Legalities

I love how you all are so adverse to torture but then turn around and advocate shooting John Yoo. Talk about major hypocrisy. More hypocrisy: talk about firing him from Berkeley. Just another method of stifiling any opinions that don't jibe with your own points of view- and the more violent the crackdown of other opinions, the better. How's about trying some debate to change other people's mind instead of just ranting?

The first to defend free speech rights for Code Pink to demonstrate in front of Walter Reed, but when it comes to someone with a different opinion, his family should be maimed and he should be killed. Got it. How very civil. anyone who doesn't agree is a traitor and should be tried for treason. Wonderful reasoning. You are totally convincing me to buy into your ideas.

The right to a speedy and fair trial and to be judged by a jury of his peers should be adequate. I, for one, am curious to hear the logic and rationale behind the memos. I'm not in favor of crushing anyone's body parts, but I'm also not in favor of 'immunity' just because I happen to curry the favor of the current administration. This country will probably (I'm not a fortune teller) undergo a rather large shift to the 'left' in the next year, so if I were Mr. Yoo, I'd rather go through a trial now and get a presidential pardon before somebody else takes office that might not be so inclined.

Just like the rest of these cowards in the Bush Inc. Administration. ALL COWARDS!

He is from South Korea. They do things differently over there and how do I know this because?? I lived there for 8 years. In Seoul and Tague..I have seen first hand how they treat their own people. And it is not a pretty sight to watch.The ACLU would go totally nuts over there. You can be beaten to a pulp if the police catch you out on the street after curfew. I have seen it first hand.

Giving bad legal advice is unethical, but it isn't a crime. Therefore, he could be subject to disbarment, but not to criminal proceedings. So, much of the above discussion, both for and against Yoo, is irrelevant. On the other hand, if he is forced to testify and then lies under oath, that is a crime. Or, if he tells the truth under oath, his testimony may reveal the extent to which other people committed crimes by violating their oaths to uphold the Constitution.

Giving bad advice that results in a government's actions against people's human rights is not only unethical but criminal. That's why the United States insisted on trying 2 lawyers at the Nuremberg trials. They were convicted and hung for giving bad advice to the government of Nazi Germany. How far we've come in the last 60 years that our government is actually torturing people in our name!

I don't understand how suggesting that Mr. Yoo's opinion also be applied to him is hypocritical. Please explain if you can.

Also, the issue here is that the executive branch thinks it doesn't have to answer to Congress.

This is not consistent with the Constitution, which gave Congress power to investigate anything, precisely for this reason...to make the Executive Branch accountable.

To not require Mr. Yoo to answer Congress's questions is to ignore the Constitution. What kind of person wants that to happen and still calls them self an American?

John Yoo wrote CYA legal memoranda (after the fact) and is subject to prosecution as an accessory after the fact in the commission of a crime, namely violation of the War Crimes Act, and more.

As for anyone who thinks we got intelligence from tortue, move to another country where your ignorance and arrogance will be quickly noticed and addressed.

As for US we don't want our country involved in this despciable murder of innocents, including the deaths of over 100 held under the program started as Copper Green, under Steven Cambone which morphed into a fracking mess.

One last thing, Jack Bauer doesn't live the US he lives in the hearts and minds of Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rice, and scores of holier than thou thugs who will be tortured in the minds before they die for the crimes they have and are committing.

"Conyers invited Yoo to testify before the committee..."

Nobody ever gives up incriminating evidence that way. You have to use harsh interrogation techniques.

EXACRLY what did you or do you expect from this totally corrupt BUSH,CHENEY,ROVE, RICE crime family??? They make their own laws up as they go along..It is the most corrupt administration in 232 years...We still have 270 more days during which they can continue to destroy this country and the world. Bomb Iran and what ever else suits them..They are all war criminals pure and simple and belong in a federal prison some place locked down 7/24/365.

One of the indications that John Yoo and Jay Bybee knew that their legal advice on torture and executive power were at best shaky was that they hid the memos from public debate or private review. Not even the Congressional Committees such as Intel and Judiciary got them. So, much as the Nazi lawyers wrote opinions justifying the disposal of disabled and Jews, and then never published those opinions, but held them only to cover their principals, so to will Bush and Cheney today claim they had legal advice to justify their outrageous claims of torture and expansion of executive powers, memos that now have already been discredited.

If Yoo and Bybee were proud of their work, we should have seen it. That the memos were hidden and that they will not talk about it speaks volumes.

