A few political blogs have noted John Yoo, the guy who made torture legal for the Bush administration, also has some thoughts about nuclear weapons.

Look at the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. … Could Congress tell President Truman that he couldn’t use a nuclear bomb in Japan, even though Truman thought in good faith he was saving millions of Americans and Japanese lives? … My only point is that the government places those decisions in the President, and if the Congress doesn’t like it they can cut off funds for it or they can impeach him.

Any sane review of Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb in 1945 will show that Truman recognized that plans to use the device were already in motion, and he in fact was very deliberate about consulting with scientists, the military, State Dept, and Congress before making the heavy decision to drop the bomb. Yes, this is a controversial topic, but let's not suggest that Truman made a unilateral decision based on his executive authority to conduct this action. And in fact, one of the first things Truman did after dropping the bomb was to tell Congress that it was up to them to create an Atomic Energy Commission and to take over responsibility for nuclear weapons.

Although the idea of the president hitting the red button to launch a nuclear strike is popular for movies, the significant impact that such a decision would entail ensures make one hope that this is not a unilateral decision, unless Russian nukes are inbound and our government leadership has only minutes to decide whether to retaliate in kind. So I wonder what Professor Yoo thinks about President Ronald Reagan's view on nuclear weapons?

“A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. The only value in our two nations possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they will never be used. But then would it not be better to do away with them entirely?”

President Reagan in his 1984 State of the Union address.

UPDATE: Good point by bloglogger, Yoo couldn't even get the numbers right. The proposed US invasion force was numbered in the low hundreds of thousands, not to mention the Japanese who would have resisted the landings on Japan. Certainly it was not millions of Americans and Japanese lives at stake.

UPDATE 2: Commenter John Purdue and others are convincing me that the president does in fact have the power to unilaterally pop a nuke. Let me suggest that the ethical thing that the president would do is to consult with his staff and Congressional leaders before unilaterally causing a pre-emptive strike. And I still wonder as to his interpretation of Truman's actions... Thanks commenters for the discussion.

John Yoo, America's favorite war crimes cheerleader, stands by his previous statement that the president has the unilateral power to order a nuclear strike without congressional authority. How happy it makes me, that he's carefully nurturing an entire new crop of amoral and lawless constitutional lawyers! (Scott Horton wonders if there wasn't a quid pro quo in the Yoo torture memos.)

First of all, Yoo’s claim that Congress could cut off funds for a nuclear attack or impeach the President after he makes the decision to launch nuclear weapons does little to prevent a nuclear attack. Even assuming that a supermajority of senators supported taking swift action against a rogue President, the fact that Congress subsequently cut of funding for nuclear launches or removed the President from office would be little comfort to the tens of thousands of people already killed in the attack. Yoo’s solution amounts to shutting the barn door long after the horse has fled.

More importantly, Yoo misrepresents the law. As far back as 1804, a unanimous Supreme Court held in Little v. Barreme that Congress has sweeping authority to limit the President’s actions in wartime. That case involved an Act of Congress authorizing vessels to seize cargo ships bound for French ports. After the President also authorized vessels to seize ships headed away from French ports, the Supreme Court held this authorization unconstitutional on the grounds that Congress’ decision to allow one kind of seizure implicitly forbade other kinds of seizure. More recently, in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Court held that the President does not have the power to unilaterally set military policy (in those cases with respect to detention); he must comply with statutory limits on his power. Taken together, these and other cases unquestionably establish that Congress has the power to tell the President “no,” and the President must listen.

John Yoo is a moral vacuum, but he is also a constitutional law professor at one of the nation’s top law schools and a former Supreme Court clerk. It is simply impossible that Yoo is not aware of Little, Hamdi and Hamdan, or that he does not understand what they say. So when John Yoo claims that the President is not bound by Congressional limits, he is not simply ignorant or misunderstanding the law. He is lying.

Leftopia: Reality Bites (Back)

The Newshoggers: Nuke policy blog tank - Getting the word out

SeaBird Chronicles: Interesting, amusing, and frightening quotes on current events and the presidential race

Listening Post: With a dissatisfied electorate clamoring for less of the same, the candidates are stumbling over each other in a frantic race to determine who will become known as the changiest of them all.

Talking Points Memo: What, exactly, is Bill Clinton supposed to have said that is so 'venomous?'

'Just World News' with Helena Cobban: Gaza scenarios

The Heretik: Would you classify car bombs that kill people as 'violence'? The Bush administration doesn't

The Spy Who Billed Me: An exclusive interview with Blackwater USA's president, Gary Jackson. A lot of softball questions and evasive responses, but still interesting...

INSTAPUTZ: As memories of the country ass-whippin' suffered by the GOP in the 2006 midterms recede, the Ole Perfesser's determined denial increases. Now he claims Iraq had nothing to do with the outcome!

This is the world as perceived by Rush Limbaugh, a world absent of meritocracy where minorities gain on reverse racism and whites are unfairly punished merely for skin color.

Danger Room: Nuke lab gives secrets to stoners

David E’s Fablog: I Heart Huckabees...d r i f t g l a s s has more

(on Rick Roberts-conservative talk show host website)
Here's Roberts response to this poll citing that:

"That study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did...read on"

This guy is competing with the "Queen of the bedwetters," to see who is nuttier. (hat tip nuke)

Nuke Saudi Arabia

I've been meaning to post this since June 23rd...Mr. Harvey - who is famous for his corny stories and homespun manner -has always slanted his broadcasts toward the conservative end of the political spectrum. He is a nationalist and a militarist. And, sometimes, on rare occasions, he reveals an even darker philosophy. Here's one of his rants:

We called Saudi Arabians our partners against terrorism. And we sent men with rifles into Afghanistan and Iraq. And, we kept our best weapons in our silos. Even now, we're standing there dying, daring to do nothing decisive because we've declared ourselves to be better than our terrorist enemies -- more moral, more civilized. But, we didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy.

Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and into this continent by giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. Yes, that was biological warfare. And, we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever. And, we grew prosperous. And, yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves....

This is man is unhinged. Do you think you could call this approach one of spreading an ideology of hope and compassion?

Agitprop says : Disney/ABC Radio's geriatric news commentator Paul Harvey offered up some strange words for his Friday commentary ... Sugar candy? He also laments the fact that we haven't nuked the Middle East like we did to Hiroshima.

It's time to ship this asshat off to the funny farm. Contact Disney and let them know what you think. Full transcript of Harvey's comments available here.