Judge Bybee: Regrets, I've Had A Few
I'm torn, I really am. What Bybee did was amoral and despicable, and he deserves to be impeached. But it's not too difficult to figure out that Bybee is being made a sacrifice of sorts. The Villagers are hoping if they throw him under the bus, it will appease the angry mobs. The other thing is, he's much easier to hold culpable and punish than the rest of them. (He's Lynndie England.)
Of course Bybee should suffer consequences - no argument here. But don't forget, the people at the top made the policy decisions. Don't be distracted by someone who is essentially low-hanging fruit, even if the Post is trying to protect him with this story (composed mostly of anonymous sources):
Five years along in his new life as a federal judge, Bybee gathered the lawyers and their dates for a reunion, telling them he was proud of the legal work they had together produced.
And then, according to two of his guests, Bybee added that he wished he could say the same about his previous position.
It was, in the private room of a public restaurant, the kind of joyless judgment that some friends and associates say the jurist arrived at well before the public release of four additional memos last week and the resulting uproar that has engulfed Washington. One of the documents, dated Aug. 1, 2002, offered a helpfully narrow definition of torture to the CIA and soon became known as the "Bybee memo," because it bore his signature.
"I've heard him express regret at the contents of the memo," said a fellow legal scholar and longtime friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity while offering remarks that might appear as "piling on." "I've heard him express regret that the memo was misused. I've heard him express regret at the lack of context -- of the enormous pressure and the enormous time pressure that he was under. And anyone would have regrets simply because of the notoriety."
That notoriety worsened this week as the documents -- detailing the acceptable application of waterboarding, "walling," sleep deprivation and other procedures the Bush administration called "enhanced interrogation methods" -- prompted calls from human rights advocates and other critics for criminal investigations of the government lawyers who generated them.
[...] Still, in the years since the original Bybee memo was made public, his misgivings appeared evident to some in his immediate circle.
"On the primary memo, that legitimated and defined torture, he just felt it got away from him," said the fellow scholar. "What I understand that to mean is, any lawyer, when he or she is writing about something very complicated, very layered, sometimes you can get it all out there and if you're not careful, you end up in a place you never intended to go. I think for someone like Jay, who's a formalist and a textualist, that's a particular danger."
Tuan Samahon, a former clerk who recalled Bybee's remarks at the reunion dinner, said in an e-mail that the judge defended the legal reasoning behind the memos but not the policy decision. Bybee was disappointed by what was done to prisoners, saying that "the spirit of liberty has left the republic," Samahon said.
Bushistas and Cheney acolytes are having many, many regrets >>>>>>
that they got caught!!!
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
Exactly. If they grieve, it is for themselves, not their victims.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Buh-bye, Bybee, buh-BYE.
Bybee gets no sympathy from me.
If he has misgivings about what he did, all the better. I hope he suffers.
is a lying sack of shit.
Got away from him?
Yeah. Like the surgeon's knife got away from the surgeon.
Don't believe this nonsense.
It's an attempt to cover tracks.
Okay, I realize this gets into the whole tinfoil hat territory, but check this out:
It's a "HOLY CONVENIENCE BATMAN!!" scenario:
http://www.legitgov.org/flu_kills_torture_mem...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Got another?
woodguy
They got caught now they regret it! But not a one of them would have had an ounce of regret if you had been tortured and killed as long as they got there high paying job!
It is the republican way. make it at any ones expense will be fine!
Pretty disgussting isnt it
SS?
Schutzstaffel?
I would almost call that a Freudian Slip.
Except he was a non-practicing Jew.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
It's as if the republicans are all pathological. It's possible.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Shades of a reich linger in the words "permanent republican majority."
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Oops
That should be )O(,
Otherwise it looks like I have a license to kill.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I'm not torn. Sure, he shouldn't be the only one punished. But impeach him, because he shouldn't be a federal judge. As for the rest, have a full investigation, and he can have his day in court as a defendant. If he's sincerely regretful, in contrast with some of his fellow conspirators, that can certainly be a factor in sentencing. At some point, officials need to act on their consciences, and there have to be negative consequences for these sorts of clearly immoral and illegal actions. All that's with torture, before we even get to justfying a war with it.