Alyssa Peterson, the second woman to die in IRaq, objected to the harsh torture techniques being applied at Tal Afar, and was then later found dead after demanding a transfer. There is no justice for her, although I hope they find it. One day, Bush, Cheney and Yoo will be held to account. Professor Yoo, you probably shouldn't plan to travel to Europe anytime soon.

Kids hold each others heads under water at pools all the time. It is called play. Even the kid getting dunked for long periods didn't whine about it. I guess the USA has a bunch of ninnys that never went swimming with anyone else. Torture? Eating lima beans is torture, this is called discomfort and its better than these murders gave 3000 people on 9/11. But all that is forgotten, hate of the US Government is not. These terrorists revel on weak societies, and sad to say many US Citizens are falling into weakness which will eventually be the downfall of the US - to terrorists.

Joe, here's the explanation on why it is hypocritcal to suggest that Mr. Yoo be subject to his own techniques.
1. The first assumption is that you are against the techniques advocated in the memos because they are immoral and illegal under our current treaties and laws.
2. As such, these interrogation techniques should not be used on anyone, to include our enemies or captured combatantss, without any exceptions.
3. The definition of hypocrisy is "the practice of possessing beliefs, feelings or virtues that one does not hold or possess."
4. Applying the definition to the vitriol spewed on this thread, you advocate that this sort of conduct is illegal, immoral and shouldn't be used on anyone, and yet you would not hesitate to use it one someone, specifically someone who disagrees with your opinion.
Any questions?
Another word that could be applied is "irony." If you are in need of an explantion on that one, please let me know.

Where were you all when Bill was held in contempt of court for refusing to testify truthfully in the Paula Jones trial? Maybe he should have been tortured too.

So you have a problem with the legal opinion/ memo. Got it.
Issue 2 is the refusal to testify in front of Congress.
So the answer is to resolve the issues with violence against the writer and his family. How's about arguing the issues- the memo (I haven't read it) probably isn't consistent with our treaty obligations and for the testimony, subpoena him and go through the system. Not winning over many people by advocating violence. Just my two cents.

Just a reminder for you guys:

Torture is morally repugnant and ineffective. Even during the Spanish Inquisition, the actual Spanish Inquisitors did NOT torture people. They knew it was useless for information even back then. Information could not be trusted coming from a torture victim.

The local villagers, however, always had a few folks ready and willing to start inflicting pain on others.

It is also completely AGAINST American culture and values. It is addressed in our Bill of Rights and was also specifically addressed by George Washington as well as other founding fathers, who were all very much against it.

You should be outraged at people who support or promote this brutal, evil, barbaric act in our name. It is against everything we stand for as a people and as a nation. Changing or "interpreting" laws to allow our government to engage in this behavior does not remove the moral and spiritual corruption associated with it.

In my opinion, those who promote this evil already show us a lot about who they are as a person. By his penning of this memo, regardless the reason, Professor Yoo has shown himself to be morally, ethically and spiritually corrupt. Worse than that, when given the opportunity, he chose to act on this corruption.

If you're looking for a "fifth column" in America, this is it - it is Professor Yoo and people like him who are trying to fundamentally change the values enshrined in the constitution and our culture to suit their own perverted views and goals.

You cannot call for or support illegal imprisonment, torture, wars of aggression, ignore the killing of innocents and still call yourself an American - no matter the enemy. By word and deed you are obviously not an American, whether you were born here or not.

This is not a matter of a difference of opinion between liberals and conservatives. The proper course of action, if your own morals don't already show you this, is clearly spelled out in this Nation's founding documents and by the very words of the founding fathers.

If you want to call yourself an American, you should govern yourself accordingly.

the doj is nothing but a bunch of B&C yes men that do what the white-house tells them to do! B&C are the real terrorists against US at this point in time & should be indicted for their inaction to control oil prices since day one, but they both have a vested interest in oil! the real crime would be to let them drill in our preserves?

Yoo should not be tortured.

Yoo's parents are irrelevent.

Yoo should be accountable. Does everyone agree?

What does it mean for an OLC lawyer to be accountable? It means he acted in good faith.

If you knew Yoo's legal opinion was constructed after the torture policy had been adopted and for the sole purpose of giving senior White House officials legal cover for the order without a basis in law and by ignoring precedent, would you then admit Yoo conspired to undermine the Constitution and the Geneva Convention, a treaty duly-enacted by the US Congress?