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• Saturday, May 24, 2008 06:45 AM

  John Yoo’s Twisted Logic.

  In a related story earlier this week in TPM, David Kurtz points out a recently declassified sentence from one of John Yoo’s notorious memos:

  http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_344.php

  "Unless Congress made a clear statement in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that it sought to restrict presidential authority to conduct warrantless searches in the national security area -- which it has not -- then the statute must be construed to avoid [such] a reading."

  Kurtz continues by saying:

  “Poof! Just like that, exclusivity disappeared and the Bush Administration was free to pursue warrantless wiretaping with the official blessing of the OLC. (Former OLC attorney Jack Goldsmith has described his office's memos as "advance pardons").”

  According to Article I. (Section 8) of the U. S. Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war on another country. In a close reading of this section, however, one will note that nowhere does it say that this does not “exclude” Iran (or Lichtenstein for that matter). Based on Yoo Logic then, this must mean the President may initiate a pre-emptive strike on either of these countries at any time.

  It is time we ceased questioning the legality and begin questioning the sanity of these people.

  —Steven Rockford Read Steven Rockford's other letters
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