Yoo Never Met Bush but Would Recommend He Torture People All Over Again

By
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 3:57 pm

In a forthcoming Q & A to be published in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo tells Deborah Solomon that he never met President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney, but that he would advise them all over again that they could ignore legal prohibitions on torture if they wanted to.

Casting himself as a lowly functionary in the administration with less access to the president than an intern, Yoo — now a Berkeley professor who frequently faces protests from students who say he’s responsible for the Bush administration’s torture policies — says he was just following orders.

Of those torture papers, he says: “I had to write them. It was my job. As a lawyer, I had a client. The client needed a legal question answered.”

His parents, he tells Solomon when she asks about his childhood, were both psychiatrists. Not that he’s in denial or anything.

Comments

19 Comments

Tweets that mention Yoo Never Met Bush but Would Recommend He Torture People All Over Again « The Washington Independent -- Topsy.com
Pingback posted December 29, 2009 @ 4:02 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Daphne Eviatar, WashIndependent. WashIndependent said: Yoo Never Met Bush but Would Recommend He Torture People All Over Again http://bit.ly/7MEwlQ [...]


strangely_enough
Comment posted December 29, 2009 @ 5:28 pm

And why wouldn't he? Aside from a little nastiness from the rabble, there have been zero consequnces, and much upside.
You'd think a law professor would be a little more circumspect about using a new and improved Nuremberg defense for their actions, but then I guess you'd also think a law professor would understand things like treaties, and their obligations, and simple phrases like “[n]o exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”


monkey99
Comment posted December 29, 2009 @ 5:36 pm

The nuremburg defense. Typical extremist right-wing horses***.

I just wish the Repubs would just come out and admit what they would like to do with the Constitution, then the whole nation will see just how little any of them can be trusted (of course, to those too stupid to accept that this country's present ills were created by their precious party, only mental health intervention is advised, and even that may not be enough).

I can only hope Yoo gets heckled right out of his position. He has no business being an educator.


It’s National Security, Not Partisan Security « Agree to Disagree
Pingback posted December 29, 2009 @ 7:25 pm

[...] and use to turn public favor away from him and back to the GOP.  They set it up early on by arguing in favor of torturing terror suspects, by calling the health care reform bill an act of socialism, and by opposing the announcement of [...]


naturalizedcitizen
Comment posted December 29, 2009 @ 9:35 pm

Do you support Ayers' position as an educator?


monkey99
Comment posted December 29, 2009 @ 10:11 pm

Why? Has Ayers done what Yoo did?


naturalizedcitizen
Comment posted December 29, 2009 @ 10:58 pm

He founded a communist revolutionary organization that planted bombs in the USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers


monkey99
Comment posted December 29, 2009 @ 11:24 pm

So by that inference, are you calling me a Communist?


naturalizedcitizen
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 3:39 am

Can you read?
I asked you a simple question – do you support Ayers as an educator? You started a rant against Yoo, I am trying to find out whether you are consistent in your principles or just another political hack.

Is it a difficult question to answer so you have to resort to personal insults to switch the topic?


bonniecalcagno
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 4:48 am

John Yoo also wrote the legal memos that undergird Bush's massive surveillance operation. Now we have first responders and nationwide Stasi-like Citizen Stalkers harassing and surveilling American citizens. Was this justified by the legal memos Yoo wrote or is this the result of the Attorney General under Bush rescinding anti-COINTELPRO regulations? We need a Truth Commission to get to the bottom of the Bush/Obama surveillance policy.


monkey99
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 10:52 am

A rant? That was a standard question.

The inference is there, how else do you expect me to take it? And a personal insult? are you or are you not?
We've been waiting for you at the Taitz blog-you avoiding us, or have you finally seen the light?


naturalizedcitizen
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 12:10 pm

Do you support Ayers as an educator?


monkey99
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 12:45 pm

I'll lay this out for you one time, and one time only.
I am an Iraq war vet. On the ground, in the s**t. I defended this country, and for bugs like you to allude that I would support anything that would do harm to this country is worse than irresponsible.
You don't do any better here than you do defending Orly, but at least we give you all the time you want on the birfer blogs.
Give up trying to gain cred elsewhere. We know who you are.


naturalizedcitizen
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 12:55 pm

I take your non reply to the original question as a YES. You support a communist terrorist as an educator yet keep ranting about Yoo.

Which side did you fight for in Iraq?


monkey99
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 1:30 pm

Hey, bug-birfer,

I know life is tough, I have to use a zipper to go to the head, all you have to do is take your hat off. Don't wear a hat? Well, it's free advertising.
A birfer questioning someone elses patriotism? What's it like, knowing your mama raised a fool?


naturalizedcitizen
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 4:36 pm

You kept dancing to avoid a simple question about Ayers.


rubysand
Comment posted January 28, 2010 @ 3:00 pm

The literary magazine The Normal School published an article by Tom Bissell (contributing editor of Harper's magazine) in which John Yoo gets a first hand taste of the situation he promoted. Check out http://thenormalschool.com/ for a pdf.


rubysand
Comment posted January 28, 2010 @ 8:00 pm

The literary magazine The Normal School published an article by Tom Bissell (contributing editor of Harper's magazine) in which John Yoo gets a first hand taste of the situation he promoted. Check out http://thenormalschool.com/ for a pdf.


Zuibang0608
Comment posted July 20, 2010 @ 3:44 am

iPhone Ringtone Custom turns your dream of making your own iPhone/iPhone 3G Ringtone with loved music into reality in the way of converting almost all mainstream video/audio format to M4R iPhone ringtone, such as avi, mpeg, mp4, mov, flv, mp3, aac, m4a, wma, etc. to M4R iPhone Ringtone, even rip DVD Disc to Ringtones for iPhone.
Convert to iPhone Ringtone
Change iPhone Ringtone
Convert Music to iPhone Ringtone
Convert MP3 iPhone Ringtone
Convert M4A to M4R
Convert MP4 to iPhone Ringtone


RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.