John Yoo was a rather obscure fellow and perhaps he is still. But he is a creature from another age; an academic jurist. This used to be the sort of person who became Attorney General or a judge at some high level. Much like Kenneth Starr, he is a law geek like the armies of math geeks that launch and recover our rockets. Like Kenneth Starr, Mr Yoo found himself with a controversial task. Mr Starr’s commission would harm a sitting Democratic President. Mr Yoo’s would assist a sitting Republican President so neither controversy is surprising.

Yoo is the drafter of a series of memos from the Bush Justice Department that provided legal guidance for interrogating GWOT prisoners. Famously said memos found waterboarding was a-okay as well as a variety of other menacing actions that fell far short of anything from Hellraiser or even Shawshank. The usual quarters complained about this; the alliance of non-disbarred lawyers, media types with dreams of book deals and  ambitious Democrats that always sees America as Snidely Whiplash, and everyone else as a chick tied to a railroad track. Or they do so until there is a Democrat in office.

Now of course there IS a Democrat in office and the one element of his strident campaign attacks on Bush security policies that he has not yet tacitly refutde is his banning of the phonetic brother to the IED: the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. Our resident expert on torture, John McCain was also on board with this change in course, although as is always the case, his stated stand on principle had yawning and convenient exceptions. But McCain’s loss prevented any test of his abilities, perhaps they would have proven up to the challenge as Obama’s have not but it has been Obama who has attempted and failed to either close Guantanamo or bring its inmates to civilian trials. So he is bearing the brunt.

For the most part, the President’s pseudo-pacifist fans have cooperatively forgotten their objections of yesterday to war generally, Iraq and Afghanistan in particular, along with renditions, so-called “warrantless wiretapping” as well as routine military actions overseas, denounced by Candidate Obama as “just bombing villages and killing civilians” to boistrous applause. Rosie Odonnell, Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan and Glenn Greenwald, as far as I can tell, comprise the whole platoon of consistent activists from this department and only Sheehan retains the shrill and certain tone of her denunciations. There have been no domestic hangings or burnings of Obama effigies; not even a giant puppet or papier mache head. Columnists who denounced Bush’s every exhalation are too busy rhapsodizing about the attack on Khaddaffi to dust off their anti-war screeds, change the names of the principles and repeat them. This is the sort of loyalty that must be repaid.

As we have learned lately, bloodlust certainly IS present in the breast of the most ardent peacenik. Even the Dalai Lama had no regrets, on principle, to Ossama’s violent last day. Those who were eager for us to look at things from a bin Laden or at least muslim/arab perspective two years ago were dipping their crazy-straws into Ossama’s blood and drinking deeply Monday last. But as much as they find new pleasure in the blood of America’s overseas enemies, even more do they desire a taste at least from America’s TRUE enemies. These are of course Republicans.

It is in Republican blood that Mr Obama plans to pay his debt to the pseudo-pacifists. This is why the investigation into John Yoo was pursued so fully and diligently as it was. The man is an apparatchik. While nominally Republican he is far closer to a civil service shlub than, say, a Karl Rove. But like Ken Starr he has tumbled into the line of sight between a President and the reach of the law. His prominent and distinctive name became a tempting target. The only problem is, the investigation came up snake-eyes. Yes, you will find dire characterizations of the revealed facts but check into them and you will find that Yoo is cleared of any misconduct, either criminal or professional. The remaining complainers make charges against his lawyering in print that they are unwilling to make before a judge. Yoo, out of office, has returned to his lair at Berkely’s Boalt Hall, sips mint tea and scribes textbooks destined to pour lucre on his head. His case is closed.

But that is largely the reason why another case remains conspicuously open. Actually there are several investigations ongoing into the CIA and other gub spooks who did the dirty work of strapping filthy baby-bombers to a sheet of plywood and scrubbing them thoroughly. Nearly everyone not in the pseudo-pacifist demo has called for a halt to these procedings, not least because they were already conducted and closed. Twice. Alright, Mr Holder and his boss did not like that result but the failure to find misconduct in the field is most of the reason why Yoo was ever investigated in the first place. The waterboarders were following instructions. Where did those instructions come from? They produced a memorandum signed by Mr Yoo and so off we went on Yoo’s trail; going UP the chain of command, very reasonably.

But Yoo was cleared and so now you are going to go back DOWN the chain? Nope, sorry. That is not going to work. If Yoo is cleared the downstream is cleared. No matter what you turn up the operatives always have the Yoo Defense and Yoo’s lawyering has proven unassailable. This gambit fails even as a transparent sop to the granolas above described because they certainly will not be satisfied with a couple of nameless GS-15s even if they COULD get them. No, their newly discovered bloodthirst cries out for Republican blood. So for reasons practical, ethical and legal the only way to go is UP.

Team Obama and/or his private practice allies like Holder’s ex-firm, have only one route to take. They must pursue indictments against those superior to Yoo who put him up to this deviltry. They MUST indict, convict and sentence George W Bush, Cheney, Rove… really any and all of yesterday’s menagerie of boogiemen that they can get their hands on, and that is IF we don’t just pull them apart at the Lincoln Memorial. Leftwing talker Mike Malloy expressed this view well, questioning when Seal Team 6 would make a visit to Crawford. A more obscure radio-type happily declares herself a “bloodthirsty liberal” to ovations so the mask is truly off. We are dandy-as-candy with damn near all that stuff we hated yesterday as long as Our Boy is doing them. So-called “torture” is exempted but will it be so tomorrow? Waterboard Bush! was a protest sign favorite not long ago. Would Obama do it? He would have to consider many pitfalls to this action, not least that Bush might get up off the waterboard, shake out his ears and say, “Ya know, not too bad. You should try it with vodka. Man, that really burns!”

But of course the OTHER thing Obama would have to consider is that now, and not just because of Ossama’s unlamented ventilation, Obama is also on Malloy’s hit list if it is to have any consistency. Has the President stopped or seriously cropped the “illegal wars” he screamed about when he wanted attention? Not a bit. His most famous alteration to GWOT ops is his four or five fold expansion of drone attacks across the whole theatre. If Bush is guilty so is O and O does not have the defense of being legitimately mistaken in decisions made under the duress of a massive terror assault. His decisions have been made at length, at leisure and at odds with his publicly declared principles that have not been publicly rescinded. If Bush plausibly deserves the ol’ double-tap in the melon, Barak deserves a single-tap in the crotch. At least.

This is why you won’t see any indictment for Bush or Cheney or any other reknowned warmonger; not now and not ever. But you also will not see any demonstrated mercy for the CIA spooks. Well, not unless and until the benefit of these investigations to Obama with his base is outweighed by its cost with the public at large. On that day, Lefties, you will again be betrayed but you are used to it, aren’t you? I know we should just Give Peace a Chance but Obama has said, through his actions, that War’s turn is not over yet. Just hold on. Maybe next term and in the meantime our investigations continue.

Tweet  Print This Post

Tags: on the law, politics & government // 1 Comment »