Obama administration defends John Yoo
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
By: Jesse Thomson-Burns
Justice Department files amicus brief granting immunity
Attorney General Eric Holder’s
Justice Department is in a struggle to defend war criminal John Yoo from
prosecution. The Holder DOJ has filed a sweeping amicus brief in the Padilla v. Yoo case
before the Ninth Circuit federal court that would grant immunity to Justice
Department lawyers who wrote memoranda approving torture, disappearings
(holding of individuals outside of access to justice for prolonged periods) and
other crimes against humanity.
John Yoo |
The allegation in the case of Padilla
v. Yoo is that Yoo provided the legal
rationalization for the torture of José Padilla. The Bush administration held
Padilla, a U.S. citizen, for more than three years as an “illegal enemy combatant.”
The torture methods that Yoo
gave the okay to included sensory deprevation, sleep deprivation and
enforced stress
positions. Padilla was also administered various drugs, including
possibly LSD and PCP.
These methods of “extracting” information fly in the face of international laws
and even U.S. civil laws concerning the treatment of prisoners of war and
civilians.
Yoo’s notoriety resulting
from his criminal role in the Bush administration continues to dog him.
Students and other activists at the University of California Berkeley, the
campus where he is a law professor, have through militant demonstrations let it
be known that his presence is unwanted and that he should immediately be
charged for the war crimes he has committed.
DOJ reverses stand
At one time the Justice Department
argued that immunity could not be given to protect persons who under the cover
of law and the authority of their office engaged in or approved torture or
disappearings. Now the DOJ argues there are only three possible ways to hold a
Justice Department lawyer accountable for his or her actions: internal review,
state bar association disciplinary action and criminal prosecution. Based on
this logic, the DOJ has a virtual monopoly on its own accountability.
Internal review, of course, cannot
be relied on. State bar associations usually defer to the DOJ when it comes to
criminal matters surrounding DOJ lawyers. And when it comes to criminal
allegations, the DOJ does everything in its power to avoid justice, including
obstructing it.
It seems that when it comes to war
criminals such as Yoo within the Department of Justice, the only entities
holding them accountable are other governments. Most notable is the government
of Spain, where two cases are pending in which criminal investigations
involving the conduct of Yoo and his fellow torture-memo writers are underway.
The current DOJ stand contradicts Attorney General Holder’s statements on a
trip to Europe at the beginning of his term in which he promised a “new era of
cooperation.”
What have we seen instead? The
continuation of the Bush administration’s policy of the defense of war
criminals: First, the Obama administration refused to release the photos of
torture at Guantanamo Bay, and now this amicus brief. It is clear that when it
comes to crimes committed by the U.S. government in furtherance of imperialist
aims, capitalist politicians and their political lackeys, whether Republican or
Democrat, stick together.
All progressive and revolutionary people must stand against the criminal
campaign by the U.S. government against Muslims and Arabs as part of its “war
on terror.” We call for the immediate release of all political prisoners, the
end of the use of torture, the prosecution of all war criminals and the end of
the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan!
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