Bush Lawyer - John Yoo - Ordered to Testify

[jefferson_dem]

Source: NYT

Bush Lawyer Ordered to Testify
By JOHN SCHWARTZ

A federal judge has ruled that John Yoo, a former Bush administration lawyer who wrote crucial memorandums justifying harsh interrogation techniques, will have to answer in court to accusations that his work led to a prisoner’s being tortured and deprived of his constitutional rights. The government had asked Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco to dismiss the case filed by Jose Padilla, an American citizen who spent more than three years in a military brig as an enemy combatant. Judge White denied most elements of Mr. Yoo’s motion and quoted a passage from the Federalist Papers that in times of war, nations, to be more safe, “at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/us/politics/13brfs-BUSHLAWYEROR_BRF.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

[ixion]

1. w00t!

now get the rest of the thugs in there, and then ship them off to the Hague.

[pattmarty]

22. If not the Hague, then surely Guantanamo.

:sarcasm:

[wordpix]

60. FINALLY!

:woohoo: :thumbsup:

[villager]

2. Our "new" DoJ isn't gonna rush to court to try and prevent this, now are they?

One begins to wonder...

[aquart]

4. Thank God for honest judges.

[No Elephants]

61. And for the lawyers tthat get cases like this before honest judges, even when plaintiff can't

pay. Yes, if Padilla wins the lawsuit, the lawyer will get up to 40% of the recovery. However, if Padilla loses, the lawyer will have spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on the case without ever getting a dime. These cases are breaking new ground under US law, so there is not a realistic way for the lawyer to evaluate the likelihood of substantial monetary recovery.

IMO, Republicans worked hard to give all lawyers a bad name and too many of us fell for it.

[Indenturedebtor]

52. If they do then America is well and truly dead. n/t

[Sensible321]

53. It Looks as if Obama's DOJ Will Fight for Yoo

"The ruling rejected the government's arguments that the courts are barred from examining top-level administration decisions in wartime, or that airing "allegations of unconstitutional treatment of an American citizen on American soil" would damage national security or foreign relations."

Sound familiar?
~shudder~

Watch for that appeals court ruling.

[MasonJar]

57. They should have thought of that before they committed treason. What

kind of specious argument is that? Obama had better watch his step or he will be a one stop president. I am sick of his Bushista tactics and excuses.

[RandomThoughts]

3. And because of the statement "at length become willing to run the risk of being less free"

Many corrupt people like war as a way to set up an authoritative dictatorship. So being less free is not a byproduct of war. But war is created to remove freedom.

Note that laws are made in times of peace to protect us from the fears brought up in times of war. They are there to protect us from our own weaknesses during strife. By ignoring that protection, by claiming to be above the law, the Bush administration used methods that were illegal. They had the protection of law, and did not use it, so the consequences are from their own doing.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Hoist by his own fucktard!

Yoo Hoo! John Yoo,

Take the stand and answer for your crimes...

[madeline_con]

11. ROFLMAO!

:rofl:

[Richard Steele]

32. Nicely punned, old friend. nm

[Rosa Luxemburg]

51. Cheney probably drafted it for Yoo

oh Mr Yoo!

[waiting for hope]

58. Yoo's crimes were solicited by Bush et al -

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Gonzales - they need to go through the process of being investigated, tried and sent to jail - Yoo is a small cog on a very big wheel.

[Xipe Totec]

59. Ever seen what happens when you strip a small cog on a very big wheel?

The whole machine comes apart.

[waiting for hope]

63. Unless there is someone there to put

it back together - there are so many pieces of evidence out there that point to Bush and his gang of thugs, but that hasn't gone anywhere due to the current stonewalling of the Obama administration. Unless they are charged outright, getting Yoo to testify isn't going to amount to a hill of beans.

[Xipe Totec]

65. Oh, but it will, my friend, it will!

John Yoo saw what happened to Scooter Libby.

If it comes to him or them, he will throw Curious George and Tinman Cheney under the bus.

