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Momentum Gains in Movement to Impeach Bush Torture Lawyer Turned Federal Judge
While the leadership of the Democratic Party remains silent on Obama’s refusal to hold torturers accountable, activists are demanding a special prosecutor and calling on Congress to impeach Jay Bybee.
In the Sunday New York Times, the paper's editors call for the impeachment of Judge Jay Bybee, author of one of the now infamous torture memos released last week. Bybee is now a federal judge. In its editorial, "The Torturers' Manifesto," the Times argued:
[The] investigation should start with the lawyers who wrote these sickening memos, including John Yoo, who now teaches law in California; Steven Bradbury, who was job-hunting when we last heard; and Mr. Bybee, who holds the lifetime seat on the federal appeals court that Mr. Bush rewarded him with.
These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him. And if the administration will not conduct a thorough investigation of these issues, then Congress has a constitutional duty to hold the executive branch accountable. If that means putting Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales on the stand, even Dick Cheney, we are sure Americans can handle it.
Of course, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Cheney, Bush and a slew of others belong on trial with Bybee, not just as witnesses in his case and the Times should be calling for that as well. But let's remember, this is the paper that the Bush administration used as a conveyor belt for its deadly lies so expectations of it should be low.
In a recent piece for Slate, "Impeach Jay Bybee: Why should a suspected war criminal serve as a federal judge?," Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman lays out some of Bybee's history:
"Jay Bybee is currently sitting on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. As assistant attorney general in President George W. Bush's Justice Department, he was responsible for the notorious torture memos that enabled the excesses at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and other places. While John Yoo did most of the staff work for Bybee, Yoo was barely 35 years old - and his memos showed it. They not only took extreme positions; they were legally incompetent, failing to consider many of the most obvious counterarguments. Bybee was 49. He was the grown-up, the seasoned jurist. He had been a law professor and had served as associate counsel to President Bush. When he was promoted to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, he became the final judge of legal matters within the executive branch. Yet his opinion on torture was so poorly reasoned that it was repudiated by his very conservative successor, Jack Goldsmith."
David Swanson, the ever vigilant crusader for holding Bush era criminals accountable for their crimes, has started a website ImpeachBybee.org which contains resources on Bybee and how people can sign a petition calling for his impeachment.
While Obama has made clear that he does not intend to prosecute CIA torturers and their bosses and lawyers, saying it is "time for reflection, not retribution," not everyone in his party is in agreement. As previously reported, Representative Jan Schakowsky, has been outspoken on this issue, as have Senator Russ Feingold and Representative Jerrold Nadler. But the leadership of the Democratic Party has, predictably, been silent. Indeed, Nadler was the first Democrat to call for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. On Friday, Nadler released a statement, saying:
"These memos make it abundantly clear that the Bush administration engaged in torture. Because torture is illegal under American law - as the U.S. is a signatory to the Convention Against Torture - we are legally required to investigate and, when appropriate, to prosecute those responsible for these crimes.
"I commend President Obama for his unequivocal rejection of torture and for his resolve to move forward. The President's intentions are honorable, but don't go far enough. All history teaches us that simply shining a light on criminal acts without holding the responsible people accountable will not prevent repetition of those acts.
"I have previously urged Attorneys General Gonzalez and Mukasey to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the torture abuses of the Bush administration, and now I will convey that same necessity to President Obama and Attorney General Holder. We sorely need an independent investigation that will provide accountability for these terrible crimes.
Meanwhile, Bob Fertik at Democrats.com is circulating a petition to Congress with five primary demands:
1. Demand the appointment of a Special Prosecutor by Attorney General Eric Holder for torture, warrantless wiretapping, and other heinous crimes of the Bush Administration.
2. Prohibit the use of any taxpayer dollars to defend government officials who committed such crimes against lawsuits, or to pay for judgments against them.
3. Impeach Judge Jay Bybee, the torture memo author who serves on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California.
