With Justice For None

From CROOKS & LIARS:

From the moment he entered the White House, President Obama’s attitude towards the crime, corruption and politicization of the Bush Justice Department has been to “look forward and not backwards.” As we’ve seen for the third time in just the last several days, that’s working out just fine for the Bush lawyers.

On Wednesday, prosecutor Nora Dannehy [assigned by Gonzales’ successor Michael Mukasey]  announced she would bring no charges against Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, Monica Goodling or any of the key players behind the purge of 9 U.S. attorneys.

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It Had To Be Yoo

From Talking Points Memo:

The fact that John Yoo was the only Justice Department OLC [Office of Legal Counsel] official who was “read into” the surveillance program — even though he wasn’t the head of OLC at the time — has already been noted by others looking through the inspectors general report on the program released last week.

But one excerpt from the report is worth paying particular attention to, since it underlines the special role that Yoo came to play on the White House’s behalf.

Referring to Jay Bybee, who ran OLC at the time and therefore was Yoo’s supervisor, the report says:

Bybee described Yoo as “articulate and brilliant” and said he had a “golden resume” and was “very well connected” with officials in the White House. Bybee said that from these connections, in addition to Yoo’s scholarship in the area of executive authority during wartime, it was not surprising that Yoo “became the White House’s guy” on national security matters.

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Creepier by the Dozen

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — A coalition of left-wing advocacy groups filed legal ethics complaints on Monday against 12 former Bush administration lawyers, including three United States attorneys general, whom the groups accuse of helping to justify torture.

The coalition, called Velvet Revolution, asked the bar associations in four states and the District of Columbia to disbar the lawyers, saying their actions violated the rules of professional responsibility by approving interrogation methods, including waterboarding, that constituted illegal torture.

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Bye Bye Bybee

Jay Bybee has been a federal judge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in  Las Vegas for 6 years.  He was little noticed until the release of a memo written by Bybee when he was head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.  The memo gave protection to what the Bush administration called harsh interrogation and what others call torture.  Liberal groups have called for Bybee’s impeachment.

The techniques excused by Bybee included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, beatings, and confinement in small boxes. In 2002, Bybee advised the Central Intelligence Agendy that they could use the tactics against Abu Zubaydah, a leader of al-Qaida.  Bybee said that the techniques were not torture, because there was “no intent to cause severe pain or suffering.”

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Cruel and the Gang

Kids, are you confused about all the Chimpy White House scandals? Too many to keep track of? Well, the good folks at Slate have made life a little bit easier for you. They have a wonderful post with an awesome graphic that sorts out the Crimes and Misdemeanors of Chimpy & Company.

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Don’t wait for history, we won’t judge you kindly either!

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned.

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