Quote:

Posted Friday, January 29, 2010 8:07 PM
Justice Official Clears Bush Lawyers in Torture Memo Probe
Newsweek
By Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman

For weeks, the right has heckled Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. for his plans to try the alleged 9/11 conspirators in New York City and his handling of the Christmas bombing plot suspect. Now the left is going to be upset: an upcoming Justice Department report from its ethics-watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), clears the Bush administration lawyers who authored the “torture” memos of professional-misconduct allegations.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/01/29/holder-under-fire.aspx

“Perhaps a Grand Jury in Washington Will Answer the Question of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Regarding Who Is Accountable for a War Started on the False Claims that Iraq Had Weapons of Mass Destruction
By Francis T. Mandanici

In an interview this month in The Washington Post, the former UN chief nuclear weapons inspector and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2005), Mohamed ElBaradei, was asked why the United States got it so wrong on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. ElBaradei responded that he has discovered that the United States decision to go to war was based on regime change and not based on whether Iraq had WMDs. He asked: “How do you justify that almost a million innocent civilians have died as the price of getting rid of a dictator? Who is accountable for this at the end of the day, after it was found that there were no weapons of mass destruction?”

Perhaps a grand jury will answer his question on accountability. Pending in Washington at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia is a report and request to the grand jury that it conduct an investigation of the Bush Administration’s false and fraudulent statements that Iraq had sought uranium for a nuclear weapon.”

This too, bears repeating. Decency abounds, but without accountability, it will not prevail, I fear.

“In his opening Nuremberg address, Justice Robert Jackson said:

“The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberative and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched.”

Absolutely right Jill.

Heartbreakingly eloquent.

“In his opening Nuremberg address, Justice Robert Jackson said:

“The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberative and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched.”

He called Nuremberg defendants “men of a station and rank which does not soil its own hands with blood. These were men who knew how to use lesser folk as tools. We want to reach the planners and designers, the inciters and leaders….” The same standard applies to America under binding US and international laws.” (from afterdowningstreet.org)

And where’s the fourth estate? Too many members of it have been missing in inaction for too many years. They’d prefer to cover Palin’s book signings and stories about the many mistresses of Tiger Woods. Real investigative journalism is work. There are no immediate rewards for in-depth stories that take time to research.

However, if John Yoo is not held to account for his actions then we confirm what the doubters claimed some 60 years ago, that despite our noble talk, Nuremberg was nothing but Victor’s Justice.” (from Narukami posted above)

This response fits as well into the supreme courts rejection of rights in FFLEO’s post above. I know this country has done many, many horrific things during its brief existence, but I never believed I would witness all three branches of govt. folding into a dictatorship of systemic, lawless, cruelty. I am so sad, because I love the US and we have so many good people here. I am watching those people and this nation go down at the hands of despots.

Supreme Court Rejects Guantanamo Detainees’ Torture Case

The justices rejected the appeal without comment Monday. Four British men say they were beaten, shackled in painful stress positions and threatened by dogs during their time at the U.S. naval base in Cuba from 2002 to 2004.

The Obama administration opposed high court review of the case, adhering to its practice of defending Bush administration officials against allegations from one-time suspected terrorists or Taliban allies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/14/supreme-court-rejects-gua_n_391176.html

Very good comments.

John Yoo is lucky he is on the winner side in this current war. If this were Germany in 1946 he would probably have a rope around his neck.

And therein lies the problem.

In 1946 many Germans looked upon the Nuremberg Tribunal as nothing more than Victor’s Justice. Indeed, in the case of Admiral Doenitz several US Naval officers voiced dismay at his conviction for “crimes” they too had committed in the course of the Pacific War. (see The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials by Telford Taylor p567) Likewise, as Robert McNamara recalls, in the film Fog Of War, General Curtis Lemay commented to him in reference to the fire bombing of Tokyo, “He had better win the war.”