4. Protect human rights by restoring Habeas Corpus and the Fourth Amendment (search and seizure), including repeal of the Orwellian-named Protect America Act, U.S.A. Patriot Act, the FISA Amendments, and Military Commissions Act.
5. End secret government by prohibiting use of "State Secrets," "Sovereign Immunity" and "Signing Statements."
The Obama administration has a moral and legal responsibility to prosecute Bush era criminals. The UN has indicated that Obama's refusal to prosecute torturers may be a violation of International law. As for US law, Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights said, "Whether or not to prosecute law breakers is not a political decision. Laws were broken and crimes were committed. If we are truly a nation of laws ... a prosecutor needs to be appointed and the decisions regarding the guilt of those involved in the torture program should be decided in a court of law."
Comments like "reflection not retribution" and "look forward, not backwards," are insulting to the rule of law and the cause of justice.
- Posted in
45 Comments so far
Show AllNice to see the New York Times with a bit of gumption, for a change.
Yes, impeach, and prosecute ALL who are responsible for the torture.
"When I am president we won't work in secret to avoid honoring our laws and Constitution, we will be straight with the American people and true to our values."
- Senator Barack Obama, 2008
Embarrassing, isn't it? I include myself since I voted for him.
I'm not sorry I voted for him. I believe he can be pressured to do the right thing.
You're entitled to your opinion, but I believe you are fooling yourself. This is very simply, at it's basics, a moral choice. And Obama has already exposed his true morality.
Well, use the calculus that politicians such as Obama understand: money, votes, popularity
Pressure him on those.
I voted for the black women.
If we've reached the point where we citizens need to pressure our president to stop protecting torturers, we're already lost.
Amen!
As a reminder, FDR listened to the voices of dissenters who swayed him to their viewpoint. He then told them, 'now make me do it'. Presidents have tremendous pressure on them that can prevent proper positions on issues, they want to have public pressure to give them cover to do the right thing. The radical right can make the best decision seem wrong to a gullible public if there is not sufficient voices pushing for the correct position.
Your argument seems to be that, despite his explicit statements to the contrary, Obama secretly wants to punish those responsible for torture, but he doesn't believe he has the political strength to do so without the support of the people. This argument has two flaws:
1) It ignores all factual evidence in favor of utopian speculation.
2) In any civilized society, torture should be so completely beyond the pale that anyone who even suggests that it be tolerated or excused should be forever banished from all positions of authority and influence.
If Obama is, as you seem to believe, so morally impotent that he cannot bring himself to state unequivocally that torture is an outrage against humanity and that it must always be punished, then he's not fit to be president.
You claim that he is excessively utopian, yet you want a politician to act with ethics and morals. Sounds to me like you are the one who is excessively utopian.
It doesn't matter what he secretly wants to do. Or secretly wants to not to. What matters is what he does do, or is forced to do.
I don't expect Obama to act with any particular sense of ethics. I viewed him from the start as a wily, self-interested politician. I don't see anything utopian in that. I encourage those who want to pressure Obama to do the right thing, but the seemingly common belief among his supporters that he's only pretending to side with the bad guys until the time is right to put on his superhero outfit and save the world is, in my view, a refusal to look at the evidence and face the facts.
Reported on Rachel Maddow tonight, AG Holder and justice are doing their own investigation into torture laws broken, independent of anything coming out of the whitehouse. The thinking is Obama is focused on economic issues, puts out statements that keep the radical right at bay on the bush torture team, and Holder directs the justice dept in the effort to investigate and, hopefully prosecute, the torture law breakers. Time will tell but, I say again, Obama needs political cover while justice does its work.
I think the Bush administration wants everybody to center themselves around the "torture memos" and the "torture". Everyone has seemed to have forgotten the other major crimes; Waging an Illegal War of Aggression, under false pretenses, and funneling billions to private contractors, who provided poor quality, and then the many lies told, most often when speaking with the "nation" over broadcast media outlets under their control-------------about the many crimes that they were committing right in front of the American People, and these were "world class crimes"---"International Crimes"---they conspired, every single person involved to any degree conspired to commit these crimes in other countries.
