Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere...

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Justice Department secretly gave the green light for the U.S. military to attack apartment buildings and office complexes inside the United States, deploy high-tech surveillance against U.S. citizens and potentially suspend First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights in order to combat the terror threat, according to a memo released Monday.

 

Many of the actions discussed in the Oct. 23, 2001, memo to then White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's chief lawyer, William Haynes, were never actually taken.

 

But the memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel—along with others made public for the first time Monday—illustrates with new details the extraordinary post-9/11 powers asserted by Bush administration lawyers. Those assertions ultimately led to such controversial policies as allowing the waterboarding of terror suspects and permitting warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens—steps that remain the subject of ongoing investigations by Congress and the Justice Department. The memo was co-written by John Yoo, at the time a deputy attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel. Yoo, now a professor at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, has emerged as one of the central figures in those ongoing investigations.

Quantcast

 

In perhaps the most surprising assertion, the Oct. 23, 2001, memo suggested the president could even suspend press freedoms if he concluded it was necessary to wage the war on terror. "First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," Yoo wrote in the memo entitled "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activity Within the United States."

 

This claim was viewed as so extreme that it was essentially (and secretly) revoked—but not until October of last year, seven years after the memo was written and with barely three and a half months left in the Bush administration.

wag the dog.

Why is John Yoo still employed?

Why is John Yoo still employed?

Because to some, what the Bush administration did was heroic acts of bravery to save America.

Why is John Yoo still employed?

Because when a person gets tenure, they have to do an awful, awful lot to lose it.

haha, writing a memo that justified torture is not enough?

Its scary what the combination of fear, power and cowardice will do to a person. Fortunately, things didn't get this far. They went too far as it is, but, this could have been disastrous.

The real story is the Obama Admin using this to try and distract from the terrible economic news. This is barely a story, we need to stop talking about George Bush and focus on the problems we have no. Complaining about the previous Admin(s) does nothing.

The real story is the Obama Admin using this to try and distract from the terrible economic news. This is barely a story, we need to stop talking about George Bush and focus on the problems we have no. Complaining about the previous Admin(s) does nothing.

While I'm sure it was indeed used (partially) as a distraction, I do think it is a story. I think its important for us to know more of what went on during that administration.

 

naw I disagree. It would have been a terrible precedent to indeed say to all future presidents that everything you do can permanently be done behind the scenes. As with South America but to a far lesser degree, sometimes you need to air all the dirty laundry to heal and move on.

While I'm sure it was indeed used (partially) as a distraction, I do think it is a story. I think its important for us to know more of what went on during that administration.

To an extent, sure. But we all know Bush didn't really care much about these kind of rights to begin with and this just reinforces that notion. It's kinda s***ty of Obama to just release this memo the day after the dow drops below 7000.

To an extent, sure. But we all know Bush didn't really care much about these kind of rights to begin with and this just reinforces that notion. It's kinda s***ty of Obama to just release this memo the day after the dow drops below 7000.

 

Oh please, he's a month into office, the DOJ reports came out YESTERDAY, as it was falling, it takes time to release classified documents, and these stories never find legs anyways.

 

Is any news outlet talking about this? Do you remember in August when a commission basically said the Bush admin KNEW they were cooking up WMD info definitively and not a single media company reported on it? People have Bush fatigue, it doesn't mean you keep info that shouldn't be kept just to try and get a wedge that doesn't get wheels anyways.

 

Gibbs didn't even bring it up in press, the only thing people are talking about right now is Iran and AIG.

To be honest I have no idea if people are talking about this out in the media.

To be honest I have no idea if people are talking about this out in the media.

 

well for it to be a useful tactic of 'dumping' a document to get peoples minds off of the economy, don't you think they'd dump it and publicize it? Otherwise it's the worst tactic ever.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin

 

I think of that quote anytime I see one of the many frightening steps taken/ideas thought of by the last administration following 9/11. Yikes.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin

 

I think of that quote anytime I see one of the many frightening steps taken/ideas thought of by the last administration following 9/11. Yikes.

Exactly. That is why I used the word cowardice, which I think applies to people who choose the illusion of security over the real security of personal freedoms.

 

I believe it is perfectly reasonable at that point in time for the President to know what were *ALL* of his options. That's what I see in ths, and I honestly am not too worked up over it.

To be fair, I don't think he "considered changing" the constitution - just disregarding the part he didn't want to follow.

I believe it is perfectly reasonable at that point in time for the President to know what were *ALL* of his options. That's what I see in ths, and I honestly am not too worked up over it.

 

The point is that those shouldn't even be options.

The point is that those shouldn't even be options.

Agree. Its amazing to me that someone like this yahoo John Yoo can get a job at that level, with that mindset.

 

I think we all get what is on GW's permanent record by now, and those of us who don't get it will never get it whether that be through ignorance or stupidity. The Obama administration claimed they wouldn't play the blame game and do business as usual in Washington, yet that's exactly what they're doing. Rather than coming up with solutions to the problems, reassuring the American people and moving forward, they point back and resurrect the ghost of Christmas past in GW Bush on what seems to be a daily basis. It's getting old now, nay...it's beyond old now. Move us forward, move us onward...and stop pointing out the obvious failures of the Bush administration.

 

For those who get it, no explanation is necessary. For those that do not get it, no explanation will do.

The point is that those shouldn't even be options.

 

Ask Japan about what should, and should not be, options.

 

In a world where in one moment we could kill hundreds of thousands of humans, and destroy ecosystems for hundreds of years, losing our right to Rush Limbaugh and the New York Times, seems rather small.

Should the government never release documents like this? I don't recall the Obama administration making a big to-do about this or calling for prosecutions.

 

It may not be a good or workable solution, but they did just pass almost a trillion-with-a-T dollars worth of economic solution.

I think we all get what is on GW's permanent record by now, and those of us who don't get it will never get it whether that be through ignorance or stupidity. The Obama administration claimed they wouldn't play the blame game and do business as usual in Washington, yet that's exactly what they're doing. Rather than coming up with solutions to the problems, reassuring the American people and moving forward, they point back and resurrect the ghost of Christmas past in GW Bush on what seems to be a daily basis. It's getting old now, nay...it's beyond old now. Move us forward, move us onward...and stop pointing out the obvious failures of the Bush administration.

 

For those who get it, no explanation is necessary. For those that do not get it, no explanation will do.

 

no offense, but they've proposed a large spending package, are working on unfreezing the credit markets, working on reforming health care, trying to bring in Iran and get moving on greener energy...

 

and meanwhile they haven't supported the senate hoping to do truth commissions of the Bush administration or sought to remove executive privilege from karl rove cases.

 

Yet they release documents that people have been asking for for years and the government has nor real reason to keep hidden, and they are not proposing any solutions and 'looking back instead of looking forward'

 

For historical purposes, its important to have actual information out there, not just the memories of the people who lived through it that "just knew what he was doing".