Yoo/Delahunty forum at Mpls. STU law school letter in Strib

[annm4peace]

(Yoo spoke at St. Thomas yesterday, and the LTE was in yesterday's paper)


UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS
Should John Yoo be a symposium speaker?

There is little doubt that physicians and psychologists participated in the torture of Afghan and Iraqi prisoners. And they have been severely criticized for doing this by their own professional associations and others. Rightly so!

So why is St. Thomas, a Catholic university dedicated to integrating faith and reason in the search for truth through a focus on morality and social justice, inviting John Yoo, a supporter of torture, to speak at a symposium?

It is well-known that when Yoo worked in the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, he coauthored a memo in 2002 that justified the use of torture if the president decides it is necessary to do so in the war on terrorism.

In a new book, "Because it is Wrong," conservative scholars Charles Freed and his son Gregory categorically hold the position that "the Bush administration broke the law in ordering torture, mocked the Constitution in its interpretation of executive authority and outraged common decency."

I agree, and I find it reprehensible that the University of St. Thomas University Law School would offer a symposium that gives a platform to a person who supports torture.

JOHN BRAUN, MINNEAPOLIS