National Lawyers Guild calls for Yoo’s disbarment & Tried as a War Criminal

[Ichingcarpenter]

Today, the National Lawyers Guild — the “oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States” — called on Berkeley’s law school, Boalt Hall, to dismiss former Bush administration John Yoo, who is a law professor there. From the Guild’s statement:

In a memorandum written the same month George W. Bush invaded Iraq, Boalt Hall law professor John Yoo said the Department of Justice would construe US criminal laws not to apply to the President’s detention and interrogation of enemy combatants. According to Yoo, the federal statutes against torture, assault, maiming and stalking do not apply to the military in the conduct of the war. <…>

“John Yoo’s complicity in establishing the policy that led to the torture of prisoners constitutes a war crime under the US War Crimes Act,” said National Lawyers Guild President Marjorie Cohn.

Congress should repeal the provision of the Military Commissions Act that would give Yoo immunity from prosecution for torture committed from September 11, 2001 to December 30, 2005. John Yoo should be disbarred and he should not be retained as a professor of law at one of the country’s premier law schools. John Yoo should be dismissed from Boalt Hall and tried as a war criminal.

http://nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry080409-083133

[alfredo]

1. Yes!!!

[jtrockville]

2. NLG = good guys, nt

[ClayZ]

3. Wooo Hoooo! f**k Yoo!

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

47. Despite the seriousness, this made me laugh. Good one

[ClayZ]

51. He is seriously dangerous!

I can not believe he is teaching!

[pingzing58]

4. All who are complicit should pay for their crimes.

[jhrobbins]

53. Yeah - isn't this like locking up private Gerhard of the Panzer division

and sending Goebbels, Goerring, Hesse, etc to villas in Argentina

[PoiBoy]

5. I agree... "All who are complicit...

...should pay for their crimes..."

And the lawyers like John Yoo are the best place to start. Take them out and the whole house of cards comes crashing down...

way to go, NLG..!

[Rage for Order]

6. John Yoo is a dirtbag, but...

At what time in the history of the US, or any other country, have people captured during the course of battle fallen under the purview of US criminal laws? I thought they fell under the UCMJ?

I say they disbar and try him for war crimes for violations of the Geneva Conventions instead.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. War Crimes- CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE- We are a signatory

Have agreed as follows:

Part I

Article 1


For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application.


Article 2

Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
No 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.
An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.


Article 3

No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.


Article 4

Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture.
Each State Party shall make these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature.>>>>>>>snip

U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) on October 27, 1990, President Clinton did not deposit the United States instrument of ratification of the Convention with the United Nations Secretary General until October 21, 1994. The United States' obligations under the Convention Against Torture took effect 30 days later, on November 20, 1994.

More:http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html

[malaise]

8. Karma is coming

Yoo will be fucked!!

[bdamomma]

56. I hope Rove is too.

[Lugnut]

67. I hope you're right.

I hope they all get their due.

[liam_laddie]

9. K & R !!!

Get this thing rolling!

[Peace Patriot]

10. All I can say is, 'YE-E-E-E-E-E-SSS!!!!" nt

[housewolf]

11. Now, this is the best news I've heard in a while!

Thanks for posting. We really need to get John Yoo out of a position of spreading his wacko-ideas to law students! Talk about a travesty...

[mwb970]

30. John Yoo is an enemy of the state.

He should be treated like one.

[johnnydrama]

12. I swear

I was thinking of posting this question a few days ago. I thought about Libby being disbarred, and that Yoo was at Berkeley.

The first thing I thought of is why the hell there isn't a sit-in 24/7 in front of Yoo's office. I mean it's Berkeley for Heaven's sake.

The second thing I thought of is why isn't this asshole being disbarred.

[hlthe2b]

13. And, I'm sure the American Bar Association (ABA) will follow

suit....














Yeah, right....

[Marr]

14. This would be a very good move-- particularly since we're unlikely to see impeachment.

The Bush Administration built themselves a collection of get-out-of-jail-free cards by using lawyers' opinions on these issues. They can always say they sought legal council, and based their decisions upon it.

There needs to be an example set here, to prevent this sort of thing from happening all the time. I'd like to see Alberto Gonzalez treated the same way. Apart from a Bush/Cheney impeachment, it's probably the most effective move that could be made.

[Canuckistanian]

16. The Dem candidates should issue an opinion on this

It's about time that we should see them squirm about a REAL issue.

[babsbunny]

17. WE WILL SEE IMPEACHMENT!

If you want it................

[lonestarnot]

34. Yes we will! Keep fighting!

[AzDar]

15. K & R....

[samsingh]

18. kick

[DUlover2909]

19. I want to see someone tried and convicted!

But wait til Chimpy is gone so he can't pardon him.

