Categories
Join Us At:
|
OPR Report Finally ReleasedLast Valentine's Day, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff broke the story about the existence of an internal Justice Department report that questioned the professional ethics of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) lawyers who authored the torture memos. After many delays, it's finally out. John Yoo and Jay Bybee are found to have exercised "poor judgement" when they wrote the legal authorizations for the use of abusive interrogation techniques on detainees in U.S. custody overseas. Poor judgement indeed. Yoo and Bybee are now well known for their role in enabling the atrocities that went on in black sites and at Guantánamo. Waterboarding. Extreme sleep deprivation. Stress positions. Some detainees were tortured to death. We all know the results of those legal memos. Included in the OPR report is this quote from Yoo: "I had actually thought that we prohibited waterboarding. I didn't recollect that we had actually said that you could do it." But the key to remember is the OLC is tasked with providing the executive branch legal advice. They're "the President's lawyers." So that makes the OLC's clients the highest levels of the Bush administration. There's no denying it: senior Bush administration officials knowingly authorized torture, and the OLC lawyers gave them the false legal framework to carry it out. Don't let them get away with it. Send a message to Attorney General Eric Holder now. It isn't too late to demonstrate this country's commitment to the rule of law. To read more about and see documentary evidence of the Bush administration's torture program, go to thetorturereport.com.
Tags: accountability |
|
|
© ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 |
One important law in that regard is the prohibition on politically partisan activity. Given our nonprofit status, we may not endorse or oppose candidates for elective office. That means we cannot host comments on our site that show a preference for one candidate or party. Although we in no way wish to discourage you from that activity elsewhere, we ask that you not engage in that activity on our website (or include links to other websites that do so). Additionally, given that we are subject to very specific rules concerning the collection of personally identifying information through our website (names, email addresses, home address, financial information, etc.), we ask that you not use the comments portion of this blog to solicit this information from users of our website. We also ask that you not use the comments portion for advertising or requests for legal assistance, and do not add to your comment links to other websites, as we cannot be responsible for the content on other websites.
We are not able to respond to unsolicited inquiries, complaints or requests for assistance sent to this blog. Please direct your complaint or request for assistance to the ACLU affiliate in your state. Requests for legal assistance left in the blog comments will not receive a response or be published.
Finally, the ACLU cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information in the comment section and expressly disclaims any liability for any information in this section.