World-News

Robert Pallitto, Foreign Policy In Focus: "In the months following September 11, 2001, lawyers in the White House and the Justice Department interpreted US and international law to provide legal support for the administration in its 'war on terror.' With regard to interrogation of terror suspects, John Yoo, David Addington, Jay Bybee, and others justified the use of such harsh and dangerous tactics as waterboarding and stress positions. In a 2002 memo, they advised that only actions causing severe pain equivalent to 'organ failure' would violate the US torture law. Moreover, the memo stated that only if they acted with the specific intention to cause such pain - rather than acting with the primary goal of obtaining information - would the interrogators violate the law. Finally, the memo argued that these interrogations were rooted in an inherent executive power to protect the nation. As such, other branches of government could not review or limit such policies."

http://www.truthout.org/030409K



Declassified Memos Provide Look Into Bush Policies

Ari Shapiro, NPR News: "The Obama administration declassified nine Justice Department legal memos on Monday that asserted a sweeping view of presidential power, including authorizing the military to search Americans' homes without a warrant and sending detainees to other countries regardless of congressional statutes that might dictate otherwise. Now civil liberties groups are pushing for the release of dozens of similar memos that remain classified. About a month ago, the American Civil Liberties Union sent the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel a letter and a chart. The chart listed 55 classified Bush administration legal memos on national security issues. The letter basically said, 'release these memos.'"

http://www.truthout.org/030409L



Memos Provide Blueprint for Police State

Marjorie Cohn, Truthout: "Seven newly released memos from the Bush Justice Department reveal a concerted strategy to cloak the president with power to override the Constitution. The memos provide 'legal' rationales for the president to suspend freedom of speech and press; order warrantless searches and seizures, including wiretaps of US citizens; lock up US citizens indefinitely in the United States without criminal charges; send suspected terrorists to other countries where they will likely be tortured; and unilaterally abrogate treaties."

http://www.truthout.org/030409A



Bush Memos on Presidential Power Shock Legal Experts

David G. Savage, The Chicago Tribune: "Legal experts said Tuesday they were taken aback by the claim in the latest batch of secret Bush-era memos that the president alone had the power to set the rules during the war on terrorism. Yale law professor Jack Balkin called this a 'theory of presidential dictatorship. They say the battlefield is everywhere. And the president can do anything he wants, so long as it involves the military and the enemy.' The criticism was not limited to liberals. 'I agree with the left on this one,' said Orin Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University. The approach in the memos 'was simply not a plausible reading of the case law. The Bush [Office of Legal Counsel] eventually rejected [the] memos because they were wrong on the law, and they were right to do so.'"

http://www.truthout.org/030509M



Constitutional Scholar Calls Bush Torture Memos Treason

Naomi Wolf, AlterNet: "In early March, more shocking details emerged about George W. Bush legal counsel John Yoo's memos outlining the destruction of the republic. The memos lay the legal groundwork for the president to send the military to wage war against US citizens; take them from their homes to Navy brigs without trial and keep them forever; close down the First Amendment; and invade whatever country he chooses without regard to any treaty or objection by Congress."

http://www.truthout.org/032609L

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Yoo and The Subversion of Liberty Narrowly Averted
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/04-9



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