments seriously. The treaty I cited was dated October 18, 1907. This is before WW I, the fight to get the U.S. into the League of nations, and most certainly before there was a United Nations. You are intellectually lazy, Stone. You are more angry and aggressive then the allegedly loving and peaceful Christian you claim to be. I'm here to debate using facts, not chat with someone bringing a badminton racket to a tennis game.
His wife should have had at least 1 abortion. If he mentored you that is no exescuse for your liberalism.
www.libertysflame.com
Would you like it if someone said your mom should of had an abortion? I would not say that, as unlike you apparently I am against the practice of murdering the unborn. But you seem to need some empathy so you should consider that. He actually impassioned me in regards to social and political justice as he was a major player in the prosecution of NAZI war crimes. As for my belief system, I am well entitled to it under the auspices of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As you are entitled to yours' by virtue of the same vehicle. Blame yourself if you get spanked because you fly off the handle with a post made with no fact verification or careful though to your words given. I am interested not in angering you and making you worse off. I am actually trying to give you a helpful reality check. Before you blame me for angering you, consider how it was you who administered the gunshot wound to your own foot you then stuck it in your mouth. Cheers.
By the way too, my now deceased dad, Daniel McCarthy was a commercial pilot for Wyatt Oil in New Haven, CT. The Blanchards - who were not only the family of his employer but his deep personal friends introduced him to Tom Dodd, and he often flew Senator Dodd from Connecticut to D.C. in a Wyatt Oil Cessna 310 twin engine corporate aircraft. I did indeed know the former Senator, as well as Chris before he held office. Though if you wish to doubt my veracity here, go right ahead; it's your right to believe or not believe what you want to in this regard.
Your dad should have pushed him out of the plane. .... .... .... Ok i'm just kidding. Didn't you notice the wink up on our first interatction on this subject. Don't take things so seriously.
www.libertysflame.com
I'm gonna rape and kill yer Mum. ;-D So, I can say that with a winkie and you no blinkie? Just an exercise in empathy; okay 'll drop the point of order, but if you want respect, show it, comprendez? Also understand I decide what I take seriously, not you. Ask more, tell less if you truly want to get along. I ain't your bitch.
#2. To: Eric Stratton. FM. all (#1)
#3. To: Ferret Mike (#0)
president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred,"
#4. To: Lod (#2)
Dear God, this mindless slaughter must stop.
#5. To: buckeroo (#4)
#6. To: A K A Stone (#3)
(Edited)
SECTION III MILITARY AUTHORITY OVER THE TERRITORY OF THE HOSTILE STATE Art. 42. Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.
Toruk Makto
#7. To: Ferret Mike (#6)
#8. To: Lod (#5)
#9. To: buckeroo (#8)
#10. To: Lod (#9)
#11. To: A K A Stone (#7)
Toruk Makto
#12. To: Eric Stratton (#1)
Toruk Makto
#13. To: Ferret Mike (#12)
#14. To: buckeroo (#10)
You can't .... ever.
#15. To: Lod (#14)
#16. To: Ferret Mike (#11)
I had good teachers one of whom was former Senator Tom Dodd
#17. To: Ferret Mike, Eric Stratton (#12)
#18. To: A K A Stone (#17)
Treaties with the UN are unlawful. They are not a country.
#19. To: A K A Stone (#16)
You should have killed him when you had the chance.
#20. To: randge (#19)
#21. To: A K A Stone (#20)
#22. To: randge (#21)
#23. To: A K A Stone (#22)
#24. To: A K A Stone (#17)
#25. To: randge (#23)
Won't touch that one with a barge pole.
#26. To: Ferret Mike, all (#0)
The report by OPR concludes that Yoo, now a Berkeley law professor,
die kill ~~ Me
#27. To: A K A Stone (#16)
Wiki excerpt on Tomas Dodd:
Toruk Makto
#28. To: A K A Stone (#17)
Toruk Makto
#29. To: Ferret Mike (#27)
#30. To: A K A Stone (#29)
(Edited)
Toruk Makto
#31. To: A K A Stone (#29)
(Edited)
Toruk Makto
#32. To: Ferret Mike (#31)
By the way too, my now deceased dad, Daniel McCarthy was a commercial pilot for Wyatt Oil in New Haven, CT. The Blanchards - who were not only the family of his employer but his deep personal friends introduced him to Tom Dodd, and he often flew Senator Dodd from Connecticut to D.C. in a Wyatt Oil Cessna 310 twin engine corporate aircraft.
#33. To: A K A Stone (#32)
Toruk Makto
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