Now they can laugh at all of you chasing them around over admittedly very serious crimes; but after all, are actually numbers on a list of crimes.
Bush isn't intelligent enough to pull something off except perhaps remember to "raise the lid" (if he does), nor is Chaney and the others for that matter.
The "Legal People" involved knew that they could avoid answering for their participation----because the system is absolutely corrupt.
Even if the American people can push for criminal trials and convict these slimy little men, they will be pardoned by the future presidents when the 'pendulum swings back". There might even be seen by future generations the GW Bush elementary school, and Dick Cheney "high" (the Texas High School Football Champs of 2044).
If however the American people hand all of these world class criminals over to the world courts for prosecution----that will mean something, that will actually show the world that the USA has the ability to live up to its 'creed'.......
If not, the USA most likely does not have much of a future.
The world is watching you America, your future depends upon how you handle these people, and their many crimes.
Good Luck america, you really need it.
Impeachment does not go far enough, although it is a start. Prosecution and incarceration are more appropriate.
They're not mutually exclusive.
To allow this piece of crap human to have life tenure on a very important US court is simply unacceptable. I wonder if this judge will ever preside over someone whose soul is more depraved than his own?
To allow this piece of crap human to have life tenure on a very important US court is simply unacceptable. I wonder if this judge will ever preside over someone whose soul is more depraved than his own?
And who would that be?...Ann Coulter...or the Head of Hades himself???
I finally saw a photo of Bybee yesterday. You can add him to the list with Karl Rove, Douglas Feith, Fred Kagan, George Will, Ken Starr, John Yoo, David Addingmachine, Phil Gramm, Mitch McConnell, etc. as one the top drawer geeks and nerds of the Republican party.
In August of 2007, LONG after this torture BS had been going on, I was busted for growing my own medicinal cannabis in a state that HAS a medicinal cannabis law. I had 12 armed and masked goons running around the yard, threatening me an trying to intimidate me for growing a plant. I was sentenced to 2 years probation, had to shell out over $3,000 in fines and had to put up with 9 months of breathalyzers and piss tests, even though I haven't had a drink in 24 years, as well as 10 weeks of "anger management". My "crime" involved no one else, didn't bother anyone, and had been gong on for 20 years that they didn't know anything about, because I wasn't causing anyone any problems.
The scum involved in this situation had people tortured and killed, broke both national and international law as well as treaties signed by the republican God Reagan. They helped to destroy the international reputation of this country, or what was left of it after the Reagan era's cowboy "diplomacy", and helped to prove that we are NO LONGER a country of laws.
Why did I NOT get the opportunity to have said "Let's look forward, not backwards", and "Let's not seek retribution", just like those in power? Why is MY "crime" worse than what they did? Their BS cost people their lives. They destroyed people's sanity and ruined their chances for having a decent life ever again. I did no such thing, but yet *I* have to pay for not bothering anyone anywhere, and *I* am classified as a felon. They get lifetime positions in one of the highest, most important courts in the land.
I guess my crime was that I didn't hurt anyone. If I had been a torturer, I would have been able to say "Let's not seek retribution", and it would have been fine. My only crime was really that I didn't hurt ENOUGH people.
This is complete BS. Baybee should not only be impeached, he should be fined, jailed, and sent to Gitmo for the rest of his miserable life. His cell mate should be Yoo. Let the two of them come up with all kinds of great legal thoughts there, where they can't hurt anyone else and won't ever be thought of as anything but the scum they are and have proved themselves to be.
So much for the rule of law. We are under the rule of money and power. Law means nothing unless it's one of US that breaks it.
You have my sympathy, friend. Someone also dropped a dime on me, but I was much luckier to have "cleaned up" long before they got here. I was a victim of that "TIPS" crap....a way to turn in a neighbor or an enemy with NO evidence.
