Scholar Stands by Post-9/11 Writings On Torture, Domestic Eavesdropping...

[Peter Frank]

John Yoo


knows the epithets of the libertarians, the liberals and the lefties. Widely considered the intellectual architect of the most dramatic assertion of White House power since the Nixon era, he has seen constitutional scholars skewer his reasoning and students call for his ouster from the University of California at Berkeley.


Scholar Stands by Post-9/11 Writings On Torture, Domestic Eavesdropping
Former Justice Official Says He Was Interpreting Law, Not Making Policy

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 26, 2005; Page A03

John Yoo knows the epithets of the libertarians, the liberals and the lefties. Widely considered the intellectual architect of the most dramatic assertion of White House power since the Nixon era, he has seen constitutional scholars skewer his reasoning and students call for his ouster from the University of California at Berkeley.

Civil liberties advocates were appalled by a memo he helped draft on torture. The State Department's chief legal adviser at the time called his analysis of the Geneva Conventions "seriously flawed." Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote, in a critique of administration views espoused by Yoo, "a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens."



John Yoo of the University of California at Berkeley worked from 2001 to 2003 at the Justice Department, where many of his writings helped shape the White House's post-9/11 policy. (By Karen Ballard -- Los Angeles Times)

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Yoo has alienated so many influential opponents that he is considered unconfirmable for a judgeship or high office, not unlike a certain conservative jurist rejected by the Senate for the Supreme Court.

"Someone said to me that I was the Robert Bork of my generation," he reported the other day.

Yet Yoo, 38, an engaging and outspoken lifelong conservative who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, can be found at seminars and radio microphones, standing up for Bush administration legal arguments that will be studied for decades.

"The worst thing you could do, now that people are critical of your views, is to run and hide. I agree with the work I did. I have an obligation to explain it," Yoo said from his Berkeley office. "I'm one of the few people who is willing to defend decisions I made in government."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/25/AR2005122500570.html

[bluestateguy]

1. Is he from North Korea or China?

Maybe that's where he learned how to practice totalitarianism.

[Peter Frank]

2. He's from S. Korea...

Bush used his writings to form his torture & domestic spying policy. He was Just on the Abrams report defending Bush.

[tritsofme]

3. I don't see how his country of origin is of any relevance.

Jackass fascists come in all shapes, sizes, and races.

[Peter Frank]

4. I was only answering the question...

...and you're right.

Evil is evil -- regardless of source.

[tritsofme]

6. My comment wasn't directed toward you.

It was in response to post #1.

[Peter Frank]

7. Good point... n/t

[roguevalley]

5. this is the douche bag that said bush can order the torture of a

suspect's kids up to and including crushing their testicles. Evil filthy bastard.

[Peter Frank]

8. You are correct. Yoo is patently amoral - and Bush uses this to advantage

[leftchick]

11. yes crushing children's testicles is perfectly acceptable

I think he needs his crushed. If he has any.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11488.htm

01/08/06 "revcom.us" -- -- John Yoo publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.

[xchrom]

9. guy's like yoo must be taken very seriously.

he's not going away -- and is an extension of that leo strauss school that believes the conservative elite knows what's best for every one else.

i must say it's ironic that things these guys espouse fly in the face of how this country came to be.

we fled europe only to imitate our then oppressors?

[Peter Frank]

10. This asshole is a consultant on MSNBC!!!

I was astonished to see his fascist ass-face on the Abrams report!

[Binka]

12. Yoo Is A ShitDustBag

About time someone outs ole Yoo Boy.

[Peter Frank]

13. I still don't think he's getting the attention he deserves... n/t