Yoo Said Bush Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred'

[UpInArms]

Source: Newsweek via Reader Supported News

The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report by released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.

<snip>

At the core of the legal arguments were the views of Yoo, strongly backed by David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's legal counsel, that the president's wartime powers were essentially unlimited and included the authority to override laws passed by Congress, such as a statute banning the use of torture. Pressed on his views in an interview with OPR investigators, Yoo was asked:

"What about ordering a village of resistants to be massacred? ... Is that a power that the president could legally -"

"Yeah," Yoo replied, according to a partial transcript included in the report. "Although, let me say this: So, certainly, that would fall within the commander-in-chief's power over tactical decisions."

Read more: http://readersupportednews.org/news-section/10-war/1049-yoo-said-bush-could-order-civilians-to-be-massacred

[Robb]

1. I said no such thing.

Sorry, had to do it.

OT: Fuck Yoo.

[UpInArms]

4. well, I say

Fuck Yoo. Too.

[Robb]

26. (chuckle)

We're having good fun with Yoo. :D

[UpInArms]

31. ...

Yoo said it!

[Swagman]

51. Yoo hoo ! ..not. What a scumbag

[goforit]

58. Hmmm, I guess Bush/Cheney's law allowed them to attack the WTC legally.

[disndat]

97. Bingo! nt.

[villager]

2. Well Thank god that "change" means: "Not doing a damn thing about it!"

Thus, the way is perfectly paved for the next GOP-authorized massacre...

On edit, though: every President who's said "yes" to war has, in fact, signed off on the massacre of civilians...

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

22. I don't see it specifying "where" the massacre may be committed...

... we might just be holding that option for use against domestic terrorists. Just a thought.

[TankLV]

69. Ain't that the truth.

"kinda" makes a mockery of the Nuremburg Trials - looks like we KILLED "innocent" men then...

[saigon68]

74. Enjoy Bush's 3rd term kids

[SlingBlade]

3. Alright, Alright, Enough of this looking backwards ..

Yoohoo say's Yoo !

He'll be back, Trust me.

[timeforpeace]

5. To his credit then, he refrained from doing so. Let's hope that continues.

[Art_from_Ark]

72. Are you kidding?

Ever heard of Fallujah? That's just for starters.

[truth2power]

6. Yoo is mentally ill....

I would say he's criminally insane, but that would imply that he is not responsible for the crimes against humanity that he has perpetrated.

Hmm...he certainly has no conscience, so...Psychopath?

A bad seed, for sure. I don't know what I'd do if I were a law student at UC Berkley and had to suffer having him for a professor. Ugh!!

[Quantess]

7. You'd probably have done your part and protested, like so many other Berkeley students.

What I am wondering, is why Yoo wants to stay in a community, a University, who despises him! All those dirty looks and comments would be hard for most people to endure. He knows he isn't liked, and yet he stays.

[geckosfeet]

86. Because someone higher up the food chain is requiring it. But your right.

It smells and the stink of NSA is all over it.

[xxqqqzme]

103. so is his salary being funded by 'outside' sources?

[geckosfeet]

114. Don't know. But I do suspect he is still working with intel agencies.

Why else would he stay in place where he is so openly despised? My gut says that he is a mole.

[HappyCynic]

8. If not criminally insane...

How about insanely criminal?

[Kceres]

17. Sociopath, not psychopath. Or, I guess he could be both. n/t

[demigoddess]

34. sociopath if you ask me. doesn't have any ethical boundaries.

Only tyrants massacre whole villages. and this is such a LOVELY precedent to set if we ever have a repressive government that the government has to stand up to.

[WinkyDink]

77. No, he's not. He is in the long line of Fascism in this country. Dubya is a literal descendant.

[tblue37]

94. Sociopath. Sociopaths are recognized as mentally ill, but theirs is

specifically the mental illness that often leads to heinous crimes, so it is not accepted as a legal defense.