The law is ridiculous and this country has become a farcical POLICE STATE. Corporate and elite crimes have always been given a pass...from the inception of this false democracy. it's just that now, the information is out there for everyone to examine. The revolution draws nigh.....
BTW, did you ever figure out who turned you in? Sounds like you had been growing only for your personal consumption.
It was a brand new next door neighbor, trespassing on my property. He couldn't have seen anything from his yard, and it said in the police report who it was. The Jerk off didn't even have the courtesy to come over and introduce himself to me before this, he just decided that his ONLY contact with me would be to turn me into the cops. Didn't bother to find out anything about my reasons, just ratted out someone he hadn't even met yet.
I had one plant that was 3 feet tall, and 5 that were about a foot each. And yes, it was and had been for my own use. The "detective" who ended up with the case told the DA that I had promised to "assist" her with something and just blew her off. I had been growing my own for 20 years specifically so I WOULDN'T have to buy it, so just WHO was I supposed to have rolled over on? I also consider this whole thing to be as unconstitutional as it gets, so WHY would I even cooperate? The DA used that as an excuse to hurt me as much as she could, and so the full two years. She's STILL being a bitch about it.
And so *I* get two years of gov't intrusion, and this guy gets to be a judge for life? Sorry, but someone is really going to have to work hard to convince me that this is anything but screwing people who have no power. Those in any kind of office can do whatever they want, and there are no charges filed, no justice, and of course, no "retribution". That is saved for US.
Neighbors should mind their own damn business...especially in a situation like this. Who the hell were you hurting? At least you knew who turned you in...I never found out.
Yes, members of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, INC. are exempt from the trivial laws that haunt you and I. Truly disgusting. Check out usavsus.info.
And, of course, CROOKED PHARMA can peddle their addictive manufactured poisons on TV every 30 seconds with no consequences.
When my 85 year old pop came to live with me, the Jersey docs had him on 9 pills a day. Said he would die without them. Along with the aid of a naturopath, we got him off all the drugs HE DID NOT NEED and put him on a bunch of vitamins he did need. Alive and kicking, his liver is now de-toxed and at 85, the worse thing he has is hemorrhoids.
Also, here's some very interesting info about the non-existent drug laws in Portugal...After ALL DRUGS were decriminalized, all the nay-sayers were proved totally WRONG!
http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf
Don't even get me started on big pharma. I know they are crooks, it didn't even take their admission that they are in business for the money, and NOT to cure anyone. Isn't that what they told us about all those horrible "drug dealers" out there, that all they wanted was the money, and they didn't care about you or your life at all? How does that differ from big Pharma?
Funny thing is that if cannabis were legal, it could replace thousands of their high priced, seriously murderous drugs. They kill 200,000 Americans every year with those things, but a doctor wrote a note, so that is okay.
My last Lady friend died a year ago last February 19th, largely from botched surgeries and the drugs they put her on afterwards, largely, I think to keep her from complaining. Finally killed her off.
When I got sentenced, one thing they demanded was a "psych eval", and the b*tch that did it on me came to the conclusion that I was a narcissistic compulsive, the narcissist thing because I was pissed at having my life destroyed over this, and the compulsive for not wanting to do their freaking pills. In fact, I've had more of those "law enforcement" types try to shove pills down my throat than anyone in my life ever has before. When I mentioned to the "pretrial supervisor" that I had been using cannabis for depression for over 20 years, she looked at me and said "They have drugs for that, now". When I pointed out to her that those very drugs are responsible for 10% of the 200,000 dead Americans from prescription drugs every year and that cannabis has NEVER been implicated in one single human death, she had nothing to say but "but it's still illegal".
I keep wondering what kind of kickback system the state has with the pharma jerks, because they seem to try to put EVERYONE on pills when they start coming through the system. And these are the people who will tell you to stay off of drugs while they are trying to get you to TAKE drugs. Their hypocrisy is blinding.
