Did Judge Bybee actually write the memos?
By John Amato Saturday Apr 25, 2009 5:30amI'm hearing serious rumors that the newly disgraced Judge Jay Bybee may not have actually written the CIA memos under his byline, but acted like a stenographer on the torture issue while he was John Yoo's boss. I'm in the process of investigating these allegations.
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...like someone is preemptively trying to cast doubt on Bybee's guilt to muddy the issue.
If he signed the memo, he adopted it as his own.
You mean like when a judge has his/her research clerk "draft" his/her opinion? Or when a Public figure "gives a speech" that somebody (or a group thereof) wrote for him. Seriously, don't waste time, John. Bybee signed it, he's chargeable with what it says. And John Yoo is still a creep too if he's the guy who actually drafted it.
to go on trial
political spin. It's like the Dems saying they knew nothing about any of this, even though the entire world knows they did. Oh wait, that can't be true. After being in CONgress for decades, there is no way any Dem or Rep would know how the CIA operates, right? Naw, course not.
have no excuse and no courage.
we're in the shape we're in because of their LACK of leadership.
Who was dictating to him, The Emperor of Japan?
Bybee signed the memos. It doesn't matter who wrote the memos. When he wrote his name and bar number on the last page he, as an officer of the court, represented that it was sound analysis. If he didn't agree with the analysis he shouldn't have signed it.
Bybee's lack of spine makes him unqualified to be a lawyer, much less a federal judge with lifetime tenure. He should be impeached and disbarred no matter who was the actual author of the memos he signed and vouched for.
if they toss the blame around to enough people, the costs associated with bringing them to justice, would be too much for the political elite to bear. Thus, wipe hands, and look forward. Yes we can.
you're wrong on that.
BTW, whose fixing the Canadian Government. I hear you guys still have total assholes in charge.
Yes, 'tis true. I'm ashamed. We have many sheep as well.
how about that? Hello? Are you there? Must be off being concerned about something in the USA.
While the 1%ers, the looters, plunderers, financial murraraders continue to sack and pillage every financial 'institution' with their insatiable greed, we're put to the task of dissecting their every move a thousand years ago, where no hard copy exists of what really happened. This is the pathology of King Geo. It was his special pay-off for being Cheney's sock-puppet. That is what IT requested, and the same sock-puppet outed Valarie Plame, no one else!!! We'll be set off in some divergent direction with torture, treason (Harmon/Bush/Cheney), too.
if Bybee actually wrote it or acted as a "stenographer." He signed it, he knew what it said -- assuming he was responsible enough to read it before he signed. By signing it, he affirmed its position. This is a black and white issue.
If someone else wrote the Bybee memo, it doesn't let him off the hook, but it would be huge news if he were to put his name on a document that Addington or Meirs, for example, wrote. That would be evidence that the conclusion was preordained at the top, and that Bybee was used merely because the OLC is the official legal authority to executive agencies. It would also be very strong evidence that his promotion to the 9th circuit court had a quid pro quo quality to it.
If Bybee just signed onto another lawyer's work, it would show very badly against him as an independent thinking judge.
If the work was by Addington or Miers or both (please, please, please) it will be just as you said, a link between Bush, Cheney, and torture.
Oops, almost forgot the quid pro quo. Is that illegal or just tawdry?
Quid quo pro is essentially bribery, or the returning of favors, both of which, determinant upon the circumstances and the elements to be proven, can be illegal.
The problem is we all move within our own circles, playing multiple roles with each other, professional and personal, and sometimes those roles overlap without criminal intent. So that would confuse the burdens of proving the elements of mens rea and concurrence.
Next thing you know, he'll claim he didn't even read it before he signed it.
I keep hearing that terror( torture ) kept us safe since 9-11.
Please correct me if I'm misinformed.
On 9-11 who had total control over NORAD ? BFD
The $ half trillion we spend on defense failed completely because of who was in charge of our air defenses that morning? BFD
The vaunted missile defense ( of which we want to build more of) of the pentagon was also under who's control and command. Who didn't fire a shot now ? BFD
Who in his gross negligence and incompetence for over a hour and a half who had no idea what they were doing controlling NORAD? BFD
Who has fucked up anything worse than 9-11?