[disndat]

102. The last I read

Yoo has been transferred or removed from Cal Berkeley (for his safety from the disgusted students?) to Pepperdine University, near Nixon country. Probably U.C. Berkeley was paid plenty to install him at Boalt Hall.

[Selena Harris]

109. Both Yoo's parents are psychiatrists

[abq e streeter]

9. Disgusting....as is the fact that they're all getting away with everything they've done

I'm also embarrassed that Addington is a local boy; 1974 graduate of Sandia high school. ( Janet Napolitano, coincidentally is a'75 grad)

And much of that disgust is with the Obama administration for its refusal to hold these criminals to account. ( although I really do often wonder if it's not so much refusal as plain old threats and intimidation by the forces that really run this country)

[closeupready]

10. Yoo is wrong.

No president is above the law, and ordering a massacre is illegal.

[Enthusiast]

82. Even entertaining the idea

that Yoo could be right is shocking!

This is no longer The United States of America!

I have no idea what it is since the false election in the year 2000.

[naaman fletcher]

11. Is he incorrect?

Isn't that what Dresden was? Hiroshima?

[abq e streeter]

12. reasonable question; I assume the fact of a congressional declaration of war in the cases you cite

affect the legality . Probably not a great comfort to those who suffered and died, although IMO, we had no choice but to win that war by any means necessary, and we'd followed the constitution in declaring war on nations that attacked us and our allies.

[naaman fletcher]

29. a good point..

I wish that that government actually declared war anymore. I think it would help bring clarity to our actions - which is probably why they dont do it.

[boppers]

33. Yoo's argument is that the IWR was just that.

The constitution doesn't specify specific wording that is required to be used.

Background:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States

[No Elephants]

54. Two separate issues: (1) Was war begun on behalf of a nation in acccordance with

the internal law of that nation? (In the case of the U.S., in accordance with the Constitution, which empowers Congress (and only Congress) to declare war.) (2) Regardless of the answer to question (1), were war crimes committed?'

Clearly, during WWII, our CIC and/or our troops could have been guilty of committing war crimes under international law, even if the war had been commenced in accordance with our internal law.

So, saying Congress declared WWII does not resolve the question whether Dresden, Hiroshima and other things we did during WWII were war crimes.

I don't know anywhere near enough about international law to guess whether they were war crimes or other violations of international law or not.

[Enthusiast]

83. Yes, WWII was in no way comparable.

WWII was not a wrong headed war of choice for profit.

There is simply no equivalency.

[No Elephants]

42. That something was done does not mean that thing violated no international law.

It means only that it was done and no formal claim of war crime or of violation of international law was adjudicated by any court of competent jurisdiction.

If kill someone and no one prosecutes me, that does not mean the murder I committed violated no law. In fact, even if a jury acquits me, it does not mean the murder violated no law. It means only that I will not be punished.

[naaman fletcher]

48. Yes good point...

I am in no way saying this is ok, but practically speaking I don't think anyone is going to get punished if it means declaring what FDR did to be a war crime.

[No Elephants]

55. Why would punishing Bush or Yoo require declaring what FDR did was a war crime?

Not literally, anyway.

Yoo is a lawyer, not CIC or a soldier. You would not find him guilty of a war crime. You could find him guilty of violating legal ethics or of committing legal malpractice. That could include giving a legal opinion without sufficient legal authority (court decisions).

You don't have to decide if something is or isn't a war crime. You only have to decide whether Yoo pulled stuff out of his ear, instead of having relevant court decisions on which to base the opinions he gave. (Remember, a lawyer can say, in a legal memo or opinin, that legal precdents sufficient to say for certain that X, Y or Z is legal simply do not exist.

Besides, we were not party to certain treaties when FDR (or Truman) was in office. The Convention Against torture, for one. Even the Nuremberg trials were not precedent when FDR was prosecuting WWII.

