Robert Parry: First, Jail All Bush's Lawyers

[laststeamtrain]

First, Jail All Bush's Lawyers

By Robert Parry
February 3, 2009

If new Attorney General Eric Holder really means what he said in his oath – that he will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” – then he must give serious consideration to prosecuting crimes committed by the Bush administration, including its torturing of detainees.

And Holder might be advised to begin the process at his own agency, the Department of Justice. To paraphrase Shakespeare, Holder might start by first jailing all of George W. Bush’s lawyers.

The logic of targeting former Justice Department lawyers – the likes of John Yoo and Jay Bybee – is that they were the linchpin for justifying acts that were clearly illegal; they provided the paper cover for both the interrogators in the field and the senior officials back in Washington.

<snip>

In essence, the Bush-Cheney defense is that independent lawyers at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and elsewhere gave honest opinions – and that everyone from the President and Vice President, who approved specific interrogation techniques, to the interrogators, who carried out these acts, operated in good faith.

If, however, that narrative is false – if the lawyers colluded with policymakers in creating legal excuses for criminal acts – then the Bush-Cheney defense collapses. Rather than diligent lawyers providing professional advice, the picture is of consiglieres counseling crime bosses how to skirt the law.

The evidence supports the conspiratorial interpretation. For instance, in his 2006 book War by Other Means, Yoo describes his involvement in frequent White House meetings regarding what “other means” should receive a legal stamp of approval.

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http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/020309.html

[Demeter]

1. Jail them on What Charges?

Stupidity is not a crime. Except against Nature, who has her own forms of justice.

Violating the Constitution? Chancy to prove and prosecute. When was the last time anyone went to jail for that?

Treason? Pushing the envelope there, too.

I'd like to see an airtight case first before anyone goes off half-cocked.

Maybe we ought to stick them on small planes, and let them take their chances.

[bemildred]

2. Well, the criminal code is huge, we could browse around a bit.

There is bound to be something. Maybe we could put them in Gitmo until we figure something out. Waterboard them, see what they say ...

[Sam1]

5. Conspiracy

[yurbud]

8. torture is actually a crime in American law too...

[creeksneakers2]

3. If you can put a lawyer in jail for contriving an opinion

that suits his client, we can lock up most lawyers.

I don't see the crime in what Yoo did.

[struggle4progress]

6. Conspiracy to commit torture, in violation of the War Crimes Act

[Cobalt-60]

4. Lets use the Amontillado solution

Brick them into a room with each other.

[L. Coyote]

7. The post-Nuremberg defense: I was just following the legal guidelines I told my lawyer to write.