truthout.org — The National Archives and a watchdog group sent letters to the DOJ Thursday demanding an investigation into the destruction of John Yoo’s emails in the summer of 2002 when he and other government attorneys prepared and finalized legal memoranda for the CIA that redefined torture and authorized interrogators to brutalize "war on terror" detainees.
Feb 26, 2010 View in Crawl 4
jleopoldFeb 26, 2010Submitter
FTA: "According to the report, OPR investigators said they were told that most of “Yoo's email records" as well as "Philbin's email records from July 2002 through August 5, 2002 - the time period in which the Bybee Memo was completed and the Classified Bybee Memo ... was created" were deleted and not recoverable. The deleted emails also included other relevant documents the OPR needed to assist its investigation."
joeparanoidFeb 26, 2010
Considering the extent of missing government documents and abuse of non-government email throughout the Bush administration, the intent to cover their tracks can clearly be inferred. This was a deliberate, criminal act committed in the furtherance of a criminal enterprise. The claim that Yoo and Bybee did not intentionally violate professional ethics can no longer be honestly held.
jalamagneFeb 27, 2010
Good f**kin' question
caramba421Feb 27, 2010
Hold on...why is this even news? Cheney has openly admitted that he authorized torture, and the spineless f**king Democrats (the same people who just RENEWED the Patriot Act) won't do a goddamn thing about it.What are John Yoo's emails going to tell us that an open admission of guilt by Cheney cannot?
principleFeb 27, 2010
If you want to see the Neocons tried for war crimes then call your representatives and demand their support for the trial of 9/11 terrorists in New York. Because they are the only people who have legal standing to bring war crime charges against the Bush administration.
Closed AccountFeb 28, 2010
sigh... it's always political football with you wingnuts. Doesn't matter if the image of America gets tarnished thanks to things like unpaid-for wars and a torture memo. all it matters is if you try to make you feel good about yourself as long as you twist the rhetoric around to make your party look like the winner.
misterbadideaFeb 28, 2010
"Last week John Yoo was cleared of wrongdoing by the Department of Justice - liberals pissed!"He was cleared of CRIMINAL wrongdoing, and the report itself concluded that it was a very close call whether Yoo was merely unprofessionally incompetent or illegally incompetent.
misterbadideaFeb 28, 2010
From the report that cleared Yoo of wrongdoing:"For all of the above reasons, I am not prepared to conclude that the circumstantial evidence much of which is contradicted by the witness testimony regarding Yoo's efforts establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that Yoo intentionally or recklessly provided misleading advice to his client. It is a close question. I would be remiss in not observing, however, that these memoranda represent an unfortunate chapter in the history of the Office of Legal Counsel. While I have declined to adopt OPR's finding of misconduct, I fear that John Yoo's loyalty to his own ideology and convictions clouded his view of his obligation to his client and led him to adopt opinions that reflected his own extreme, albeit sincerely held, views of executive power while speaking for an institutional client."