[mwb970]

29. Surely we can hold *someone* accountable for *something*, someday.

I mean here we have a blatantly criminal Executive Branch and we allow them to get away with crime after crime, year after year. What is wrong with us?

[lark]

50. OK, no one else answered, I'll give my take

"What is wrong with us", well, there's quite a lot actually. MSM is controlled by ultra rich guys that want to get richer, and don't care about getting to the bottom of the real news. People get most news from MSM that lies and distorts to try and curry favor with corporatist who dangle prospects of letting them have big expansions if they don't buck the program. People are overwhelmed with daily living and beat down and don't investigate issues, just take what's fed to them by organizations like Fau non)News and take it as gospel. Extreme facist have taken control of the government and are doing unthinkable things, so get away with it, because "it's being done to protect us from the evil doers", and because they will do ANYTHING to get their way; more power for the rich, beat down the rest, but lie and act like you are helping them. That's one slice of what's wrong. The country should have mutinied when the Supreme court put their favored son in office instead of the winner, but we didn't. Repugs totally threw Miami into chaos, were willing (again) to do anything to win, so they won.

The only way things will start going in the right direction is for us to have the courage to do what's needed to start turning this ship around. First thing, elect a Democrat as president!

[loudsue]

61. Yes, yes, yes & yes. All those reasons, and the biggest reason of all....

the same corporations control the voting machines, and THEREFORE, control ALL elected representatives, ultimately.

[99th_Monkey]

20. Hot Damn, indict & imprison all war criminals, esp. our own. ~nt~

[SeattleGirl]

21. Yes, yes, yes!!!!

Indeed, he should be tried as a war criminal, along with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and others.

I'm so sick of the fucking illegality that these assholes have gotten away with.

TORTURE???? TORTURE????

I don't give a good goddamn WHAT their "reasoning" was.

It is NEVER okay to torture people EVER.

This whole thing pisses me off more than I could ever say!

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Do they have any power?

[Baby Snooks]

37. Silly question...

Of course they don't. Only state bars have any power. And most of them protect their own. Which is why the two law firms in Texas named in the Batson Report as having commited legal malpractice in the Enron matter are still two law firms in Texas. Reality is that attorneys in this country are the main reason why we no longer have rule of law.

Save a few rational and purely constitutional rulings by circuit courts and the Supreme Court, there is no rule of law in this country and as a result there is no justice. And hasn't been from the day the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Rather than move towards the ideal of rule of law we seem to have moved further and further away from the ideal.

Of all the attorneys who should have been disbarred the one who most demanded disbarment was Alberto Gonzales. But he of course still had the strings being pulled by one of the two law firms in Texas where he was a partner before leaving to become part of the Bush dynasty which served him and his former law firm well. Power. Ain't it grand?

Reality is that law firm survived simply because the other law firm handled the Bush "family" business. And, well, obviously we don't go there.

[The Backlash Cometh]

60. There's no question about it. Lawyers are abusing their privileges.

It's one thing to be a necessary part of our justice system, and a totally different matter to abuse the privileges that go with that power. Even when they find a letter from a lawyer on his legal letterhead, asking for something that is unethical, nothing happens to him because he is a big donor to both parties. Double protection. A lawyer that "donates" to both parties.

[Crabby Appleton]

42. No

[Richard Steele]

23. K&R

[liberal N proud]

24. Hope this happens

If Yoo gets tried, it will make it much easier to go after bu$h and Cheney

[mcollier]

25. If there are willing

officials who will go up against the Bush Company Attack Machine, we'll see something done. Where are the Iraqi Oil Profits going??? Where are our tax dollars going?

The corruption in the Bush Administration has been well documented. Why are so many people not concerned? Stuck in "The Matrix" perhaps...

[burythehatchet]

26. YOO'R FUCKED what a piece of trash

[RobertDevereaux]

27. A great place to start...

NOW KEEP GOING!!!

[OwnedByFerrets]

28. Wow, fantastic news..nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. We should send letters/email

to National Lawyers Guild thanking them,

and to ABA, citing the National Lawyers Guild and asking for same.


what if they got a few thousand letters?

The internet is the new way of marching, isn't it?

Addresses...need the addresses.

[penndragon69]

32. Let the War Crime Trials begin..

Dick and George, pack your bags because you and your minions are next!

[UTUSN]

33. Kick n/t

[redqueen]

35. It's a shame it took so long to get to this point.

Better late than never.

[eyepaddle]

36. That shou;ld really get Yoo's and the admin' attention

Obviously, I agree with all here and say it is about damn time. Watch Bush and co. try hard to sandbag this the way they have, well, pretty much sandbagged everything else--but this might start the avalanche.

