On the Torture Memo: I hear crickets from American conservatives
Look at the leading story on Memeorandum right now. Notice anything unusual about this topic?
Glenn Greenwald / Salon: John Yoo’s war crimes — Yet again, the ACLU has performed the function which Congress and the media are intended to perform but do not. As the result of a FOIA lawsuit the ACLU filed and then prosecuted for several years, numerous documents relating to the Bush administration’s torture regime …
Discussion: At-Largely, AMERICAblog, DownWithTyranny! and Emptywheel
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Discussion:
Larisa Alexandrovna / At-Largely: Torture Americana…. From an ACLU presser I just got (emphasis mine):
Joe Sudbay / AMERICAblog: Dept. of Justice: Bush is above the law and torture laws don’t apply
DownWithTyranny!: TORTURE AS OFFICIAL POLICY OF THE STATE
Emptywheel: The “John Yoo, Let’s Pretend We’re Lawyers” Game
RELATED:
Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:
‘03 U.S. Memo Approved Harsh Interrogations — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department in 2003 gave military interrogators broad authority to use extreme methods in questioning detainees and argued that wartime powers largely exempted interrogators from laws banning harsh treatment, according to a memorandum publicly disclosed on Tuesday.
Discussion: Law Blog, A Spork in the Drawer and About.com US Politics
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Discussion:
Dan Slater / Law Blog: Administration Declassifies 2003 Torture Memo
Spork Incident / A Spork in the Drawer: He Who Fights With Monsters — It’s as bad as we thought:
About.com US Politics: Justice Approved “Harsh” Interrogations
Marty Lederman / Balkinization: The March 2003 Yoo Memo Emerges! (not an April Fool’s Joke) …
Discussion: Firedoglake, Concurring Opinions, TPMMuckraker, toohotfortnr, Comments from Left Field, Pacific Views, RADAMISTO, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Threat Level, Grasping Reality …, Convictions, ACSBlog, Booman Tribune, Emptywheel, War and Piece and American Street
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Discussion:
Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake: Yoo Torture Memo: I’ll Take Addington At Cheney’s Behest For $1,000, Alex…
Alice Ristroph / Concurring Opinions: Torture for Tots — Readers of Larry Solum’s Legal Theory Blog might …
Paul Kiel / TPMMuckraker: Today’s Must Read
Spencer Ackerman / toohotfortnr: I SAY WE LINE EM ALL UP AND WE GUN EM ALL DOWN:
Kyle E. Moore / Comments from Left Field: Where Was The Voice Of Reason? — Marty Lederman can’t come …
Mary / Pacific Views: JOHN YOO’S MEMO
Steve J. / RADAMISTO: “DOESN’T APPLY” — We now have the infamous torture memo by John Yoo.
Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns and Money: It’s Just That Evil Life Got You In Its Sway
Ryan Singel / Threat Level: In Spy Debate, Top Spy Lobbies, Attorney General Misleads
Brad DeLong / Grasping Reality with Both Hands: This Garment Stands for Its Bearer’s Maturity of Mind, His …
Jack Balkin / Convictions: The Mother of All Torture Memos
ACSBlog: Full Text of Pengaton “Torture” Memo Released
Booman Tribune: Thou Shalt Not Torture
Emptywheel: Acting Counsels and Torture
Laura / War and Piece: “No Rules in a Time of War.” Marty Lederman offers initial thoughts …
Kevin Hayden / American Street: The full torture memo revealed (no joke)
Emily Bazelon / Convictions: Yoo’s Utter Glib Certainty
Discussion: Balkinization and The New Republic
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Discussion:
Balkinization: The Legality of Evil: The Torture Memos and the Living Constitution
Josh Patashnik / The New Republic: When the President Does It, That Means It Is Not Illegal
James Oliphant / Baltimore Sun: JUSTICE INTERROGATION MEMO: CONSTITUTION NOT IN PLAY
Discussion: TalkLeft and The Agonist
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Discussion:
Jeralyn / TalkLeft: Justice Dept Releases John Yoo Torture Memo
The Agonist: U.S. Justice Dept. releases 2003 interrogation memo
Marty Lederman / Balkinization: Full Employment Memo for Bloggers (and Prosecutors?)
Convictions
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Discussion:
Phillip Carter / Convictions: Another Stinkin’ Memo
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly: THE TORTURE MEMO….The infamous John Yoo torture memo has finally …
Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report
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Not. One. Conservative. Blogger.
Not one writing to support the memo. Not one to criticize it, its author or Bush. Do they think if they just stay hush-hush, the topic will go away?
I’ve seen it on several news shows and in numerous online media outlets today. Not. One. Conservative. Blogger.
John Yoo is a war criminal. The proof is in plain view. And the conservatives, have they a single principle that they’re willing to express at this historic moment? Maybe they’re waiting for Karl Rove or Michelle Malkin to say something so they can say “Yeah, that’s the ticket. Me too.”
That’s the definition of gutless. And damn unAmerican, too.
4 pm update: Hours later, the pickings among conservatives are slim. Credit goes to Pirate’s Cove for being the first to cover it, and the coverage was fully pro-torture. Michael Goldfarb of The Weakly Standard gave it an ‘afterthought’ tone, like it was an issue of minor importance that he’d barely noticed. Classy.
Ed Morrissey of Hot Air provided a limited defense of the memo. And Rick Moran of the Rightwing Nuthouse gave a hearty critique of the memo, repudiating it thoroughly. Kudos to him for doing so; he rates as a conservative with an intact conscience, capable of reacting logically. Thank you, Rick.
So that’s just four conservatives who responded at all and one who displayed a solid hold on his humanity.
By comparison, I counted 12 that felt a politician’s husband who admitted to sex with a hooker was more important for our country to know about. And 11 thought it more important that Bill Clinton went off message and spouted some stuff in a moment of anger.
As Memeorandum doesn’t pick up every blog out there, I’m sure these numbers aren’t strictly accurate. But they do reflect that the two biggest stories of the day were by far, Bill Clinton’s temper and a minor hooker story by a non-politician. Violating international and national laws for a nation that’s proud of some of its human rights achievements just doesn’t matter much to the rightists. They’d prefer that shameful war crimes story to go away.
I guess it’s no surprise, though, when most conservative bloggers make heroes of small men like these. “So?” and “Huh?” indeed.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Victory, simply will be hard to define on the foundation of secret torture.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Well, to be fair, I do not see the methods that were approved and used, such as sleep deprivation, the belly slap, enforced nudity, cold and hot temps, as torture. Water boarding is marginal in my book, and, I see little point in it anymore. I guess we disagree.
I do not approve of actual violence and physical damage, use of electricity, things along those lines, by any means. I would love if we had the super drugs that always appear in the movies, but, I guess we do not have them, which is surprising, to be honest.
The problem in this whole debate is no one is really offering any alternatives. We can’t just say please.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:54 pm
[…] Kevin noted that Blogtopia, at least the fun-loving DFH side, was all abuzz with the release of the 2003 Torture Memo. Don’t look now, but there’s another memo. […]
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:29 am
“Well, to be fair, I do not see the methods that were approved and used, such as sleep deprivation, the belly slap, enforced nudity, cold and hot temps, as torture. Water boarding is marginal in my book, and, I see little point in it anymore. I guess we disagree.”
You disagree with the Judges at the Nuremburg trials then who sent people to the gallows for these methods and no more.
Rationalise away but these things are torture, as torture is causing someone pain in order to get them to release information or consent. Rather than being mealy mouthed about it, why not just embrace torture, but limit the extent to these methods that you mentioned?