The Torture Lawyers: Where Are They Now?

Over the past few days the blogosphere has been alight with chatter that a Spanish court may investigate six former Bush Administration officials for torture, potentially subjecting these former officials to arrest and extradition. This is the latest bit of bad news for the six (former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Office of Legal Counsel lawyers John C. Yoo and Jay Bybee, former Undersecretary of Defense for policy Douglas J. Feith, chief of staff and legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, David Addington, and former general counsel for the Department of Defense William Haynes II), who have become increasingly radioactive as details regarding their roles in crafting the Bush-administration policies have surfaced. And so I thought I would find out where the six are today. This is what I found:

• Alberto Gonzales has not been employed since he resigned after questions were raised about possible political motivations for firing U.S. attorneys.

•John Yoo is visiting law professor at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange County, CA. He is on leave from the University of California-Berkeley.

•Jay Bybee is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A confirmation from the senate took place in 2003 before the details of the torture policies came to light.

• David Addington is not currently employed.

• Douglas Feith taught briefly at Georgetown University before becoming a Senior Fellow at the neoconservative Hudson Institute.

• William "Jim" Haynes II was hired in 2008 as Chief Corporate Counsel at Chevron Corporate Office in San Ramon, CA.

Perhaps the most interesting element of that list is that only one of these lawyers, Haynes, has managed to find a cushy corporate job despite the extensive government experience and educational pedigree shared by all. Which raises a significant question: why would Chevron hire Haynes?

In today's world, with an Obama administration committing to shutting down the prison at Guantanamo Bay, the hiring of Haynes simply seems out of touch. After all, there are literally tens of thousands of highly qualified lawyers out of work who do not include "potential war criminal under indictment in Spain" as part of the baggage they bring to the job. And with a new Democratic sweep to power, Haynes' government ties are severely limited, since his neoconservative cronies have been largely stripped of power. Haynes also has a pending complaint before the California Bar for violating his ethical duties as a lawyer by sanctioning and approving torture. So why would Chevron hand major legal responsibility to such an individual?

What we do know is that in recent years Chevron has faced a continually rising tide of human rights problems associated with its operations around the world. The company had to defend itself in an embarrassing and politically-damaging lawsuit in San Francisco for the killing of unarmed Nigerian villagers who were protesting environmental contamination. It was accused of engaging in bribery in Cambodia, supporting the brutal military junta in Burma as the single largest foreign investor in that country, and in 2007 was caught by the Department of Justice for misbehavior in Iraq that cost it a $30 million fine. Chevron now faces a potential $27 billion liability for environmental contamination that is threatening the human rights of tens of thousands of individuals in Ecuador. The latter case alone -- which has been winding its way through various courts for 15 years -- could wipe out a year of company profits. With each of these allegations, the company has refused to take responsibility or to take even the most minimal steps to address complaints, legal or otherwise. For a company running a "Will You Join Us" public relations campaign, Chevron has shown a remarkable failure to take that pledge itself, and join the communities that it operates in.

But maybe that's what happens when your company is staffed by people willing to hire someone for a high-profile job suspected of committing torture. Maybe if you have little or no sensitivity to the basic human rights individuals are entitled to even if they come from far-flung places, then a bit of hoopla about torture doesn't bother you much. And maybe if you're Chevron, you think Haynes' apparent willingness to look the other way when it comes to human rights is an outstanding job qualification.

Comments

[normathumb]

Did Haynes merely look the other way? Odious as that would be for someone in a position to do something about it, his possible indictment has to do with his active role in formulating and implementing torture.

[AnnaKay1979]

I really hope justice will be served and Chevron will have to pay for what it did to those poor people. Drinking water is contaminated, people are dying of cancer and skin diseases, their lives are destroyed. Denying, downplaying and manipulating- that’s all Chevron can do. Instead of wasting money fighting in courts, they should take responsibility and clean up that mess.
Here’s an interesting blog about the contamination: http://www.thechevronpit.blogspot.com

[realpolitic]

I believe Yoo's contract has not been extended and he is being let go.

Additionally, what Chevron is doing is entirely unethical and almost evil. They remind me of the company that Keanu Reeve's worked for as a lawyer in The Devil's Advocate that was really doing Satan's work on earth.

[mjt218]

I'll stop short of endorsing Chevron's decision . . . But seriously . . . "there are literally tens of thousands of highly qualified lawyers out of work" . . . That has to be one of the most ridiculous statements I've read in some time.

For the sake of every law student in America, I hope there aren't thousands of lawyers with the skills to be the head counsel at the headquarters of a multinational multibillion dollar corporate entity out there looking for work.

[JohanMcBugnuts]

No more Chevron stops for me... anyone have any pointers on which company to buy gas from which has, I guess, the least awful record of making the world a terrible place?

Are ANY of these companies worthy of our business, or is it a case of which stinks the least when we hold our noses at the pump?

[normathumb]

If you want to buy meat, you have to have an abatoir somewhere. If you want to maintain America's self proclaimed 'God's country' status, you have to 'convince' the rest of the world to live with it, or not. It aint pretty. There is a direct connection between our lifestyle and the depredations in American foriegn policy and the colluding corporations like Chevron around the world. That is the international corporatocracy we all live under and it has little more regard for American human rights as anyone elses. We are little drone consumer engines providing for that one tenth of one percent the political class panders to. History shows the corporatocracy has ways of dealing with anyone radical enough to bring about real change. And they would manage to keep their own hands clean. Were Obama setting a real change in course, they would simply let some crazed palooka through the net. Right talk radio is already looking for just that guy. They don't know his name yet but they want to.

[JakeMontero]

Yawn:

[Primadonna]

Karma ... it is what it is. I totally get why Chevron would hire an attorney that perpetuated torture ... I don't get why any school (Chapman University of Law) would hire an attorney (John Yoo) who manipulated the constitution and presidential powers in order to justify torture?

[cyclobenzaprine9]

Chapman U. SOL is located in Orange County, probably one of the most conservative counties in California. Most of their residents are probably Bush/torture apologists. I'm sure John Yoo feels way more comfortable and accepted in Orange County than he did at Berkeley.

[eciaccio]

In our current global anti-human economic system, the formerly much-touted "globalization" of Tom Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree, corporate rights always trump human rights. True evolutionary reform would mean a new economic system where human life is prized above profits and corporations no longer have "personhood". But the ruling class will resist to the bloody end, people and environment be damned.