Letters to the Editor
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How We Became Torturers
John Yoo is very definitely only the tip of the torture iceberg. Philippe Sands has a detailed, devastating and deeply chilling article at VanityFair.com on the machinations and mechanics behind the Bush Administration's path to implementing torture as policy and its institutionalized scorn for international human rights standards. I've got excerpts (the piece is pretty lengthy) and some analysis at my blog, Sensen No Sen (http://sensen-no-sen.blogspot.com/), and the entire original can be found at the Vanity Fair site (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/guantanamo200805?currentPage=1).
Best regards,
PBI
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"We have met the enemy and they are us" - Pogo
If we don't demand and insist on and ensure and continually monitor principled leadership, we're responsible for this evil. Thanks Glenn for your research and for laying this out so clearly.
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Karrsic
"it's natural to go after the weakest in the herd. Not that I agree with the tactic, it's just natural. The weakest hopefully spills the beans, to mix a metaphor."
-- karrsic
I wouldn't say that Yoo is the weakest in the herd, but I do have agreement with, and maybe another example of, the theme of your statement.
Every time some team with an Indian Mascot logo and a name like Braves, Indians, Chiefs, Redskins, Warriors and etcetera makes it into the World Series, the Super Bowl or some other top of the sport championship series the Indian Nations, who find these stereotype logos and names insulting, take advantage of the fact that the team in question is temporarily receiving major attention. They use the attention to, on a much wider scale than usual, make their disapproval of the use of the stereotype insulting logos and names known. I don't know how much traction they get when that happens. But, similarly, Yoo should not only personally be brought down, but the attention brought to him should excellerate and highlight the attention brought to all of the other parties involved, including the American people in general.
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Yoo is merely an emanation of a President's will
Recently you have been doing an excellent job of not losing the big picture in the smaller details.
I would point to something you rightly pointed out recently: opinions by Yoo are not law. Fixating too much on Yoo makes it seem as if Yoo himself passed a law or issued an executive order or enacted a policy
According to the administration various executive branch actors are "emanations of a President's will" with "no substantial independent authority." If you logically extend that to Yoo it means that while his hand physically authored the memos he was merely a ghostwriter for the President.
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Size doesn't matter
Glenn's point is a good one -- all of this murdering baggage must ultimately be held to account. Frankly, I don't care whether we start at the bottom or the top, so long as we start soon, and don't stop until not a single one of them can go anywhere except in disgrace.
In a just world, they'd be exiled to a place where they'd never see another human face. In the world we have, turning our faces away from them will unfortunately have to do.
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John Yoo: Spearhead or Scapegoat?
While Glenn is correct that Yoo shouldn't be turned into a scapegoat, it is also beyond argument that he provided the legal cover for the creation of a torture regime; in other words, he was an enabler of odious programs designed by Bush "Principals," Cheney, Rumsfeld, Tenet, Powell, Rice and Ashcroft.
We should keep in mind that opinions by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) are considered what is permissible by the administration. While Yoo certainly didn't operate in a vacuum, he should be held to account for the criminal actions of his political masters in the White House. Nuremberg prosecutors were correct to execute Nazi leaders for their crimes, should the "little fish," the enablers have gone free?
Yoo acted as a "spearhead" for the Bush regime and should be held to account just as Graner and Englund were. Were others also responsible? Of course they were! This doesn't, however, mean that Yoo (or U.S. Ninth Circuit Court judge Bybee, for that matter) shouldn't pay a stiff price for their crimes. In other words, the "little Eichmann's" should join the big ones in the dock. Fire the bastard!
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War crimes
We can debate this until the end of the Bush administration but it will not matter. Bush will pardon everyone, including himself, on his last day in office. He has always acted as if he had a mandate and his last day will be no different.
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Two questions
First: The Military Commissions Act of 2006 gave immunity dating back to November 26, 1997. What is so special about this date?
Second: OLC is responsible for deciding what is and is not legal. I thought this was the jurisdiction of the courts. Is OLC somehow in violation of the Separation of Powers?
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IMHO, Glenn Greenwald is Not a dote. Yoo should Not be a scapegoat.!
You are clear as a bell, and a good crafty soul. Put all the neoconservatives together and see one empty fool.
None should be a scapegoat.
The more citizens dote, no justice will be served. The times will only get more confusing, distressing, and distracting. It's a collective crime. I underlined from Plutarch : "We humbly beg a blessing upon our laws from mighty Jove, and honor, and applause."
The GOP era is such a sham, and a darn shame. The fools ignore the wise person's criticism, and disobey the manmade laws. Fools decide war, and the written laws don't restrain them from theft, perjury, etc., And a net, like a spider web, has the entire bunch caught and nabbed. It's pathetic to watch them struggle, and I don't believe they will escape.
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Let's hope as we/me grow older we learn something each day. Gads. The GOP don't deserve shoes on their feet, clothes on their back, or food to eat. Thugs. IMHO. they are stark naked. Yea, and a scapegoat gets sent off by the real mob-crooks and the skin flayed? No. Those who have been loyal to the LIE, and bowed to pay homage, are moral bankrupts. Gads. It's not that the White House gang stole a cabbage plant. Look what's happened during the despotic era! Smell the dead. Touch the warm blood.
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To find a scapegoat,
and the rest of the GOP eat peas?
They get to go sunbathe scott free?
The world has cognizance! Get real.
People need guidance. Fair trials for all....
The ill-bred White House team exploit who they can
The gang would slay just about everybody. No scapegoats!