[waiting for hope]

66. What a curious example to give -

Libby's trail opened the door to go after Cheney but nothing happened there either : BREAKING: Libby Destroyed Evidence Prior To Testifying, Cheney ‘Deeply Involved’ and nothing will ... Administration Opposes Plame Appeal - Please, keep your sunny disposition on this, but as I said up thread, Yoo is a very small piece - just as Libby.

[Xipe Totec]

67. Precisely why it is an apt example

Libby got screwed.

John Yoo knows that.

He's not going to make the same mistake and cover for them.

Why is that so hard to understand?

:shrug:

[waiting for hope]

68. Do you honestly think that Yoo is going to

turn on them? I think you underestimate Cheney's control here. What you are saying is not hard to understand, but it is hard to realize, especially now ...

Obama announces escalation of war in Afghanistan, Pakistan

Obama Has 250,000 'Contractors' in Iraq and Afghan Wars, Increases Number of Mercenaries

Obama Considers Detaining Terror Suspects Indefinitely


The amount of money being spent to keep the war pig fed is critical in keeping the status quo. I think there are quite a few in DC that would like to keep any prosecutions squashed, only to continue doing business a usual.

[Xipe Totec]

69. To save his own skin? Oh yes, baby, yes!

Once the defensive line breaks, it is every man for himself.

If you can call them men...

[waiting for hope]

70. Scooter Libby did nothing to save his

own skin and he could have. And Yoo will go the way of Rove and Miers, but if it does break a defensive line, all the better but I honestly don't believe it will matter.

[Xipe Totec]

71. Exactly!

Scooter Libby did nothing to save his own skin and he could have.

And he got fucked.

John Yoo is a creep, but he is not stoopid.

He knows that keeping silent wont keep him out of jail.

He will cop a plea.

[waiting for hope]

72. Good luck with that ...

;)

[Xipe Totec]

73. Likewise!

:hi:

[Gregorian]

6. Friday night woo hoo!

We'll take what we can get. Even if it's a Gonzo I don't recall.

[Arugula Latte]

7. I can't post what I'd like to say about John Yoo.

*bites tongue*

[Tangerine LaBamba]

12. I know, but will this do, just for now?

"Fuck Yoo."

If you say it out loud, it feels good...................

[Arugula Latte]

16. Yep. I'd like to say "Fuck Yoo" too.

:)

[Autumn]

8. Hell yeah

:kick:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

13. NOW it's starting to get interesting ........

A courageous, intelligent, informed judge who actually believes in justice.

Good.......

[Vinnie From Indy]

9. Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for Yoo

I hope Yoo reaps what he has sown.

[tj2001]

10. Too bad Berkeley can't fire him

yet.

[Sensible321]

54. To think Berkely was where Mario Savio made his speech ...

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"
--Mario Savio, December 3, 1964

... yet they hired John Yoo. The machine hasn't stopped yet.

[RandomKoolzip]

14. Oooh! And the judge quoted from the Fed Papers....

Damn...that HAD to have hurt.

Good.

[Patsy Stone]

15. That really was a nice touch.

Snap!

[DCKit]

17. +2

Just like fundamentalists and religious texts, the Federalists only use the parts they like.

Somehow I don't see the Obama Administration going to bat for Yoo.

[Senator]

18. Judge White's own words even better than Fed. Papers (link to longer article)

From the http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/12/MND5186KL8.DTL">San Francisco Chronicle coverage:

"Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct," White said in refusing to dismiss Jose Padilla's lawsuit against Yoo.

Imagine that! Holding someone responsible for their conduct. No wonder everyone in DC thinks San Francisco is all weirdos.

We may be looking at an acquittal due to inability to understand the charges. This will have to be explained to Mr. Yoo - using small words.

---

[Sunnyshine]

19. Yoo had it coming! (And so do many others) 1- Prisoners of war and enemy combatants are the same!

Mr. Opposes Chemical Weapons Convention-

Truthfully, tell us how you and others granted yourselves the authority to circumvent and/or break U.S. and International law.