I can imagine, from this report, that Bybee is not so much an intentional criminal, more a victim of his own ambition. He clearly wanted a judgeship badly enough to settle for a Bushco sinicure that now could cost him everything. One could even think that he was just another good soldier, following orders, signing off on someone else's stuff (see also: Colin Powell). Hard life, sucking up.
Morality is the basis of truth and truth is the basis of all morality.
Gandhi
Threshold has been reissued. Kneel!
http://www.stinque.com/2009/04/25/pat-william...
Relevance? He did another seminal reflection on Frank's work in his Sinatraland sessions.
Now you're talking.
Track the Captain Swine on Google
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&...
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Judge Bybee knowingly broke the Law and 7 men were tortured to the point their now insane, many were tortured to death, woman were tortured. But the worse is Children were tortured by the US. Now Bybee has young children which I know he loves. With his written approvel what if some terrorist group kidnaps his wife and kids hold them without charges and tortures them using his Policy of Torture? What goes around comes around. I'm sure Bybee will be feeling more then regret if that happen to his family. If nothing is done this will happen to Americans citizens in the future. If President Obama doesn't prosecute the Bush Administration, his legacy will be sealed.
n/t
If President Obama doesn't prosecute the Bush Administration, his legacy will be sealed.
My brother and I were throwing around some 'silliness' about Obama WRT this issue. If he stops any investigations we thought perhaps we would get behind an effort to impeach him. Or pursue international charges of violating treaties that say he must investigate torture. Or as a last resort, move to Sweden.
What is walling anyway?
Slamming someone's face in the wall?
In the old days, it would be being buried in the wall
A'la The Casque of Amantillado (a delightful drink by the way)
Or The Canterbury Ghost.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Or the methods the Chilean army used after the coup of 1973.
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
taught at the school of the americas!
Some stuff you can't make up!
How in hell did Bybee think he got his judgeship? He made his deal with the devil(s) and now he's remorseful? Guys like him are always the foundation of fascism, they do the leader's bidding to curry favor and promotion, but the results always "get away" from them. Eichmann was a "technocrat", not a murderer. Bybee was a "formalist & textualist" WTF !! BS, he was a conniving toady eager to do his master's bidding. He deserves to be impeached and take up chasing ambulances.
Douche Bag...
Throw him on the gallows with the rest of the ass-bags
But he should never be allowed to practice law again.
He does not understand why he spent all that time in school.
Is that supposed to be a defense? "He was so busy adhering to his principles that he lost sight of his morals?"
Sorry. No sale. Dude made his deal with Mephistopheles, and now the metaphorical twenty-four years are up. Walpurgisnacht is just around the corner.
"I just wrote the memos. I never thought they would actually use them."
Nice try, bub.
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
He was eventually fired when management caught on to his incompetency.
Get it now Judge? Look what happens when you don't put your brain in gear before engaging your mouth?
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
"They came to me and said, "We could torture. We might torture. Not that we WILL torture. See? I'm in the clear!!"
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
a complex technical subject? Like electromagnetic fields or tax law?
Even if not, you know that Bybee's purported defense is laughable.
If so, you of course know it's laughable.
When you master a complex technical subject, you don't "end up in a place you never intended to go."
Ask the NASA engineers who put the most recent Mars lander in place.
I have a special contempt for people who protect evil men or women, whether they are low or high hanging fruit. Shame on the pundits, journalists, or anyone else who would defend them with sympathy and artful words and try to get them off easy.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
I honestly suspect that the remorse is genuine, and we should allow him plenty of time to shed those tears in prison.
Got life?
You PRICK.
There are over 100 cases where prisoners died without giving the right answer.
What a shining example of an accessory to murder.
He only has "regrets" after his hands are on the towell choking the prisoner"s neck on national news. He only "regrets" that someone exposed his sorry disgusting dishonest lying ass for what it is and he has nothing to say to defend himself. He is a scumbag. Period! Maybe just an inch or so above Cheney in the cesspool of the world"s worst people.