Ever since Nuremberg, and the subsequent trials of Doctors, Lawyers, Concentration Camp Guards and Waffen-SS Soldiers, we have been at pains to prove that these were not simply Victor’s Justice, but in fact were the enforcement of the common standards of human decency. That even the conduct of a war has limits.

However, if John Yoo is not held to account for his actions then we confirm what the doubters claimed some 60 years ago, that despite our noble talk, Nuremberg was nothing but Victor’s Justice.

That may be one of the largest trackbacks sections we’ve ever had here.

It just goes to show you – the Bush Co. war crimes are not going to go away.

OK, actually I was reluctant to say she was intelligent. (I really have to work on resisting my occasional temptation to appear “fair and balanced”.) When I said “Everything about her persona has been carefully designed from the ground up to appeal to as many unintelligent, frustrated people as possible” I did mean designed by others than herself.

Thank Yoo, erm, You both. The 1953/54 hit has always been a favorite of mine. I used to sing it in the mid-50s while swinging in an old truck tire swing my dad clove-hitched by rope to a big ol’ live oak tree.

Then, many years later, I sang the song–along with ‘High Hopes’ and others–to my young son while pushing him in a swing my wife and I had made for him out of chains and canvas.

Your lyrics are even better when read to the music. You get A+ for your Yoo, Yoo, Yoo song parody!

LOL! Thanks for posting that!

There is one problem with what you posit. She didn’t do this on her own (nor is she capable of it). Palin was put in this position by those who wish to exploit the stupid among us with her pretty face as they are easily distracted by shiny objects, but she has not demonstrated the depth of thought capable of devising even a somewhat subtle strategy like you describe. All evidence in fact points to her being about as subtle as herpes by nature and only capable showing any kind of subtlety or sophistication when wrangled in by her PR crowd. Other than that, you’re dead on.

The reason Palin is so popular is that she’s made herself THE symbol of empowered American anti-intellectualism. Everything about her persona has been carefully designed from the ground up to appeal to as many unintelligent, frustrated people as possible. She makes them proud of their impaired, shallow worldview, she appeals to their understandable anger, she demonstrates that success doesn’t necessarily follow intelligence and sophistication, and she’s done a good job at convincing them that the corruption that they witness in politics and government is not the product of money and power, but of control by a sphere of overly intelligent know-it-alls who are too smart for their own good.

Note that the style of her attack isn’t directly aimed at raw intelligence itself. That simply wouldn’t wash. She aims a little to the side, at an “elitism” that essentially means overeducated people. People with higher educations tend naturally to be overrepresented in government the world over, so “people with Ivy-League educations” make a good target.

**************

All too “normal” I am afraid.

There are some normal, well-educated people who post within this blawg who would make good congresspersons and higher office holders.

You demonstrated in your last post that you are capable of independent thought when voting for a candidate. Most of my close relatives also like Ms. Palin, to which I can only say that I am astounded.

I never thought I would get to vote for a black man (or multi-racial) in my lifetime, either and I would gladly cast my vote for a qualified woman, although to date no good woman has come forward.

I went to a state college. Am I a “normal person”?

Or will my degree follow me forever as an intellectualist disqualification?

I guess one has to be nothing short of a Palinesque nitwit to be “normal” around here I guess.

Thanks for the explanation. I voted for a third party candidate for the first time since I became a republican and voted for Reagan. I voted for Mitt (though I left the GOP several years ago) when I saw that the jerk McCain was making a come back AFTER he was nearly out of the race. but I wanted to vote for Ron Paul.

Anyway, I voted a third party candidate because I don’t vote for members of the baby killer party (democrats). EVER.

Sarah Palin is a NORMAL person (i.e. she isn’t a member of the corrupt, usurpatious, and subversive class: the Ivy League). I would prefer normal people run his country, the Ivy League types are currently destroying it.