[24601]

26. No kidding? I thought that they had to be captured first...n/t

[Sunnyshine]

42. Mr. Yoo helped narrowly defines the "enemy combatants" we deported to GB Camp via MCA 2006

Third Geneva Conventions explicitly says otherwise:

The treatment of prisoners who do not fall into the categories described in Article 4 has led to the current controversy regarding the interpretation of "unlawful combatants" by the George W. Bush administration. The assumption that such a category as unlawful combatant exists is contradicted by the findings by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Celebici Judgment. The judgment quoted the 1958 ICRC commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention: Every person in enemy hands must be either a prisoner of war and, as such, be covered by the Third Convention; or a civilian covered by the Fourth Convention.

Furthermore, "There is no intermediate status; nobody in enemy hands can be outside the law,"

[jazzjunkysue]

20. "It had to be Yoo, it had to be Yoo...I wandered around, finally found somebody who"

:bounce:

[louis-t]

50. "Darling Yoo-oo-oo, send me."

(Allthewaytofederalprison) Yooo-oo-oo...

[Solly Mack]

21. K&R

[pinto]

23. Kick

:kick:

[Vidar]

24. Good for us, bad for Yoo.

[annabanana]

25. DAMN that's good news. Will it be televised?.. streamed?

God, I hope so.

[Swede Atlanta]

27. This appears to be good news....

I am glad to see that the courts are finally beginning to apply the rule of law again. But the behavior of the Bush Administration in terms of policy has so far been not far afield from that of the Bush cabal. First of all in cases filed during the Bush administration, the new administration becomes the defendant and as successor in interest to the case they are likely to claim the same defenses that were being put forward by Bush. But so far Obama's Justice Department is following well in the footsteps of Bush's thugs. I will believe there has been a 'change we can believe in' when I see it.

[lark]

41. Know what you mean

So far the Obama government has been totally following the Bush line in covering up the truth about torture and lawbreaking. He has been a huge disappointment in this area.

[Piewhacket]

28. Anyone have a case id?

Judge Jeffrey S. White is in the US District Court Northern District
of California in San Francisco.

Such a case should be notorious, but no evidence of it appears on
the court website ( http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/ ).
Anyone have any info on case id or complaint?

Belated:

Comentary
http://www.counterpunch.org/cassel01152008.html
http://jonathanturley.org/2008/01/06/accused-terrorist-jose-padilla-sues-law-professor-john-yoo/

Complaint Copy (PDF 100k)
http://howappealing.law.com/PadillaVsYooComplaint.pdf

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

36. Thank you for the PDF

Hey Yoo,


I'm still sane.

And alive.

[Demeter]

29. At Last The Show Begins!

:popcorn:

[madrchsod]

30. what the hell did hamilton,madison and jay know about our "war on terror"

who cares about the federalist papers and the constitution? they were written hundreds of years ago and the times have changed......we must protect the homeland our enemies!

[johnhkennedy]

31. Sign the Petition To Prosecute Bush's Torturers

Hauling Yoo into court is a step forward

but it will still take tremendous public press on Obama
to allow prosecution to go forward.


SIGN THE PETITION
To Prosecute all of those who Tortured In Our Name

at ANGYRVOTERS.ORG

http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG

Over 250,000 have signed
Join them and call yourself a Patriot

.

[man4allcats]

34. Done. Thanks for the link, johnh

and welcome to DU!

[Strong Atheist]

35. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[calimary]

62. Thanks! Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Jefferson23]

33. OMG OMG, THANK YOU JUDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JDPriestly]

37. This is part of Alexander Hamilton's warning against "standing armies."

Federalist Paper #8

(Hamilton warns about the price we would pay if a civil war should occur when our country was very new.)

In this country the scene would be altogether reversed. The jealousy of military establishments would postpone them as long as possible. The want of fortifications, leaving the frontiers of one state open to another, would facilitate inroads. The populous States would, with little difficulty, overrun their less populous neighbors. Conquests would be as easy to be made as difficult to be retained. War, therefore, would be desultory and predatory. PLUNDER and devastation ever march in the train of irregulars. The calamities of individuals would make the principal figure in the events which would characterize our military exploits.