[EFerrari]

70. Yes, he is. It's a crime against humanity and violates Geneva. n/t

[WinkyDink]

78. Calley and My Lai would seem to indicate so. Laws HAVE been passed since WWII.

[Robbie88]

13. What. The. Fuck.

[Faygo Kid]

14. I have no doubt that Yoo meant that in domestic terms, as well.

Namely, us.

[WinkyDink]

79. I believe that was the BASIC INTENT of these "LEGAL" DECISIONS. "HOMELAND FASCISM."

Cf. "KATRINA, HURRICANE." Blackwater mercenaries pointing machine-guns at CITIZENS. CITIZENS removed by force to enclosed CAMPS, not allowed to DEPART.

[Enthusiast]

84. I wouldn't doubt

in his mind this is what he thought.

[chrisa]

116. But of course.

I wouldn't doubt it.

[politicalmajority]

15. John Yoo's Parents Raised Him Like That

It's not just John Yoo that is evil. John Yoo's extremely ultraconservative parents from South Korea with political minds of brutal military dictators like South Korea' Chun Doo Hwan, raised him to be so extreme and anti-democratic.

Whenever I hear John Yoo speak, he reminds me of those former South Korean dictators who staged coup de tat on December 12, 1979, and massacred innocent and righteous civilians in Kwangju during the Kwangju Democracy Movement in May 1980 because John Yoo really sounds like those military dictators and their subordinates that even U.S. officials under Ronald Reagan despised privately.

There were people in South Korea who had extreme ultra right wing political views like the ones John Yoo and his parents had and they brutally oppressed the whole nation under their guns during the 1980s. Many South Koreans shed blood and gave up their lives in their fights against the military dictators and restored democracy in 1987. They elected their civilian president with no political-military background in 1992.

John Yoo's views are too extreme that even in South Korea you will not easily find a legal scholar who will express such a criminally insane or insanely criminal view. John Yoo's political beliefs are so anti-democratic that I think his Harvard and Yale educations were complete wastes of money and resource. There were and are people in South Korea, as well as in the United States, with just high-school diplomas and with right democratic values that John Yoo does not have.

Americans do not seem to understand how dangerous people like John Yoo is because Americans have never gone through the types of military dictatorship South Koreans went through during the 1980s. Americans should never be soft on John Yoo because he poses danger to the American democracy and threat to American lives.

I wish John Yoo and his parents find a place in North Korea to live. That's where a dear leader has the kind of dictatorial power that John Yoo wants to see the President of the United States have. They are unworthy to be citizens of the United States and they no longer have a place in South Korea either.

[UpInArms]

19. welcome to DU, politicalmajority

we are glad to have you here amongst us - well, said and well met!

:hi:

[politicalmajority]

21. Thank you UpInArms. I Am Happy to be at DU.

:hi:

[MisterP]

20. another damn chicken come home to roost, thanks to our own antidemocratic networks:

the School of the Americas, Operation Condor, Oliver North, the "best and the brightest" exposed by the Pentagon Papers, the CIA, the WACL goons centered in the Asian dictatorships (and their supposedly-"liberal" enablers and pardoners, of course)

[Enthusiast]

87. Yup! nt

[coalition_unwilling]

111. I actually trace it back to Ford's pardon of Nixon for his many and

manifest crimes against the state. Nixon should have faced a full criminal trial for 'obstruction of justice' (using the CIA to block a legitimate FBI investigation), 'violation of separation of powers' (ordering the bombing and subesequent invasion of Cambodia without Congressional authorization) and 'fraud on the U.S.' (using hush money to obtain the silence of H. Howard Hunt and the Cuban burglars).

When Nixon was allowed to slink back to San Clemente without consequences, that spelled the end of the constitutional republic as we know it. The rest has just been a series of increasingly gruesome and grotesque footnotes.

[JDPriestly]

30. Thank you, politicalmajority.

[No Elephants]

47. Was Yoo's advice markedly different from that of Bybee and the other lawyers who opined to Bushco on

these issues?

