Mukasey: Fighting War On Terror Means Pushing To The Limits Of Law

Muckraked.com :

In describing the post-9/11 mindset at the Department of Justice which included the promotion of such methods as waterboarding during interrogations and domestic surveillance via wiretapping, Attorney General Michael Mukasey stressed the need to be "more aggressive" and "to push to the limits of the law" during a speech at Boston College Law School's graduation ceremony today:

"In short, the message sent to our national security lawyers in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks was clear; it was bipartisan; and it was all but unanimous. It was that the legal culture in our intelligence agencies, and in the Justice Department, was too risk-averse. It needed to be more aggressive, it needed to push to the limits of the law, to give policymakers and operators the most flexibility possible to confront the existential threat of international terrorism....In evaluating the work of national security lawyers, political leaders and the public must not forget what was asked of those lawyers six-and-a-half years ago. We cannot afford to invite another "cycle of timidity" in the intelligence community; the stakes are simply too high."

Read the whole story: Muckraked.com

Comments

[Sundialsvc4]

"Then what are laws for?"

Why do we have this pesky thing called "Congress?" Why don't we just take that worthless scrap of vellum out of the National Archives and put it in the bottom of a canary-cage?

Why? Because far, far wiser men than these wrote that document, and signed their names to the bottom of it knowing that war with Britain WOULD come (as it did in 1812) and that they might find themselves hanging at the end of a rope. But they signed it. As John Hancock famously did, "they signed it large."

No matter how much security we need, a war-crime of torture is not a way to gain security. It is not acceptable under any circumstances whatsoever and the Commander-in-Chief who permits such a thing to happen is .. under the Nuremberg Principles that our own (American) grandfathers wrote .. guilty of a war-crime. The "heads of state" who fail to interdict such men ... the same.

"Equal protection under the law." This is not "a g**mned piece of paper." It is the Supreme Law of the Land. And it is the keystone of the arch of protection that stretches mightily over the heads and homes of 300 million ...

... plaintiffs.

[getoffmedz]

Mukasey - We are well past the "limits of the law" and have produced NO RESULTS other than generating a rich man's crime wave of murder, atrocity and creeping fascism.

[fourex]

Mukasey, your job is to obey, and enforce the law. Neither you nor GW Bush have the authority to expand or write laws.

[charon]

I fear that the progressives are expecting too much of Obama, and that they will be disappointed when he won't, or can't, deliver. I do think he is the best choice available, but let's be realistic, this is America, the most retrograde of industrialized countries, land of Jim Crow and HUAC. That being said, if Obama will just go after the cabal of criminals that have held America hostage from the White House for the last 8 years, expose their crimes, and put them away where they can no longer harm society or the world, I would be happy. Of course, restoring progressive tax laws and the social safety net, ending the Iraq debacle, reinstating the Bill Of Rights, and kicking Big Money out of Washington, DC, would all be nice too.

[MTJD]

As a Catholic, I am sicked that a Catholic law school would allow this message to be offered to graduating lawyers. Many of the techniques used for torture, including waterboarding, originated under the various inquistions of the church. Probably in atonement for that history, the last two popes have made it clear that torture is a violation of the rights of the human person created by God. Whoever invited Mukasey to deliver this message at that school should be censured, and he should have been dragged off the stage when he started delivering his torture-excusing message.

[Earl]

I just hope they change the terror alert to raspberry soon. I am so sick of orange.

[egal]

Well, the methods he permitted were both illegal and ineffective (which we knew at the time, but who listens to the experts in fields like interrogation and all the past studies when they can just squander soldiers' lives and American freedoms instead?) so it's quite laughable to see him spouting such still-ignorant nonsense.

[DocGreen]

Let's get a democrat elected and send this hack packing.

[tompoe]

Mukasey shooting his mouth off, hoping he bluffs everyone into believing he's above the law, will be viewed as an attempt to get to the head of the line when war criminals are brought to justice.

[Manx]

One of the aims of terrorists is to foment fear, and hacks such as Mukasey have become so fearful that they are ready to forsake Constitutional laws and principles. He has surrendered to the aims of the terrorists. And you can thank Senators Schumber and Feinstein.

[1differentdrummer]

Those valiant stalwarts fighting their "war on terror" have become the terror.

[gcallaghan]

The administration has complied fully with every one of Bin Laden's demands. They have broken our military, broken our treasury and broken the American dream. Mission Accomplished

[Joeseo]

This guy is acting exactly like John McCain tossing in the towel. The terrorists are Bush and Cheney. Senators Schumer and Feinstein have gotten their piece of Corporate Fascist government now by giving us Mukasey.

Like the German expierence, totalitarian fascism always resorts to force and violence. The first step though is always to establish legalized terror. We Americans are now ruled not governed. An example in today's news is the massive imprisonment of working people in Utah. The similarity to rounding up jews en masse is terrifying, even more so by American jewish legislators abetting the process.

[wiseapple]

I wouldn't blame the senators. They gave this man an opportunity that they thought he deserved. He could have been a leader, but he has chosen to be a lackey (follower). His thoughts on dealing at the extremes of legality reminds me of John Mitchell.

[leftLibertarian]

FU a$$clown, you and your liberty hating masters Cheney and Bush belong in prison.

[AnnArky]

Mukasey, so old school. So, yesterday, but I think he'll probably die of old age before yesterday , , , he's so old and white.

[loki]

Why? Why would fighting terrorist mean pushing the limits of the law??? You can fight them and still stay within the law. Unless you really want to change the laws and are using terrorism as an excuse.

[bobo209]

OOOOHHH RABI MUUUUUUUUUKASEY JU ARE CORRECT RAPE N PILLAGE IS OK , AS LONG AS IT IS AGAINST THE ARABS??OYEEE VEYYY SUCH A DEAL MY FRIENDTHS..

[JRandomPoster]

To defend America, we must sacrifice everything that makes it America?

Sorry, I don't buy it. The Franklin paraphrase quote of "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" comes to mind.

[chimpette]

Would have loved to see the flying penis at that ceremony!