John Yoo, David Addington Testify On Torture, Detention Policies (VIDEO)

David Addington, a longtime aide to Dick Cheney, and John Yoo, who helped write the infamous "torture memos," testified before the House Judiciary Committee today on the Bush administration's detention and interrogation policies. Both men offered evasive answers to seemingly simple questions. Yoo, at one point, was asked several times by Cmte. Chairman John Conyers whether or not the President had the authority to bury a detainee alive. Yoo was unable to offer an answer.

Watch video from the testimony below, and read more at the American News Project.

Comments

[MuchMadness]

These kind of videos don't do much good when they are only on some web site or cable channel.
Obama needs to put these things on network TV during Monday Night Football or American Idol. Slap the average Joes who don't pay any attention to politics or government upside the head to force them to see what a bunch of criminals they've been electing. If they still vote Republican, at least Obama's conscience will be clean. The voters could not claim that they didn't know.

[Nominay]

Well, of course you can bury someone alive if you're the President of the United States! This is George W. Bush we're talkng about. He can do anything he damn well pleases. I don't think the Republicans and conservative Democrats would so much as flinch if Bush shot a detainee in the head in the Oval Office with Saddam's gun. After all, Nancy Pelosi said with more conviction than she's ever said anything else, "Impeachment is off the table."

[Underthematrix]

My, my, my. If the committee members were willing to ask if about torture of a child and burying a detainee alive then whatever secret information they have about actually happened to the detainees must be 10 times worse. But really is there anything worse than torturing a child to get information. Yes. Bush and Cheney should be impeached.

[TrueBlueMajority]

and even worse than that, Yoo could not give a clear unequivocal answer about burying someone alive, torturing a child, waterboarding, pulling fingernails out, cutting off limbs, or any of a number of other things. Yoo was asked whether, in his opinion, the president would be justified in doing these things and he was unable to say no! Yoo was asked if there was ANYTHING the president could not do to get information from a terror suspect and Yoo claimed to be unable to answer the question! Unbefrakkinglievable.

I'd pay money to watch them both get grilled by Artur Davis for a couple of hours apiece.

[scouserinlondon]

I wonder what Bush.Cheney.yoo and Addington's kids think about this?That their dads plotted to bury people alive and torture kids?Even if the apple does not fall far from the tree and they are OK with Dad, and all this is fine ......I wonder how they are going to face their friends tomorrow..........I loved my Dad and was proud of him....I would have hated to see the looks of pity or contempt in my friends eyes next time I saw them..

[charon]

How contemptible and small these men look now, shorn of imperial power. Bush gave them the power to act out their sociopathy. Without that power they are just evil little nutjobs naked before the judgment of the world.

[sammy333]

Let us not forget another scoundrel: a Harvard torture theorist, Alan Dershowitz, the author of the sterlizied needles idea and other creative arguments. Plus his Fox/CNN supporters, who gave him numerous opportunities to convince Americans that torture is great. Creeps without borders...
If we ever suspect that Addington, Yoo and Gonzales betrayed the American Constitution, they should get the taste of their own medicine.

[Trittydi]

Absolutely.
*

[lovethesinner]

Yoo's Wikipedia page outlines the "war crimes" case against the "unitary executive" lawyers pretty well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo#War_crimes_accusations

"Retired Colonel Lawrence_B._Wilkerson, General Colin Powell's former chief of staff in both the Persian Gulf War and while Powell was Secretary of State in the Bush Administration, has stated the following regarding Mr. Yoo: "Haynes, Feith, Yoo, Bybee, Gonzalez and - at the apex - Addington, should never travel outside the US, except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel. They broke the law; they violated their professional ethical code. In the future, some government may build the case necessary to prosecute them in a foreign court, or in an international court."

[Trittydi]

We can only hope.
*

[oxygen]

what a shame - I hope the republicans are happy the netire world now looks down upon the u.s. and will for many many generations
gives a new level of meaning tothe term McPain

[darthmaul]

John Yoo would have fit in well with any fascist government. If there is some justice, he's a tenured professor at Berkeley where he is universally despised by the faculty and the students. A recent protest at the university called for his disbarment, firing and filing of charges of war crimes.