Yoo only got to apply for a job at a law school, to teach crap to lawyers of the future. *shudders*

In exchange for his
BTW, welcome to DU.

[KoKo]

60. My Father-in-Law had to fight in Korea to allow folks like Yoo to come here!

He's rolling over in his grave right now. That I'm hear fighting back is his only hope. I loved my FIL, dearly. He sacrificed for folks like Yoo. What did he get in return? :shrug: What will our current soldiers "get" out of THEIR service in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Tell Me!

[WinkyDink]

80. Cheney knew full well, then, the man he wanted, post-2000 SCOTUS coup d'etat.

[Enthusiast]

85. I get the same impression of Yoo,

politicalmajority. I see him a super dangerous influence, especially in light of his position in the criminal Bush Administration.

[Selena Harris]

110. Torture's BFF

Torture’s Best Friend: An Interview With John Yoo

Posted on Dec 29, 2009

Wikimedia Commons / YooTube

The New York Times picks the brain of John Yoo, who compares George W. Bush to Abraham Lincoln and says “It was my job” to write the memos that sought to legalize torture. Yoo now teaches at the University of California at Berkeley, of which he says: “I remind myself of West Berlin ... surrounded by East Germany during the Cold War.”

He elaborates: “There are probably more Communists in Berkeley than any other town in America, but I think of them more as lovers of Birkenstocks than Marx.”



The New York Times:

Do you regret writing the so-called torture memos, which claimed that President Bush was legally entitled to ignore laws prohibiting torture?
No, I had to write them. It was my job. As a lawyer, I had a client. The client needed a legal question answered.

When you say you had “a client,” do you mean President Bush?
Yes, I mean the president, but also the U.S. government as a whole.

But isn’t a lawyer in the Department of Justice there to serve the people of this country?
Yes, I think you are quite right, when the government is executing the laws, but if there’s a conflict between the president and the Congress, then you have to pick one or the other.

Truthdig

Torture's Best Friend: An Interview With John Yoo - TruthdigDec 29, 2009 ... 2009/12/29 - The New York Times picks the brain of John Yoo, who compares George W. Bush to Abraham Lincoln and says “It was my job” to ...
www.truthdig.com/.../tortures_best_friend_an_interview_with_john_yoo_20091229/ - Cached

[Enthusiast]

112. What he said is indefensible.

Sickening.

[grasswire]

100. Is Yoo a Moonie?

Do you know the answer to that question?

[disndat]

106. Rev. Moon was part of Bush and Barbara's

extended family. Rev. Moon contributed tons of money to the Bushes.

[grantcart]

16. Comments gave Yoo's email address at Berkeley

[e-mail]

[rasputin1952]

18. Jesus...just when I thought thaose crazy bastards could not possibly...

get any worse...this insanity crops up!

I am anti-DP, but to be sure...these assholes are making me think harder...:grr:

[neverforget]

23. Boy, they sure are enamored of the strongman as President aka dictator.

Good thing we're not prosecuting these fuckwits for torture. Might be seen as "political" to enforce the law. :sarcasm: :mad: :puke: :argh: :grr: :nuke:

[L. Coyote]

45. Bush was talking to God, remember, and God was on his side.

:rofl: so they believe :rofl:

f..... mental retards ruining America.

[Enthusiast]

88. It's the Nixon bullshit

all over again. "It's not illegal if the president does it."

[Synicus Maximus]

24. Remember what they said about Ben Tre.

"It became necessary to destroy the town to save it."

[Proud Liberal Dem]

25. This is the "testicle crushing" guy too, isn't it?

:puke:

[New Dawn]

27. Fascist ideology on display.

[ShockediSay]

46. "Fascist" is exactly the right word, IMHO. But this guy is reportedly a professor

at the University of California, Berkeley.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/us/politics/20justice.html

[No Elephants]

50. Please see Reply # 47.

[ShockediSay]

49. The other one under scrutiny, another FASCIST, IMHO, IS A FEDERAL JUDGE NOW !!!

Jay S Bybee
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/us/politics/20justice.html

WTF?!?!?