Why do we tolerate the argument we keep you safe after 9-11 when this whole torture WMD, Al Quada, Taliban BS is to divert attention from this gas bag failure. He should have crawled back into his cave on 9-12.
... and my recollection is that John Yoo was sort of a "temp" worker at the OLC (Office of Legal Counsel). It was a "visiting scholar" position (what a hoot), or something like that -- but a still a temp, sorta like a Kelly Girl. They'd get him to do the dirty work that career employees wouldn't touch.
In Yoo's flunky position, he didn't have authority to sign-off on his own work. It had to go to someone "in charge" to be signed. Enter Judge Bybee.
Both Yoo and Bybee are disgraceful for what they've done. They should be disbarred from the legal profession, at the very least. I'd prefer to see hard prison time for them.
By the way, temps are often used to do dirty work in the business world. So if there's a SNAFU, the regulars can blame it on "that temp, who isn't here anymore." Convenient all the way around. Except this is way beyond a the normal SNAFU. Round 'em up and prosecute, IMO.
is a very wicked man. I've been hearing about him for a long time. He was an architect for Cheney's dream.
He probably wanted to keep his position.
anyone with any tenure was a willing participant. people were picked for their loyalty, just like in any crime family.
"I'm in the process of investigating these allegations."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dechpnavTyA&fe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-fev20voMc
For some reason. The fire in Cheney's office comes to mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOErZuzZpS8
Don't invite him to any crowded theatres.
The lawyer who hires a paralegal, and signs off on the paralegal's work will often blame missteps on the paralegal, not himself/herself. If the lawfirm gets sued, even if it's provable that it was the paralegals fault, the lawyer is liable as the superviser. You have to have twelve years experience as a lawyer to be essentially an assistant to a justice on the Supreme Court. At mid-level courts my guess is about five years.
Holding the person gaining from the legal assistance (not counting the client), is normative in law. And I think assistants who are lawyers with law school training and experience would be held to a higher standard than a paralegal.
This is a smoke screen no more/no less.
excellent.
but why no video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_oMeNJfLEI
Bybee was an active participant. Anyone who was not on board with the torture was jettisoned. That story was started to keep that shill from getting impeached and disbarred.
I'm not sure, the NYT ran a piece yesterday explaining why it would be hard to impeach anyone over this, and the newly released memos. Part of it was the principle of prescedent, the other the "slippery slope" argument, although they didn't use those words. Additionally, they were using the argument about criminalizing political differences.
But I would say the acts already criminalized themselves, because prima facie they were in violation of treaties we were signatories to.
Bybee's name is on the memo along with his signature. So, he OWNS THE MEMO'S and IS RESPONSIBLE for its content! The average person/manager knows you DO NOT SIGN what someone else wrote unless you know its accurate, or it was written per your direct instructions. Certainly a jurist knows better and he knows today that HE OWNS THE MEMO!
GOP strategy: cast doubt that Bybee wrote the memo and blame a lesser law clerk. They are so DUMB! All that does is bring into question greater concern about Bybee's judgment and his ability to JUDICIOUSLY interpt, support and rule based on the letter of the law...or the CONSTITUTION.
I DO NOT TRUST ANYTHING ANYONE SAYS WHO HAS THE GOP LABEL ATTACHED TO THEIR NAME.
Just to be safe, hang 'em all.
Bybee has to be well aware that there is an ANCIENT legal principle called "respondeat superior" which means that the boss is responsible for the actions of his underlings. IIRC, it goes back to a case in 1370 which is studied in first year law. He might even have taught this.
Even without the signature, Bybee OWNS this memo. Whether he directed it or drafted it, it is his will, his document, his deed.
He assisted the Bush Administration's desire to torture and punish and break the prisoners. They were "fixing the intelligence" as David Kelly claimed. Abu Zubaydah wasn't even a member of Al Qaida, much less the number 3, and he was disabled and further wounded almost to death... yet they tortured him to try to extract a link to Iraq. Breaking an already broken man?
Torturing people until they supply false confessions and the false information desired is always shown to be wrong. There are centuries of evidence proving that torture does not yield the truth.
So why do it? Because you are sadistic and immoral and inhuman!!!
Impeach, disbar, and prosecute!
And, yes, under "respondeat superior", those who ordered the fixing of intelligence, torture, and an invasion based upon lies, ALL of them, are responsible for WAR CRIMES.
No excuses.
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