Author: Officials against torture memo feared wiretaps, physical danger

Author: Officials against torture memo feared wiretaps, physical danger

rawstory.com

According to Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, two top lawyers in the Justice Department who attempted to push back against the authorization of torture by Vice President Cheney's staff became so paranoid that they worried they were being wiretapped and even feared they might be in physical danger.

Mayer told the hosts of MSNBC's Morning Joe that Cheney's staff took advantage of 9/11 to enhance presidential power and that -- in the words of Republican lawyer and former 9/11 Commission director Philip Zelikow -- "fear and anxiety were exploited by fools and zealots."

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We see how the illegal wiretapping ties in directly with policy making by the current administration.

"Mayer added, however, that there were also opponents of torture and other extreme powers within the administration. "Almost from the start after 9/11," she stated, "lawyers in the administration have said, 'That's not the American way, we can't do that, it's criminal, it may be a war crime.'"

Mayer pointed out that "two of the top lawyers in the Bush administration, Jim Comey who was the number two in the Justice Department and Jack Goldsmith who ran the Office of Legal Counsel, were trying really hard to put the country back on what they thought was a legal footing when it came to how to treat prisoners. They were trying to take away the torture memo and replace it with something that was more responsible."

"As they were working on this," Mayer continued, "they became so paranoid that the vice president's office was either trying to push back in some way -- they thought they might be being wiretapped, they thought they might be in physical danger. The fights were that intense. I can't tell you how passionate and hard-fought these fights were inside this government."



rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 21-7-2008 by Leo Strauss]

So the number 2 man at the justice department felt intimidated and felt he was in physical danger if he opposed the torture memo.

reply to post by Leo Strauss


I bet he did. Given the environment of fear this adminsitration has fomented and capitalized on since 9/12/01, it comes as no surprise that the same tactics would be used against anyone within the administration with a dissenting opinion.

Whoa!! weired!!



[edit on 21-7-2008 by whaaa]

It's not a good idea to go against the grain as this poor schmuck found out.

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