Betcha he belongs to the same club as the SCOTUS Fascists, IMHO.

[winyanstaz]

28. This is criminal in itself to let these people walk off scott-free.

These are war crimes..and murder is not something to just say "oh-well" about.

[howmad1]

32. Who ever said "Crime does not pay".....

....is an idiot!

[Curtis]

35. I'm no Bush supporter for sure

BUT any president (though I agree Bush never should have been in the White House) does have the power Yoo defends. Otherwise, are we going to go back and try and convict FDR and Truman for the bombing of German and Japanese cities? I would argue we 'massacred' the villiages of Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[No Elephants]

56. Yoo is a lawyer, not CIC, or even Lt. Calley. Please see Reply #55 and Reply # 54.

WWII, when we were attacked by a member of the Axix is not really comparable to our invasion and occupation of Iraq, which I HOPE was the context of a "destroy a village" discussion. When determining whether something is legal or not, facts are very important. I don't know the ultimate legal answer, but I do know those two situations were not factually alike.

But, bottom line, finding a lawyer guilty of violating legal ethics is a whole horse of a different color than finding a head of state or a soldier guilty of a war crime or a crime against humanity or other violation of international law.

P.S. If finding FDR, Truman, Eisenhow and MacArthur guilty of war crimes is necessary to restoring the rule of law in the United States, I have no problem with it. Clearly, they made mistakes, such as interning Americans of Japanese ancestry, simply because of their genes (bad enough on its own, but interning only one race while not concerning ourselves about Americans of German or Italian heritage?) And, though Truman later had a change of heart, they all operated a racially segregated military.

So, in all, admitting they made other mistakes--if they did--would be a small price to stop this insanity today.

[Enthusiast]

89. False equivalency.

The allied countries were in grave danger. A delay in defeating the Axis could have resulted in Nazi Germany acquiring a nuclear warhead for their advanced missile delivery system. Ever hear of the V-1 and V-2?

Since the moment of 9/11 the Bush Administration tried to suggest 9/11 was no different than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This was false in every way, a bought and paid for M$M was complicit in delivering this propaganda. The Bush Administration used this false equivalency to grab power and use that power to invade two countries and dismantle constitutional rights of the U.S.

The Bush Administration knew the attack on 9/11 was coming. They pretended to be unaware. That is a fact. We should be talking about Bush and Cheney in the past tense. They should have been executed for the greatest crime of treason in American history.

[Tiggeroshii]

36. So this article this website is siting is almost one year old?

At least one that seems eerily like it is. :shrug:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/187342/output/prin

[Divine Discontent]

37. the Republican fascists that continue to defend B*sh regime & this guys proclimations are sick!

just wow...

Mr President has the authority to slaughter the worlddddddd!

[Independent_Liberal]

107. Fascists indeed!

Psychopaths too, in my opinion, and I'm sure in the opinion of many others.

[MUAD_DIB]

38. Yoosing his own words against him...

The President (any president) could order a hit on a political convention (Dem, Repug, Teabag) if he felt that they were opposed to him, or could be considered "resistants", without worrying about the consequences.

Don't go to any conventions, GOPiggies lest you feel the point of a bizaro-world sword



These guys are truly fucked in the head. There is something seriously wrong with their internal wiring.

[dipsydoodle]

41. Maybe

lack of water ? - Muad Dib. :)

[MUAD_DIB]

63. Seriously, with Yoo's reasoning anybody could be a potential unfriendly;

worthy of being killed.


These guys think that they are above the law.

[dipsydoodle]

39. If you're able to do so

then watch tonight's interview with Gabor Rona ,International Legal Director and Interim Director, Law and Security Program of Human Rights First , on Al Jazeera English.

