Comments on: It’s Not Yoo, It’s the History

By: Batocchio

Batocchio — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:53:29 +0000

Wait, so Yoo wasn’t a radical monarchist type before 9/11?

9/11 changed everything – he met David Addington!

By: Cynthia Kouril

Cynthia Kouril — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:05:12 +0000

And, once again Mary writes the argument that SHOULD carry the day!

Brava

[standing on chair clapping]

By: Cynthia Kouril

Cynthia Kouril — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:03:55 +0000

I never would have guessed it either.

Some amazing chutzpa

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:21:20 +0000

or officials working to block the release of US torture information by the British court system …

I’ll have to come back to this thread for the links later – lots of bases getting touched here. Nice for Blackwater that the attention is elsewhere.

By: skdadl

skdadl — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:22:27 +0000

I agree. That article left me with a lot of questions — it gets more and more complicated the further you get into it — but the passage you’ve quoted plus the conclusion especially left me wondering. Does the conclusion mean that the deal never actually got done? Otherwise, how could the Iraqis have decided not to renew the licence?

It’s a funny bit of reporting. Interesting, but odd.

By: lawordisorder

lawordisorder — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:10:07 +0000

@41

LOOOOOOL

The answer to that one would be ….. “Haven’t the foggiest”

Just my five cents worth

By: bobschacht

bobschacht — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:53:58 +0000

Rachel Maddow had Jeremy Scahill on her show tonight talking about the NYT article (Blackwater Said to Approve Iraqi Payoffs After Shootings).

From my perspective, perhaps the most interesting sentence in the NYT report is this (emphasis added):

If Blackwater followed through, the company or its officials could face charges of obstruction of justice and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans bribes to foreign officials.

Hmmm, what else can you think of that might fall under the scope of the FCPA? How about covering up, say, extraordinary renditions? Or CIA black sites for torturing people? And remember the Bush administrations fondness for subcontracting sleazy activities to outside contractors– like Blackwater?

This could be the gift that keeps on giving, and might solve for us the Gordian knot of the Statute of Limitations. After all, even now, deals could be in the making between the CIA and representatives of foreign governments involved in, say, spiriting captives to Bagram, or Diego Garcia– or an Eastern European country…

Bob in AZ

By: MadDog

MadDog — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:15:06 +0000

And I’m guessing here, but given the timing of that subpoena, it sure looks like those Indiana US attorneys were Bush/Cheney regime holdovers.

By: MadDog

MadDog — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:48:58 +0000

Glad you explained because I was totally scratching my head on that one and decided just to improvise/punt. *g*

By: Jeff Kaye

Jeff Kaye — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:44:28 +0000

Thanks for posting this, EW.

Under Mr. Yoo’s advice and that of his successors, we hold prisoners at Gitmo whose status as anything other than innocent bystanders has not been properly adjudicated.

And earlofhuntingdon you are absolutely right, because such Article 5 hearings (which would determine the status of such captured individuals) were of course never held. The substituted CRST hearings, finally shot down by the Supreme Court last year, were “inadequate”. With Padilla, though, we have an even more egregious situation, as he was a U.S. citizen. His seizure and incarceration — not to mention his torture — had an even more ominous significance, since the legal argument that a U.S. citizen could be so seized, held and treated, was a total refutation of the Constitution.

Don’t expect anything but spin from the likes of Estrada and anyone associated with the legal work on Yoo (or his cohorts, should further legal actions occur).

By the way, I’m not sure when it will be posted, but I should have an article up soon at FDL (today or tomorrow, maybe) following up on the latest activities of Yoo, and a surprise admission from former Bush Asst. Atty. General, and author of one of the torture memos, Daniel Levin.