Also from what I heard his legal opinions and writings for the Bush administration were terribly written. Another fine staff pick by our Prez.

[Bettysdad]

He already has fit in well with a fascist govt.

I call upon my fellow Californians to get in touch with your state senator and assemblyperson to demand the firing of John Yoo.

He is paid with tax dollars, and this is flat out wrong.

Now all the little wingnots are going to start screaming "freedom of speech" or "hypocrites" or whatever they thing shows intelligence.

This is not a right - left , or pro - war or anti - war discussion.

There's a very good chance this man is a war criminal. We won't know for sure until he's tried at The Hague. He should not be teaching America's future lawyers.

Just as OJ Simpson is not guilty, I doubt anyone thinks he should be coaching a college team

Same with John Yoo.

Get him off the public payroll, and away from law students.

[afgail]

I am a Cal alumni and am appalled that John Yoo is teaching at my alma mater. All you other University of California alumni and current students out there resolve today to write two letters. One to the Board of Regents, University of California, Berkeley, CA and demand his removal from the faculty. This is not an issue of academic freedom. It is that John Yoo is grossly unfit to be teaching law anywhere let alone at one of the great Universities of this country.

The second letter should be to the letters to the editor column of you local newspaper and urge people to contact the UC Regents and demand they fire John Yoo.

[popecorvo]

John Yoo is an unctious careerist, no doubt. There are many in the current junta.

But as a fellow alum, I am somewhat appalled that you call yourself "a Cal alumni" rather than a Cal alumnus.

[Fredly]

Is it irony or adding insult to injury:

The Boalt Hall web site lists courses by instructor:

This URL allows searches by Instructor

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/courses/courseSearch.php

John Yoo teaches 220S-- Constitutional Law: Structural Issues

which includes the "allocation" of powers in the Federal Government.

At least it's only an elective...

[springsm]

If one of us sat there an "couldn't recall" or evaded or lied...like these buffoonsdid, we would be freezing in a cell tonight. My gosh they can't be a dumb as they acted. Addinton is embarassing. However both are implicitly involved in he okaying of torture. Whew. How do they face each other wonder...let alone look in the mirror.

[lovethesinner]

I've been watching this on C-Span all night. These guys are going to jail. It will take a better grilling then they're getting from House Judiciary Subcommittee, but, they're going down for this "UNITARY EXECUTIVE" nonsense.

You can see it in their eyes.

It's amazing to me that people like Douglas Feith, and John Yoo can continue to teach in major universities. (I think Feith lost his tenure, but... )

[lennix]

were do this nuts come from

[KarateKid]

Well, John Yoo comes from Korea, where they have a different view of torture. It's not surprising that he would have these views. When the military junta ruled Korea, torture of political detainees was a regular occurrence. The problem is, this is not Korea, it's the United States and we are better than that, at least until George W. Bush and his gang took over.

[PAposter]

That's why he kept repeating, "No American President", sick bastards!

[jsjirn]

You need to get your facts straight.

First of all, John Yoo is an American citizen who grew up in the US and attended university and law school in the US. To conflate Koreans with Korean Americans is an insult to both groups.

Second, Koreans do not have a "different view of torture," as you assert. I don't know where you came up with this inane idea but your comments are borderline racist at best. BTW, when South Korea was under military rule and used torture to "interrogate" its citizens, who do you think was supporting this practice? Why the good ole US of A. Who do you think trained people how to torture in not just Korea but also Iran, El Salvador, Panama, Iraq, etc? If you guessed the CIA, then you're not as much of an idiot as I thought.

[WorkingClass]

Torture is nothing new for the Americans. We just never had an executive who enjoyed it so much.

[Pupster]

John Yoo is a criminal and an embarrassment. I hope he rots in jail.

[Trittydi]

Too good for him.
*

[chronic]

Right wing demons have infiltrated the US government for a long time now!

[Trittydi]

The Republican Party -- home sweet home to sociopaths.

http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
*

[cynicalidealist]

IMHO, What the Judiciary needs to include are constitutional scholars that skewer this rhetoric for what it is -- a power grab by the executive branch. -CI