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unusualmusic_lj_archiveThe Home of the Brave Blog has a lovely roundup, and I and linking directly to some of the articles and videos they found.
Introducing John Yoo, the guy who wrote the deciding memo that authorized the Repub. Admistration to torture people.
Orin Kerr notes that John Yoo's torture memo sounds very lawyerly in its arguments. This observation points to an important fact about legal discourse: Lawyers can make really bad legal arguments that argue for very unjust things in perfectly legal sounding language. I hope nobody is surprised by this fact. It is very commonplace. Today we are talking about lawyers making arguments defending the legality of torture. In the past lawyers have used legal sounding arguments to defend slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, rape (both spousal and non-spousal), Jim Crow, police brutality, denials of habeas corpus, destruction or seizure of property, and compulsory sterilization. (Oh, and they also decided a Presidential election using the flimsiest of legal reasoning. But I digress.).
Indeed.
Glenn Greenwald: John Yoo's War Crimes
I'd actually seen that one myself earlier today, because I read him a lot. As usual, a masterly look at what happened and the implications thereof. Also includes links to the actual memo itself, so we can see for ourselves exactly what is what. One of the strong points that he makes is:
It depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that." Yoo wasn't just a law professor theorizing about the legalization of torture. He was a government official who, in concert with other government officials, set out to enable a brutal and systematic torture regime, and did so. If this level of depraved criminality doesn't remove one from the realm of respectability and mainstream seriousness -- if not result in war crimes prosecution -- then nothing does.
That John Yoo is a full professor at one of the country's most prestigious law schools, and a welcomed expert on our newspaper's Op-Ed pages and television news programs, speaks volumes about what our country has become. We sure did take care of that despicable Pvt. Lyndie England, though, because we don't tolerate barbaric conduct of the type in which she engaged completely on her own.
and finally here's The Timeline of Torture
Of course, in all the articles, there are more links with more info. But yeah, folks. Behold the use of our vaunted Constitution for toilet paper. But don't worry. The US is too powerful to be prosecuted. They'll probably all get away with it.(And when next a US soldier is tortured by whatever enemy, if I hear ONE jackass going "Why did they do this???? I'll...)
Introducing John Yoo, the guy who wrote the deciding memo that authorized the Repub. Admistration to torture people.
Orin Kerr notes that John Yoo's torture memo sounds very lawyerly in its arguments. This observation points to an important fact about legal discourse: Lawyers can make really bad legal arguments that argue for very unjust things in perfectly legal sounding language. I hope nobody is surprised by this fact. It is very commonplace. Today we are talking about lawyers making arguments defending the legality of torture. In the past lawyers have used legal sounding arguments to defend slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, rape (both spousal and non-spousal), Jim Crow, police brutality, denials of habeas corpus, destruction or seizure of property, and compulsory sterilization. (Oh, and they also decided a Presidential election using the flimsiest of legal reasoning. But I digress.).
Indeed.
Glenn Greenwald: John Yoo's War Crimes
I'd actually seen that one myself earlier today, because I read him a lot. As usual, a masterly look at what happened and the implications thereof. Also includes links to the actual memo itself, so we can see for ourselves exactly what is what. One of the strong points that he makes is:
It depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that." Yoo wasn't just a law professor theorizing about the legalization of torture. He was a government official who, in concert with other government officials, set out to enable a brutal and systematic torture regime, and did so. If this level of depraved criminality doesn't remove one from the realm of respectability and mainstream seriousness -- if not result in war crimes prosecution -- then nothing does.
That John Yoo is a full professor at one of the country's most prestigious law schools, and a welcomed expert on our newspaper's Op-Ed pages and television news programs, speaks volumes about what our country has become. We sure did take care of that despicable Pvt. Lyndie England, though, because we don't tolerate barbaric conduct of the type in which she engaged completely on her own.
and finally here's The Timeline of Torture
Of course, in all the articles, there are more links with more info. But yeah, folks. Behold the use of our vaunted Constitution for toilet paper. But don't worry. The US is too powerful to be prosecuted. They'll probably all get away with it.(And when next a US soldier is tortured by whatever enemy, if I hear ONE jackass going "Why did they do this???? I'll...)
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Date: 2008-04-03 01:15 pm (UTC)*sighs*
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Date: 2008-04-03 04:18 pm (UTC)