To paraphrase him - the question now becomes who exactly asked for those answers to be given. It will be interesting to see what steps, if any ,in terms of an enquiry the now current admistration takes on this matter. There is Internationl jusidiction over the use of torture and those who authorise it. There are already countries to which members of the last administration are no longer able to travel to e.g Spain.

[No Elephants]

61. Meh, They don't think much of furrin travel anyway. Dummya never left the U.S. before he ran

for President--maybe not until after he was elected. And that includes Mexico.

Can you imagine living in Texas--including 8 years as Governor of Texas--and not bothering to see what Mexico might be like?

They didn't call him Incurious George for nothing.

Hey, if you live in the one and only exceptional country in the world, why on earth would you ever leave it? (pun intended)


:sarcasm:

[No Elephants]

Let's hope at least they were not talking about a village in the U.S.

Trouble is, Yoo seems to be taking the Constitution in isolation. The Constitution gives no justification for doing that.

In addition to the Constitution itself, the Constituion says that the supreme law of the United States includes treaties to which the United States is a party, which the Constitution specifies are part of the law of the U.S. (We are party to the Geneva Conventions, the Convention against Torture, etc. and many other treaties.) There is also a kind of international law that evolved over the centuries without treaties, kind of an international common law. There is less than no evidence that the Framers thought the Constitution displaced international law of any kind.

Like treaties, federal statutes are part of the supreme law of the land, , whether or not passed over a Presidential veto. Nowhere does the Constitution say the President (or anyone) is somehow exempt from the supreme law of the land.

In the areas of military and war, the Constitution gives a lot of power to Congress and a lot of power to the CIC, without explaining a lot about situations in which powers overlap. It has been tradition--but ONLY tradition--that once Congress speaks on a specific matter, the CIC does not override Congress, or vice versa. However, I could conceive of situations where the President, as CIC, would have to override Congress, in the heat of a battle, or if Congress could not be convened, or simply refused to act, etc. As a rule, it would not seem to be good if the two branches took turns overruling each other, though.

And, Congress has itself muddied the waters by delegating to the President its power to declare war, a power that the Constitution gives ONLY to Congress.

[No Elephants]

40. Self Delete. Dupe.

[L. Coyote]

43. And Hitler said Jews can be killed. Murder is murder is murder is murder.

Murder needs to be punished by the law or no one is safe from these insane crusaders.

[winyanstaz]

71. exactly

[humbled_opinion]

44. Whats the difference

Obama is ordering the routine massacre of innocent civilians in the tribal regions of Afghanistan. There is no "good" war or just war there is JUST WAR and its death and destruction it is pure evil.

I personally thought Obama knew better at least I could always fall back on that thought that Bush was a simpleton an idiot whose evil puppetmasters controlled him. But I can't do that with a Harvard Educated Constitutional Law Professor. Obama knows exactly what he is doing and that scares the shit out of me. Whats worse the world community awarded him a Nobel Peace Prize and he took it and then did everything opposite the dignity of the Award. (escalated wars, refused to prosecute war crimes, and with this current decision I say makes him complicit in torture)

Others here refuse to see the difference and some defend his decision to escalate in Afghanistan.... Didn't we spend 8 years arguing that indiscriminate killing of muslims creates more terrorists then it destroys?

It is way past time that a national anti-war movement resurface and put pressure on this President to end the wars. I have lost patience.

[Enthusiast]

90. There is a difference though.

There is a difference in being attacked by an actual country and being attacked by 19 hijackers.

I do agree that escalating the war in Afghanistan is a mistake. We shouldn't have attacked an entire country in response to 9/11 to begin with.

Since 9/11, the Bush Administration and the media have intentionally blurred the distinction between Taliban, Al Qaeda, Ossama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Iraq and Iran. The Administration intentionally played down the country of origin of the hijackers. It was seldom mentioned in the media that no Iraqi nationals participated in the hijackings. And it was seldom mentioned that most of the hijackers were Saudi nationals.

This is manipulation on a vast scale.