[pleah]

38. Sounds good!

Hope something actually happens.

[tucsonlib]

39. BERKELEY for God's Sake??

Birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. Hotbed of 60's radicalism. THEY hired Yoo? Sad, sad, sad.......

[dixiegrrrrl]

41. Possible reason Berkeley is so qiet

is Livermore Lab.
The Federally funded Livermore lab run by Berkeley;

[greiner3]

71. Don't forget to mention SETI!

[MissMarple]

59. I wonder if students could boycott his class. And, what on earth does he teach there...

how to subvert the Constitution in 3 easy steps?

[disndat]

40. The RW or Rev. Moon

must have paid U.C Berkeley plenty of money to give Yoo a professorship at Boalt Hall. Someone should get to the bottom of this an ax them for the U.C. Berkeley Board of Directors along with Yoo.

[WyldRogue]

43. Just like it has always been....

.... nothing will happen. Like the impeachments, the not funding the war, the outing of a CIA agent, the Attorney scandal... nothing will happen as the Dem congress are too complicit and meek to stand up for what is right. All one has to do is look back at what they SHOULD have done but haven't. Could have stood up to * many, many times but instead went belly up every time.

Subpoenas?? What a joke the * Administration made them look like time and time again and STILL nothing has been done.

As all these other posts saying someone will be charged, subpoenaed, investigated... it's all a crock and everyone knows it. It's just little tidbits thrown out to the Dem base so it 'looks' as though the Democrat Congress is doing 'something'. Still not as bad as the 109th Republican 'Lame Duck' Congress but in 1 year, they definitely are encroaching the 'Lame Duck' congress tag.

[Kolesar]

74. Democratic Congress ... eom

[bdamomma]

44. these thugs can't ignore the laws any longer, now it is way past

the time to arrest these SOB's.

[Crabby Appleton]

45. I don't know what anyone is getting excited about

the NLG is one of the least influential and ineffective organizations in existence. An NLG endorsement of some action is almost a guaranty of failure.

[williesgirl]

46. Great - next, the ABA needs to issue same statement. rec'd

[hisownpetard]

48. Yes!!!!!!!!! K&R.

[Stand and Fight]

49. HIGHLY Recommended. n/t

[Martin Eden]

52. 100th Rec -- YES!!!

Until we hold accountable those who committed war crimes in our name, we share some complicity in those crimes.

[bdamomma]

54. Berkeley should kick him out.

[cascadiance]

55. This lesson of War Crimes 101 gets recommendation #101!

[The Wielding Truth]

57. And when * saw this dismissal of the 4th amend, did he defend

it as he is sworn to do?

[ooglymoogly]

58. At the least....KR

Yoo are a criminal bastard and should be hung from the nearest yardarm. May you rot in hell for your crimes against sentient life on this planet. What kind of Law school is Berkley anyway. All need to write a letter to this, now becoming, infamous school.

[nadinbrzezinski]

62. He'd be a good start

and a good sign

[Uncle Joe]

63. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread. Ichingcarpenter.

[lazyriver]

64. Berkeley needs to act immediately and get rid of this POS.

[midnight]

65. Finally some logically people calling for this man to stop

teaching what many consider criminal.

[Joanne98]

66. YAY!

[bushmeister0]

68. What about Al Gonzales? David Addington?

Roll them all up. Although, now with Scalia and Roberts, they've got a legal golden parachute.

[benld74]

69. Yoo-Hoo!!! Its a start

[drmeow]

70. One thing that would probably get UCB

to get rid of Yoo is if they are threatened with the loss of their program's accreditation. (Unfortunately, the ABA is in charge of that.) Another would be some REALLY big donors threatening to yank their donations. A full scale strike by all faculty and graduate students might help but probably won't do the job. Some sort of serious threat to the Board of Regents would also do it (funding is usually the big one).

[totodeinhere]

72. Yoo is only the tip of the iceberg, but if we can get him it's a start.

[Phred42]

73. ....It's a Start !

[Disturbed]

75. Other Attorney groups should join in.

He is a disgrace to them all.

[swimmernsecretsea]

76. I hope they do the right thing...

and jail the fucking sonofabitch.

[whistle]

77. Oh my, and he is such a sweet boy and a Moonie fascist to boot

[BlooInBloo]

78. Good on them.

[sfnative]

79. Our California tax dollars are funding a pro-torture professor

Why not start a letter writing or phone campaign complaining to the dean? Our tax dollars in California funds almost 35% of this school. We shouldn't be paying for a pro-torture professor in a California public university.