I'm aware of Portugal, it's about time that the rest of the country become informed. Thanks for the link. It's time that those in favor of prohibition learn what they are talking about, because they are fools who don't understand the first thing about it. In fact, EVERY country where it's been tried has learned that they lessened their problems, not increased them. What we are dealing with is delusion by those whose attitudes are against humanity. They insist that everyone will be doing drugs if they are legalized, but if you ask them if THEY will be, they insist they won't. But the insist that YOU will. Such trust in one's fellow man.
One last thing and I'll let it rest...for now....
If anyone out there is not depressed over the direction in which this country and world are travelling............or in the least, deeply concerned.....they are BRAIN DEAD. Unfortunately, I know too many beings who fall within this category.If you make a decision to take some manufactured poison touted on THE BOX, you are making a big mistake. Go find some good smoke....BE CAREFUL OF YOUR SOURCES AND WHO YOU ASK....and take a few tokes, relax and enjoy your moments.....
OR, take up residence in Portugal.
angryoldman and WJM,
You guys were prosecuted because you weren't growing, processing, selling, or transporting drugs for the CIA.
I agree, seditious, BUT, I was not prosecuted.....got lucky....
in Britain, ratting on someone is known as "shopping".
is this what bush meant when he said "just keep shopping, folks."
it's amazing, wjm, how an organic plant or a bit of shake in the bottom of a baggie can cause one so much frustration and humiliation and money while on the other hand, these deranged animals are not only allowed to walk free, uncaged, but also make rulings that affect the essence of life.
i only disagree with you on one point: our tax dollars should not be foolishly spent keeping them in a cell for life. instead, allow the victims their 15 minutes of fame - in this instance, perhaps several hours - and let them return the favors. then, simply bury the sorry sonofabitches.
As others have noted, we live in a strange country: "Torture allowable...marijuana not."
This and all the other pieces-of-trash republican rubber stamps appointed by American hating, freedom hating, liberty hating, republicans should be unseated investigated for all their criminal corruption, tortured, then executed like the foul vile filth they represent. Then maybe we could live in a democracy we could be proud of.
Well Obama = George Bush the 3rd
so, the ONLY way we are going to prosecute or impeach these criminals is to have brave Prosecutors
as well as brave news journalists and other people with voices to call for these crimes to be punished.
We the people also need to demand to have Justice served.
It's just strange how this nation never seems to learn from the past.
Obama not wanting to go after these criminals is for his own protection,
I mean he hasn't repealed any of these anti-constitutionalist acts that were passed, why not?
Maybe because he has plans to use them himself and doesn't want to get himself prosecuted some time down the line.
Thank you Bob Fertik.
Thanks, Penelope - I agree with you wholeheartedly. Accountability is at the heart of this - you do it, you account for it. End of story. AND the marijuana laws are asinine - legalize it, tax it and poof - no more deficit. How hard is THAT, for God's sakes? And to angryoldman, I hope you got good and verbal with your snitch neighbor - is he nuts? He moves into a new neighborhood, and this is how he starts? What a lackwit.
"And to angryoldman, I hope you got good and verbal with your snitch neighbor - is he nuts? He moves into a new neighborhood, and this is how he starts? What a lackwit."
Gail, it was me. I moved rather than deal with this moron again. Plus, there is an automatic restraining order that goes into place when you are busted (at least there was in my case), and I just didn't trust this moron to be honest and NOT try and have me busted for violating it. Discretion is the better part of valor, they say, and so I moved.
And I've heard since I moved that he is out telling all the other neighbors what their yards need to look like and how they should be taking care of their houses. I'm afraid I would have to tell him where to go, and that would be a violation of the restraining order, too. The guy is a Nazi, and I won't live near those people.
I do agree, he is a complete lackwit, though I've never heard that term before. But I like it.
My experience is judges are criminals. Perfect place for Bybee as any justice being dispensed is purely by accident. Thank you Mr. Scahill.
It took a vote of the supreme court to restore Habeas corpus as law of the land.