Jill, Thanks, that’s a good image, here’s another one:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Xq1_QVuOUV4/Swwcur2FsKI/AAAAAAAAMhA/VbyfQaGRovk/s1600/1.jpg

I voted for Mr. Obama simply because there was no other person for whom I could vote. He deserved the opportunity, especially given his education as a Constitutional lawyer. However, he has shown Democrats, Republicans, and Independents that he is an abject hypocrite and a base liar.

Senator McCain in a short, angry, war mongering, sick little man with a Napoleonic complex and he displayed his overt stupidity by picking Palin as a running mate. McCain/Palin were the Banty rooster and his clucking, religiously insane hen.

Al Gore is an unintellectual dullard and should not be a spokesperson for “global warming.” His Nobel Peace Prize for “Climate Change” is a joke, similar to Obama’s prize. I could not vote for Gore, especially since he chose Lieberman as his V.P. I despise Bill Clinton and George Bush about equally. I voted for Kerry because Bush is a complete religious fool and my vote was an attempt to get him out of office, although Kerry is not presidential material either.

I doubt that I will ever have the opportunity to vote for an honest, intelligent, ethical man or woman for the presidency in my lifetime. I had many college professors and others in academia who I admired, although those people never seek public office, largely because they are too intelligent, honest, and ethical. Furthermore, the general electorate is too stupid and unread to comprehend what intellectuals and real scholars could bring to politics.

I laughed so hard, I saved the graphic.

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2009/12/11-1

It’s a “slight” modification of the insipid Obama hype poster! Well worth seeing!!!

Was this an Obama training video?

Why did you vote for Obama?

When: Sunday, December 13, 11am-12noon

Where: John Yoo’s House, 1241 Grizzly Peak, Berkeley. Click here for a map.

I hope you’ll join us at Yoo’s this Sunday, rain or shine.

Friends, we had a fantastic action at John Yoo’s house on November 22, when David Swanson and about 30 wonderful activists gathered for the protest, singing, and a “banishing ritual” aimed at bringing Yoo to justice. See the report, links to Indybay and CODEPINK articles, and video below. We’ll be back at John Yoo’s house this Sunday from 11-12 noon for the monthly protest of the “Torture Professor”. Join our call for his dismissal, disbarment, and prosecution for complicity in torture. Yoo is still teaching at UC, still writing and speaking outrageous nonsense about how his actions kept our country safe after 9/11, and still confident that he’s immune from accountability and justice. Our message is that torture is never legal and Yoo must be prosecuted. Flyers, banners, Yoo masks, jail outfit and handcuffs available at the protest. Please bring cameras. Media alert will go out Friday.” (afterdowningstreet.org)

Ima hopin’ you mean po’tree mentor–and not Minotaur.

Well, you done yer mentor proud! I doubt yer in need of my hep enymor.

Here’s a little Yoo verse I wrote meself some months back. Sorry I don’t know how to do italics for certain lines in this poem–which is a takeoff of a knock knock joke.

Knock Knock!
Who’s there?
Halloo! It’s Yoo!
Yoo Who?
John Yoo. That’s who.
The Yoo who wrote the torture memo?
THAT Yoo!
Yes, it’s THAT Yoo. That’s true.
You, Yoo, cannot come in. Shoo, Yoo,
Head to hell where you’ll get your due!

Knock Knock!
Who’s there?
Boohoo! Boohoo!
I beg your pardon. Boo…Who?
It’s Yoo—not Boo! Sorry…I was feeling blue.
Now open the gate and let me through!
As I recall, I bid YOU adieu.
Now go to hell like I told you to.

Knock Knock!
Who’s there?
It’s me. It’s Yoo.
Let me in or I’ll make a great big hullabaloo!
Pooh, Yoo, you’ve done some things that you should rue.
Now it’s time to sit and stew.
The devil said you’re overdue!
Let me in. I’m begging you!
Sorry, Yoo—no can do.
It’s time for you to barbecue
Down with the fire and brimstone crew.
Adieu. Toodle-oo. Don’t come back. SCREW, Yoo!