Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred'

Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred'

blog. newsweek.com

The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.

The views of former Justice lawyer John Yoo were deemed to be so extreme and out of step with legal precedents that they prompted the Justice Department's internal watchdog office to conclude last year that he committed "intentional professional misconduct" when he advised the CIA it could proceed with waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques against Al Qaeda suspects.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 20-2-2010 by converge]

But wait... there's this little detail



Unbelievable. These people set the guidelines for torture, believed the President had the power to massacre civilians and in the end they will only be guilty of displaying “poor judgment.”

Maybe the Department of Justice should change its name to something that more accurately describes the things that go on there and they support.

blog. newsweek.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Another interesting piece of information:



The Bush administration understood exactly the implications of the policies they were implementing. Are these the actions of people who thought they were on the right side of the law and history?

[edit on 20-2-2010 by converge]

How many times have I heard BUSH state his first goal was to protect the safety of citizens as used to justify trampling the constitution? I think that was his only excuse. Now we find out he is seeking advise on whether he had the ability to massacre citizens?

These attorneys should be disbarred. Just because a President follows an attorney ill advice does not get them out of the loop of consequences. Talk about a conspiracy to commit high crimes.

They all think they are above the people they govern. They have positions of power and it's gone straight to their corrupted heads and out of the peoples hands. We are rats worth nothing more than running their profit machines and giving them the illusion of power over us.

How long will humanity let these few bully us?

reply to post by converge


Stop spreading disinfo. Bush was and is the GREATEST HERO ever been in history of United States of America You must be a Muslim Terrorist spreading all the evil vile lies. You have NO RIGHT to spread such news and FACTS among people. I thought Bush already issued this in PATRIOTIC ACT no negative news should be published. Bush is only FOLLOWING God's words and you despicable people are slandering the CHOSEN ONE by God himself. Did you forgot the BIBLICAL QUOTES he had on his briefings, what proof do you need more he is the CHOSEN ONE by God. What if Bush only made money by giving contracts to his friends in Blackwater and for reconstruction, people need to take care of their needs. What if he tortured or imprisoned people for life without any case against them HE IS CHOSEN ONE he can do anything he wants.

Here you freedom loving commies I will tell you tale about the Chosen One;
George "W" Bush, also known as God W, was the first Behind to Mouth conservative leader of the free world and singlehandedly turned it into not so free world. You people are no match for him. Do you terrorists even know before becoming the most fail President in history, he ran a failure of an oil company, was the owner of the failure Texas Rangers, a failure of a baseball team, and was Chief Executioner for the State of Texas, land of Jesus and Mexicans. He is the Republican version of Jimmy Carter minus the good intentions and awesome alcoholic brother. Behind the mask of stupidity, W is secretly one of the most brilliant men to ever exist.

If you don't like Bush, according to Lord Sean Hannity, you are a commie, hippie, socialist, and a fascist. During his life he managed to dodge the Vietnam war, rig presidential elections, not once, but twice, pass all the laws he ever wanted to pass (making him the first real dictator of the USA), while making himself, his family and all of his friends very rich by starting two wars....Do you know some argue that God W is the greatest President ever for his epic lulz and for making Europe, Britain, NATO, various parts of South America, and most of the Middle East his personal lady dogs. W has caused more pain in behind to the world than any other troll IRL, leading to the theory that he is actually the physical incarnation of Trolldin on Earth. He also possesses the remarkable ability to dodge any and all objects thrown at him.

Look at this how beautifully he dodges the Weapon of Mass Destruction



Can you name ONE person in history who achieved this? NO you cannot because NO ONE as uberawesome as God Bush.

Do you know his Highness believes in the death penalty but is against abortions. The important thing is he is AGAINST ABORTIONS!!! Forget about death, it's normal to die.

So I repeat DO NOT spread such lies about God W and his aSSociates.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - GW Bush

Interesting that you post/found this, I was just reading about a group called the Oath Keepers, ever heard of them?
This is an interview with bill o'reilly just two or 3 days ago.



This is exactly what they are against and Billy boy is making them look like crazies, interesting that they only want law enforcement, firefighters and army vets as members.

Sends an even stronger message perhaps doesn't it?