And they voted 5-4 to honor their oaths to protect the constitution from enemies foreign and domestic.
Sixth Amendment: guarantees a speedy public trial for criminal offenses. It requires trial by a jury, guarantees the right to legal counsel for the accused, and guarantees that the accused may require witnesses to attend the trial and testify in the presence of the accused. It also guarantees the accused a right to know the charges against him.
This constitutional law is designed to stop the government law enforcement agencies from throwing people in jail and keeping them there for the advancement of their own for power.
5-4 vote. 5-4 , I have no words, it should have been a 9-0 vote, hands down , no brainier.
Impeach the 4 no vote Supreme court judges with Bybee.
BornFreemen
>> Torture Lawyer Turned Federal Judge
Like its a turning to the dark side (Scahill agrees, if he actually wrote the headline).
The media make a lot of waterboarding and insects, but nobody is mentioning that there have been dozens of deaths during interrogation which were ruled homicides by military pathologists. Since Bybee gave legal justification for clearly unlawful acts, ignored well established precedents, statutes and treaties, and authorized felonious conduct which resulted in death (even if death were inadvertent), he is guilty of felony murder.
Obama can try to slime his way out of this by pretending that the dedicated public servants at the CIA were merely doing their patriotic duty and are guilty of nothing more than a breach of etiquette, thus misprisoning felonies and violating the affirmative duty to prosecute under the UN Conventions on Torture, but the fact is that he is obstructing justice. Surely a Harvard-trained lawyer and law review alumnus understands this, even a Neocon 2.0 version.
Bybee's criminal liability is also clear; he should be prosecuted, and should definitely not remain on the bench. He's a disgrace to the legal profession, the judiciary and the nation.
When will Mr. Obama uphold his oath to:
"take care that the laws be faithfully executed,..." Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution.
If he can't stand the heat, he should get out of the kitchen.
Perhaps someone else already asked this question, but I'll risk repeating, instead of reading all of the posts already made.
Jeremy Scahill quotes The NYT:
"[The] investigation should start with the lawyers who wrote these sickening memos, including John Yoo, who now teaches law in California; ..."
OKAY, NOW, does Yoo have any students in his class(es)? If yes, then who the hell are such students; more brat warmongering, blood-thirsty, ... sh*ts of some insane people who think they're elites, or students in general? If students in general, then why the hell are they so damn weak that they'd attend classes by this damningly insane John Yoo, instead of [boycotting] his classes and (while assuming there are enough of these students) making a loud point of it at the school? They should bounce Yoo's ass off campus once and for all; or at least make a nice and loud boycott on campus, of his classes.
Just a few questions crossing my mind as I was beginning the reading of the article.
Chapman College in Orange, Calif. is a private school funded by real estate barons and other people with too much money. The campus is located in a somewhat conservative area of Southern California. I say somewhat because people there are more apolitical than conservative.
The people of Orange County do, however, elect some of the worst Congresspersons you can imagine. So you get people like B-1 Bob Dornan and Christopher Cox, former lawyer to a Ponzi schemer but now head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cox helped lose your tax dollars to the banksters because he doesn't like to regulate them (that is, do his job).
Chapman College is filled with busts and oil paintings of these captains of industry and real estate moguls, who've donated lots of money to the campus. Oddly, the school has a Department of Peace, which has brought speakers like Howard Zinn and Scott Ritter to campus.
It's hard to characterize the students. Probably they have wealthy parents.
I don't know if Yoo gets full classes at Chapman, but I'd guess he's there instead of at U.C. Berkeley because the students at Chapman are too ignorant to care.
-TIA
Where is the outrage at the University of California, Berkeley, campus where John Yoo lectures? Why aren't students mounting daily sit-ins at the Law Department demanding his sacking? Where are the UCB Faculty in academically stoning this psychopath?
Nope. Americans have gone soft, especially the students. They prefer to bury their heads in their iPods. Gosh, even the Californians lap up Pelosi and Harman.
We are lost.
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins - Native American proverb.