This picture is not too highly wrought; though, I confess, it would not long remain a just one. Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its dictates. The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.

The institutions chiefly alluded to are STANDING ARMIES and the correspondent appendages of military establishments. Standing armies, it is said, are not provided against in the new Constitution; and it is therefore inferred that they may exist under it.<1> Their existence, however, from the very terms of the proposition, is, at most, problematical and uncertain. But standing armies, it may be replied, must inevitably result from a dissolution of the Confederacy. Frequent war and constant apprehension, which require a state of as constant preparation, will infallibly produce them. The weaker States or confederacies would first have recourse to them, to put themselves upon an equality with their more potent neighbors. They would endeavor to supply the inferiority of population and resources by a more regular and effective system of defense, by disciplined troops, and by fortifications. They would, at the same time, be necessitated to strengthen the executive arm of government, in doing which their constitutions would acquire a progressive direction toward monarchy. It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.

The expedients which have been mentioned would soon give the States or confederacies that made use of them a superiority over their neighbors. Small states, or states of less natural strength, under vigorous governments, and with the assistance of disciplined armies, have often triumphed over large states, or states of greater natural strength, which have been destitute of these advantages. Neither the pride nor the safety of the more important States or confederacies would permit them long to submit to this mortifying and adventitious superiority. They would quickly resort to means similar to those by which it had been effected, to reinstate themselves in their lost pre-eminence. Thus, we should, in a little time, see established in every part of this country the same engines of despotism which have been the scourge of the Old World. This, at least, would be the natural course of things; and our reasonings will be the more likely to be just, in proportion as they are accommodated to this standard.

http://hamilton.thefreelibrary.com/Federalist-Papers-Authored-by-Alexander-Hamilton/1-4

The Founding Fathers would be aghast at our "professional military." They were opposed to any form of standing army because they understood that a standing army, a professional military is, ultimately, incompatible with freedom and with democracy. This is the same Alexander Hamilton that conservatives claim to adore. These are the same Federalist Papers that the Federalist Society pretends to exist to protect and implement. Really?

[scipan]

49. Thank you. n/t

[mvd]

38. K&R

Make sure it's under oath..

[me b zola]

39. K&R!

[pleah]

40. I will believe it when it actually happens. n/t

[Merryweather]

43. I too will only celebrate when he's actually on the stand

This SOB found enough wiggle room for Bush to torture, I'd bet he's capable of finding a way to get out of testifying.

[pleah]

44. I'll celebrate when he is behind bars for the rest of his life.

;-)

Welcome! :hi:

[Merryweather]

45. Well, we can dream, can't we?

Thank you btw, very happy to be here! :hi:

[LiberalLovinLug]

46. Stand up Mr Yoo

And receive your official rap on the knuckles
so we can say we have put it all behind us and move on

[bushmeister0]

47. "Judge White denied most elements of Mr. Yoo’s motion."

Of course, he did. What does Yoo know about the law? And this guy is a professor at UC Berkeley?

[defendandprotect]

48. Unfortunately, these legal advisors protected their own careers while

selling out democracy -- and doing great personal harm to individuals who have been

scapegoated in the lies of Iraqi involvement in 9/11.

I don't want to suggest that it would have been easy for them to leave or to whistleblow

and in that regard we do have to strengthen laws to protect government workers from

political intimidation in performance of their duties --

We've seen this with the CIA -- and OVERALL with successful intimidation of DOJ/AGs.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

55. Every time Yoo's name comes up

I'm reminded of "....organ failure or death." Imagine he'll be having some tortuous, sleepless nights of his own now. Of his own making.

K&R

[MasonJar]

56. To the Hague with the whole rotten bunch. Then send them to Guantanamo.

It will be available.

[sendero]

64. Testify?

I think they should waterboard the motherfucker, it's really no big deal.