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Talk about deflecting the issues on the part of bill o'reilly. He called the oath keeper guys opinion that the government disarming citizens over bad weather was an "extremist" position.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Guess MR O'Reilly needs to see this video



Guess he still feels bu#thurt being targeted by 4Chan Anons



[edit on 20-2-2010 by December_Rain]

This is not about John Yoo, it goes deeper than him.

It is all about Jay Bybee. Don't know who he is? He's a sitting Federal Judge, confirmed by the Senate, who will, for the next 25 years, have the power to convict or not convict these people. But, he's also the man who crafted the torture system (not John Yoo), to the point of detailing how many times per day per person was acceptable, and gave seemingly legal backing to the CIA. "Without his authorization, the members of the CIA may well not have done it at all, or if they had, they would be, plainly, subject to criminal responsibility today."

How did he get confirmed? No one was aware of the secret memoranda. Also, on the very day he was scheduled for confirmation, Colin Powell was testifying at the UN on the US case for invading Iraq so the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee weren't paying attention to his confirmation proceeding. A perfect set up don't you think?

My April, 2009 thread on the subject: Jay Bybee - The real reason why Bush will not be prosecuted for torture

Do you think THIS man, JAY BYBEE, a former justice department exec and sitting FEDERAL JUDGE, CONFIRMED BY THE SENATE, will ever be brought up on disciplinary charges???
I'd say. he's pretty well bullet-proof.




[edit on 20/2/2010 by Iamonlyhuman]

An interesting thought crossed my mind while reading this thread, or perhaps ironic is a better word. Didn't Janet Reno set the precedent for this at Waco?

reply to post by December_Rain



December_Rain, that may be the funniest reply in the history of ATS... Dodging the weapon of mass destruction was a priceless addition as well.. I applaud you

[edit on 20-2-2010 by Ouroborus2012]

reply to post by December_Rain


Epic win, just epic. I salute you for that.

Unfortunately, I doubt the American people will ever truly care about these issues.

reply to post by yasny


How dare you say that. Evil did not exist before George W took office. The government only maybe done something illegal in Waco. Those evil cultist were a threat to the world.

I am curious why this is even being posted. I agree Bush made some crazy ROE's and was not well liked, but when did we go in and wipe out an entire town and kill EVERYONE? Yes innocents were killed (like in EVERY war) and again his ROE's have caused mayham, but he has been out of office for almost a year and a half, so this article and "shocking discovery" sounds more like a way to take some heat off the CURRENT PRESIDENT for continuing the "massacre"....IMO.

reply to post by rcwj1975


It's being posted because the OP is interested in it. I don't see how it's taking heat of anyone. It's just an acknowledgment of something that happened not an excuse for Obama.

Originally posted by antonia

It's being posted because the OP is interested in it. I don't see how it's taking heat of anyone. It's just an acknowledgment of something that happened not an excuse for Obama.

I am not worried about the member posting it, its the timing of the article from Newsweek. The articles main bases is that the FORMER president COULD have wiped out entire towns...did he? Then it seems like they realized he DIDN'T do that, so they focus on the "torture" aspect. The thing is, why didn't the article state that the current administration hasn't done anything to change what their bitching about?

It's not going to change simply because they do not care about you. If wiping a village of people is the price to pay for whatever they want done, it's acceptable. We're expendable. Worthless to them and our opinions do not matter because we will die while a new generation rises and the government stays the same. This is the world we are living in now, but for how long?

reply to post by rcwj1975


It is news because it was previously unrevealed to the public before. It is relevant because of that. I don't think it's some kind of kudos to Bush that he didn't order people to wipe out whole villages. He did plenty of other things to piss Afghans and Iraqi's off (and Americans). As for "Obama" cover, considering there's a front page story on healthcare reform, I think they are pretty much in his corner. The MSM has always been a government mouth piece in one way or another. I didn't need newsweek to tell me Bush was a bloodthirsty puppet nor do I need them to tell me Obama is just Bush jr. the 2nd.

reply to post by December_Rain


December that was indeed a jewel of a response. Stars won't do - I'd give you a quasar if I could. Your post should be in the ATS hall of fame. Bravo!!

Whoops! I forgot to add that W could do whatever he wanted because he was the deciderer. Put that in you dickshunary and smoke it.

[edit on 20-2-2010 by Asktheanimals]