[Arugula Latte]

52. I wish I could post what I'm thinking.

Alas, cannot, for several reasons.

[DutchLiberal]

53. No different from the bombing of Dresden and Hiroshima/Nagasaki in WWII...

Only difference is that we remember those massacres as 'noble'...

[No Elephants]

62. Who remembers them as "noble?" Have you read the thread?

[DutchLiberal]

65. 'People' in general do.

[WinkyDink]

76. Who are these "people" of whom you believe yourself to be spokesman?

And what has that got to do with THE POINT OF THE OP???

[DutchLiberal]

113. Most people see everything that the allied forces did in WWII as heroic...

Don't pretend you don't know that.

OP: Yoo said that Bush could order warcrimes. Same as the bombing of Dresden and the A-bombs on Japan.

[WinkyDink]

75. Nuremberg and subsequent laws prohibit repeats. Cf, "Calley, William."

[Enthusiast]

91. There is a difference though.

There is a difference in being attacked by an actual country and being attacked by 19 hijackers.

[IndianaGreen]

57. And this is the war criminal being coddled by Eric Holder

instead of being prosecuted. War crimes is a bipartisan business, and people wonder why things don't change!

[Enthusiast]

92. Do you get the impression that,

for all intents and purposes, the Obama Administration is just an extension of the Bush Administration, albeit with a more civil, intelligent and humane way of speaking?

[KoKo]

59. He should be disbarred! At the Least for his Crimes!

:kick:

[Golden Raisin]

64. Arbeit Macht Frei

[liberalhistorian]

66. I have studied the constitution up and down for years,

both in college and for paralegal studies, as well as on my own. I may not have J.D. after my name, but damned if I can find anything remotely resembling such authority in the Constitution. If anything, beginning in the 20th century and continuing to this day, the presidential role and power has been greatly increasing, which is not at all what was originally intended. And 99% of constitutional scholars and experts, not to mention the vast majority of lawyers and political experts, were scratching their heads a few years ago during Samuel Alito's confirmation hearings when he was yammering on about the "unitary executive" concept. That's because it is absolutely NOWHERE to be found anywhere in the Constitution, either in specific powers or implied powers or even implied intention. NO. WHERE. It's really and truly frightening how such authoritarians are twisting and distorting what they claim to consider a "sacred document" and profaning it in the process.

[jgraz]

67. Fuck. Somebody get this guy out of my neighborhood.

I can't believe I live down the block from such an asshole.

[TankLV]

68. No I didn't!

I never said such a thing, nor would I ever say such a thing!

[Hubert Flottz]

73. I'm sure Hitler's Stalin's and Saddam's henchmen all said the...

same kinds of things about their bosses too. If Bush and Cheney had had a few more years to really show all their cards, there would have been hell to pay. What I'm wondering is why is nobody checking out Addington.

[Enthusiast]

81. The Obama Administration,

like the Bush Administration before them, is undermining the rule of law by not prosecuting Yoo and Addington. This is the Nuremberg Trials all over again only this time we let the bastards go.

THIS SUCKS TO HIGH HEAVEN!

Hey, Obama, I thought you would be a "good" president!

[avaistheone1]

120. Sure.

He is the good president fighting the good war.

[rudy23]

93. Katrina nt

[SteveM]

95. Yoo is providing the "intellectual" justification for dictatorship...

This is what the "unitary presidency" is all about: In times of war/national emergency, the president can do whatever he wants. So does this power end when the war ends? Probably. But we DON'T EVER HAVE an end to war; hence, PermaWar. Ergo, when in constant war, the president can do whatever he likes, anywhere, anytime.

Yoo's just getting us ready.

[L. Coyote]

96. of the world by the USA, the very attitude which caused this positive feedback loop

of using those who oppose the USA ruling the world to put into place powers to do whatever we want anywhere on the globe with regard to killing people, including Americans.