He helped justify an illegal act, watched as the photos from Abu Ghraib came out, watched as young armed forces personnel were sentenced for torture, watched everything as if he was not at fault. It is maddening that he and the Bushniks advocated torture and now blame the victims of the torture. Bibee should be impeached then disbarred.
the support for bybee is from anonymous
secret sources, we have been down this road
before....another fucking set of lies to
keep a deceitful criminal gop in office.
out with the bastard.....NOW !!!
Once dumbass coughs up some actual intelligence on who gave the orders to make torture "legal", I'll begin to have a bit of sympathy. Wonder how he'd do under waterboarding?
The low hanging fruit are ripe for the pickin. I am sick of the thugs getting their menials to take the fall. I won't be happy unless Rummy, Bush and the real masterfu*k, Cheney take the walk to the gallows.
Candideinnc
then he must resign from the bench as being unqualified. Lack of foresight is a disqualifier. Is he getting a break because he's Mormon was a question raised elsewhere but merits a response from Reid. If so Reid must get out of the way.
They just took different roles. I have not one iota of sympathy or empathy for any of them. Bybee got his goddamned quid pro quo so why should I care if he's some scapegoat. he signed the papers and they did not have to smash his knuckles to make him do it. he was not waterboarded or head-slammed or human pyramided or beaten with a pole about his legs until his flesh putrified and exploded.
He just signed off on all of it.
Let's keep a perspective here. let's not forget what he participated in: a plot to legalize the torture that was already taking place, torture for which we executed japanese after WWII.
Some stuff you can't make up!
oh, and it's not either bybee or bigger fish; it's a matter of all responsible are held accountable in a nation of laws.
it doesn't stop with bybee; if there was a "conspiracy," then it he is another link in the chain of evidence. each person to be held to their actions. not ok to hide behind "boo-hoohoo" regrets. actions have consequences. people authorizing torture are criminals...even by their device of redefining same bad acts as not torture or justifying because it's their favorite cause.
btw, will he be held at gitmo until this is all worked out?
should not be held accountable, as they thought they were legally torturing human beings? While it's a time honored tradition that it's fine to drop bombs from planes on civilians, torture takes a special kind of mind which is best removed from society.
Bybee should be impeached because he is, and was, an officer of the court who comported himself in an unacceptable manner. He knew his opinion was shit, and he gave it anyway because he thought that a permanent Republican majority would protect him.
This is a tried and true, albeit seldom used, mechanism to be used against his continued tenure on the bench, just ask Alcee Hastings about his experience.
It's the remaining rodents and other pests that will be more difficult to sort out and deal with justly.
The memo and opinion that was written can't be retracted with a "simple, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." The damage done to the nation's credibility, those that died while being tortured, and those brave individuals who stood up and refused to torture 'can't be redacted'.
Bybee must go. He hasn't changed. He just wants to do further damage.
He needs to be dis-barred. Somehow at one time he passed the bar; his 'tortured logic opinion' is a solid basis for failure and lifetime disbarrment.
But on a lighter note, Frank Sinatra was one helluva performer. He was nasty, pompous, had an ego as big as all outdoors which led him to do some despicable things, but what a performer.
His performances only get better with age.
woodguy
I don't know which is more infuriating - a Gooper's smirking evil or their Gawddamn flacid expressions of "regret."
"Bybee was disappointed by what was done to prisoners, saying that "the spirit of liberty has left the republic," Samahon said."
As if we don't fucking know WHO heaved "LIBERTY" through the plate glass window? Goopers like Bybee fester on the American soul because their bitches like Samahon just pat their asses no matter WHAT they do.
This type of mewling will someday poo-poo future atrocities against Americans and the Teabaggers will the perps not the vics.
Obama, grow a pair and hold these war criminals accountable. They'd do it to you in a New York minute.
that sometimes pulling the low-hanging fruit loosens up the ones in the upper branches. I don't think anyone is calling for Bybee's impeachment to be the end of it!
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