Yoo

The infamous memo written by John Yoo justifying the President ordering torture has finally been released. Here's a key graf:

"If a government defendant were to harm an enemy combatant during an interrogation in a manner that might arguably violate a criminal prohibition, he would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the al Qaeda terrorist network. … In that case, we believe that he could argue that the executive branch's constitutional authority to protect the nation from attack justified his actions."

So, even if it's criminal, the Preznit can do whatever he wants if he feels threatened enough.

The appalling nature of this memo is clear on the face. But what's even more appalling is that right out of the chute Bush abused this so-called authority. When the full truth is revealed, it will be confirmed that torture was used on subjects who were clearly of no apparent threat to the U.S.

Some people, myself included, have a word for this type of action: felony.