While I’m not entirely satisfied with Obama thus far, you’d think I’d be done with being infuriated by the Bush administration.
Then I get word that wunderkind John Yoo wrote a memo clearing the suspension of first amendment rights after 9/11 because you can’t have those pesky reporters asking awkward questions when you’re trying to invade a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 under the ruse that it did. ARGH!
From Newsweek:
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Justice Department secretly gave the green light for the U.S. military to attack apartment buildings and office complexes inside the United States, deploy high-tech surveillance against U.S. citizens and potentially suspend First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights in order to combat the terror threat, according to a memo released Monday. . .
In perhaps the most surprising assertion, the Oct. 23, 2001, memo suggested the president could even suspend press freedoms if he concluded it was necessary to wage the war on terror. “First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully,” Yoo wrote in the memo entitled “Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activity Within the United States.”
As a consolation, a lot of former Bush officials haven’t exactly seen the red carpet rolled out for them now that they are out of DC. Only about a quarter of those seeking employment have been placed.
UC Berkeley had to take Yoo back because he’d just been on leave; he never officially left. But one would hope that after whatever truth commission takes place, someone will see that man disbarred, limiting his influence over young legal minds.
Way to go protecting the Constitution and our Bill of Rights! Clearly, some people need to read up on why the Bill of Rights was drafted. Paging John Yoo!
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Pretty sad.
Thank God he never went through with the idea.