I happy I survived my wounds when I ventured into our terror zone in Central America in the 1980s. Imperial terrorism begets terrorism, in a positive feedback loop, it seems.

[SteveM]

98. Only the USA won't be dictator of the world...

The U.S. is losing strength in the world and will not be able to call the shots; that will more likely be done by large international cartels and corporations. What the "unitary presidency" DOES allow is dictatorial powers by the president in time of war IN OUR COUNTRY. Whether its nukes in Iran, oil in Iraq, snot-nose blowholes in N. Korea, trash-talking strongmen in Venezuela; whatever the reason, PermaWar is the necessary component in the full-time unitary presidency/dictator RIGHT HERE.

And there is no opposition to this.

[grasswire]

99. What about My Lai, Yoo?

Was that a war crime?

[pitchforksandtorches]

101. Lock up Yoo in Amy Bishop's cell.

[Octafish]

104. Just like Adolf Hitler...

... with whom Bush's granpappy did big business. After the war, Prescott Bush, his son Poppy, and their cronies did big business with "former" NAZIs. Of course, they merely were fronts for other stooges. You betcha.

PS: How embarassing! I accidently posted this on the "Yoo and Bybee won't face prosecution" LBN thread. What's really embarassing is my country must now be owned by NAZIs, to allow torturers, warmongers and traitors to go unpunished.

[G_j]

117. the mask is off

but, it seems people accept what they see.
:shrug:

[Saxon]

105. fallujah anyone?

Was going to post pictures but after looking for same I can't do that to you.

If you want you can search google images but my advise is don't.

[Independent_Liberal]

108. I call on DUers to take their anger and frustration...

...and use it to take action and, by any means necessary, support every venue you know of that's part of the "Prosecuting War Criminals" movement.

Whether or not you think Holder and the Obama Admin. will act, keep the pressure on them anyway.

Countries like Spain are not letting this slide under the rug. John Dean said the Spanish court is still actively looking into this and as long as Cheney keeps flapping his gums, he'll keep adding fuel to that fire.

Think about how much worse the next "civilian massacre" could be should the GOP come back into power? They could also start using the torture methods on US citizens. Do we want this to happen? Do you?

If you say, "Forget it. Nobody's going to be held accountable," that equals "I accept that it will happen again," and "I accept they'll be back again torturing, killing, raping, looting and pillaging." Therefore, it makes you an accomplice. Do you want to be an accomplice to such a thing? I really want people to think about this.

[sattahipdeep]

115. The Hidden Massacre of Fallujah

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1134673789364675735&ei=eeiBS87OIp6uqQO1oeWcBw&q=fallujah&hl=en&client=firefox-a#

[classysassy]

118. Yoo, and the rest of you criminals

in Washington are helping to destroy America.

[Generator]

119. The other thing that pisses me off is stupid Americans

that think they are IMMUNE. They think 24 is some great teevee show. They think that Guantanamo-or whatever name at whatever place in the future's it's called-is just for Arabs, or terrorists or "enemies".

Are they so fucking dumb that they don't get it could be THEM? Their child? Their mother? Their husband? Do they not understand that letting one man or a government have this power means it's going to eventually someday come down on their own sorry ass?

You know why if for nothing else-I am against torture? Because I don't want to be tortured. I don't get that Americans are so fucking dumb that someday-and abetted by "Mr. Constitutional lawyer" looking forward-based on precedent our children or grandchildren are going to tortured and killed because of this.

If someone is thinking it's okay to torture-then you are next. All you have to do is cross whatever line the one in power says is the line you weren't meant to cross.

I guess for now we barely dodged the fascism bullet, but ZERO lessons have been learned. We are doomed to repeat the history of fascism of Europe it seems.

[G_j]

121. too true

There is a good amount of empathy for disasters and famines.
So it would seem the issue is believing the lies that somehow these people deserve what they get, including torture.
This is the official line (along with 24 etc.).

Why an apology for killing whole civilian families who suffice in the mind of anyone, is beyond me.