How Extreme is John Yoo? : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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How Extreme is John Yoo?

Posted on: June 30, 2008 9:23 AM, by Ed Brayton

From a 2005 debate between John Yoo and Doug Cassell:

Cassel: If the president deems that he's got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's child, there is no law that can stop him?
Yoo: No treaty

Cassel: Also no law by Congress -- that is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo...

Yoo: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that.

No matter how cynical I get, I can't keep up.

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Comments

Would the prez at least end up on the Child Sex Offender Registry list? I mean my boys are seven and younger....

Posted by: Rev. AJB | June 30, 2008 11:10 AM

Hmm the pattern of his delusion seems to be that a republican president is omnipotent and without restriction while it is illegal for a democrat to even hold the office. A fascinating example of political psychosis! I prescribe 30 cc's of Thorazine and 40 of Haldol, taken daily.

Posted by: Julian | June 30, 2008 12:07 PM

I fear that Yoo is being quote-mined and I think we need some more context, like a complete transcript.

Posted by: Bruce | June 30, 2008 1:13 PM

http://rwor.org/audio/yoo%20excerpt.mp3

About six minutes of audio. He's not being quote mined.

Posted by: sng | June 30, 2008 1:39 PM

Even if he were being quote-mined that statement about the President not being bound by any treaties is just creepy. Just who are they supposed to control?

Posted by: kehrsam | June 30, 2008 1:54 PM

but would he make the same argument if barry or hillary were president?

Posted by: khefera | June 30, 2008 2:22 PM

>but would he make the same argument if barry or hillary were president?

Rhetorical question FTW. :-)

Of course not. If it were A Dem he'd be all about the Rule of Law and what-not.

Remember:
Lie about cheating on your wife - get impeached.

Lie, get people killed and run the economy into the ground - low approval rating, hold hands with a Saudi King.

Posted by: Ian Kennedy | June 30, 2008 2:59 PM

He said the same thing last week, essentially, to Conyers, who asked him if the president can order someone buried alive.

Posted by: Gordon S | June 30, 2008 4:59 PM

The troublesome thing to me is that he's been pinned down on this stuff a few times, and nobody bothers to dig deeper to make one really obvious point when Yoo dodges the question.

Instead of saying, "Yes, the President can have somebody buried alive," he says something like, "I don't know of any time when that would be the necessary." I have yet to see somebody say, "OK, so whose job is it to decide when it's necessary?" That's the WHOLE POINT. If an executive's power is only limited by what the executive himself deems necessary, then it's not limited at all. Jeez.

Posted by: Troublesome Frog | June 30, 2008 6:06 PM

T. Frog: The fact is that too many of the people that we have entrusted to carry out the will of the people are not interested in the trust that we invest in them because they are unable or unwilling to accept responsibility. The are interested only in the attendant privileges.

Guess their parents never made a big deal about such mundanities as integrity, honesty, and, ahh, stuff like that there.

Posted by: Crudely Wrott | June 30, 2008 6:14 PM

It is time for impeachment! But no one has the balls to do it. Bush would crush the balls of a kid if he thought it further the interests of whoever backs him. That is why he appoints hacks to make sure he can weasel his way into being able to do it if he wants to.

Posted by: King of Ireland | June 30, 2008 8:57 PM

"...too many of the people that we have entrusted to carry out the will of the people are not interested in the trust that we invest in them because they are unable or unwilling to accept responsibility."

Exactly. Tom Clancy said in one of his Jack Ryan books something to the effect of: "The biggest problem with this country is that too often we elect people to run the country that we would not trust alone with our children, our spouse, or our bankbook."

The standards of honesty and ethics MUST be higher for our 'leaders' than those for the 'common' citizen, precisley BECAUSE they are our leaders - we trust them to know more, to act in our collective best interests, and, most of all, not to roally fuck things up for our grandchildren.
(The standards for non-elected high officials should be at least as high)

Of course, we will never get to this ideal state; it would be refreshing, though, to hold politicians' feet to the fire when they are caught with their hands in whatever cookie jar.

Personally, I thought Clinton should have resigned rather than put the Presidency (and the country) through the ordeal of an impeachment trial. AhWell, I have a piss-poor record when it comes to Presidents: I voted for Jimmy Carter on my 18th birthday, and haven't voted for a winning President since.

Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | June 30, 2008 10:08 PM