lawyer who wrote torture guidelines for president bush

What did George Bush do about torture?

Feb 06, 2017 · John Yoo is a Republican lawyer who is perhaps best known for authoring the “torture memos” that legally justified former President George W. Bush’s use of torture against terrorist suspects in...

Did the 9th Circuit reject torture claims under the Bush administration?

Jul 21, 2020 · John Yoo, the lawyer who wrote Bush's 'torture memos,' confirms he's helping the Trump administration find ways to skirt Congress and impose his own policies Advertisement John Yoo testifies before...

Who created the legal framework for the torture of American prisoners?

Before scoring his new gig, Bradbury acted as the assistant attorney general from 2005 to 2007. He was also the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel from 2005 to 2009, where he wrote a series of memos authorizing torture at the behest of his former boss, President George W. Bush.

Why did Bush and Cheney need a lawyer?

Jun 10, 2004 · Memo about torture -- A headline on a news analysis in Thursday’s Section A about a legal memo written for the Defense Department on President Bush’s powers regarding the use of torture in war ...

How long does it take for the President to enforce the Administrative Procedure Act?

In a telephone interview, he added: “According to the supreme court, the president can now choose to under-enforce the law in certain areas and it can’t be undone by his successor unless that successor goes through this onerous thing called the Administrative Procedure Act, which usually takes one to two years.”.

What is the book Defender in Chief about?

In a book titled Defender in Chief, due to be published next week, John Yoo argues that Donald Trump is restoring the powers of the presidency envisioned by the framers of the US constitution. Photograph: Melissa Golden/Getty Images.

What did John Yoo say about the Supreme Court?

John Yoo told the Guardian he has been talking to White House officials about his view that a recent supreme court ruling on immigration would allow Trump to issue executive orders on whether to apply existing federal laws. “If the court really believes what it just did, then it just handed President Trump a great deal of power, too,” Yoo, ...

Why did Trump deploy paramilitary forces in Portland?

Constitutional scholars and human rights activists have also pointed to the deployment of paramilitary federal forces against protesters in Portland as a sign that Trump is ready to use this broad interpretation of presidential powers as a means to suppress basic constitutional rights.

What does Yoo argue about Trump?

In a book titled Defender in Chief, due to be published next week, Yoo argues that Trump was fighting to restore the powers of the presidency, in a way that would have been approved by the framers of the US constitution. “They wanted each branch to have certain constitutional weapons and then they wanted them to fight.

Who wrote that the ban on torture does not apply to the President's detention and interrogation of enemy combat

Gonzales then wrote to President Bush that the ban on torture "does not apply to the President's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants pursuant to his Commander-in-Chief authority." Officials could not be prosecuted for torture "if they were carrying out the president's Commander-in Chief powers."

Who was asked by Gonzales for a memo defining torture?

On August 1, 2002, Jay Bybee , another OLC official in the Justice Department, was asked by Gonzales for a memo defining torture. Bybee's response:

Why did Bush say waterboarding is a legal technique?

4. Bush says that he learned from an unnamed lawyer that waterboarding is a legal technique because "it did not fall within the Anti-Torture Act." Is the lawyer's statement accurate? If you don't know, how might you find out?

How many times was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed waterboarded?

But it did reveal publicly in one memo that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times.

What did Bush receive after 9/11?

2. After 9/11 Bush received legal advice from the Justice Department on a number of issues : the Geneva Conventions; an appropriate term to describe individuals who were captured; definitions of torture; legal interrogation techniques; and the president's constitutional authority. In each case, what was that advice? What is your assessment of it? If you agree with the advice, why? If you do not, why not?

Where was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed captured?

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured about 18 months after 9/11, on March 1, 2003, in Pakistan. During interrogations he declared, "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z." He also confessed to being a leading figure in planning the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and other terrorist attacks within and outside the U.S.

Why did President Bush avoid the Geneva Conventions?

In a memo to Bush dated January 25, 2002, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales suggested that Bush find a way to avoid the rules of the Geneva Conventions as they relate to prisoners of war because that "substantially reduces the likelihood of prosecution under the War Crimes Act."

Who was the Undersecretary of Defense for the Bush Administration?

The story of the Bush administration’s interpretation on the applicability of the Geneva Conventions in the War on Terror begins decades earlier with the administration’s Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas Feith, Feith had an extensive background working on national security policy in Washington, and he first gained attention in this area in the 1980’s when he served in the Reagan administration. At the time, he argued that terrorists did not deserve protection under the Geneva Conventions—a decision that was rooted in the passionate Zionist’s desire to oppose protection of anti-Israeli terrorists. 10 His background on the subject made him a valuable player early on in the process, and his significant role throughout the course of the deliberations can be symbolized by his making of the final pitch to the President on the order to vacate the Conventions; which he later recounted to Philippe Sands in the book Torture Team. 11 Feith was one of the “earliest and most ardent supporters” of the new interpretation of the applicability of Geneva; an interpretation which denied POW status to members of the Taliban and al Qaeda on the basis that they were ‘illegal enemy combatants” not covered by the Conventions, and that because Afghanistan was a “failed state” it was no longer a party to the Conventions it had signed. 12

What were the principles of the Bush administration?

The executive actions that followed provided the Bush administration’s interpretation of some of the earliest foundational principles of America’s constitutional system, one founded on traditions of separation of powers, due process, and the rule of law. Understanding of these early decisions is crucial to grasping the administration’s reshaping ...

What was Abu Zubayda's role in the war on terror?

The capture of Abu Zubayda as one of the first high-value detainees in the War on Terror was one of the driving forces behind the formulation of the administration’s policy on harsh interrogation techniques. But his capture and treatment do not tell the entire story. Though the accounts of his and other detainee treatment may be shudder inducing, ...

What was the most important development during the Bush presidency?

Though the accounts of his and other detainee treatment may be shudder inducing, one of the most important developments during the Bush presidency was the outcome from deliberations among senior administration officials just after September 11th on the handling of detainees captured during the War on Terror.

Why did the Bush administration abandon the Geneva Convention?

With the abandonment of Geneva Convention applicability, the Bush administration gained the flexibility to hold detainees for indefinite periods of time, as the United States was no longer required to hold Article 5 tribunals to determine the status of detainees.

When was the UN Convention against torture ratified?

The memos dealt with interpretations of the domestic codification of the UN Convention Against Torture, which was ratified with domestic provisions in 1994, and with particular interrogation techniques the CIA asked the OLC to review.

Who was the Undersecretary of Defense in Geneva?

The final pitch for this decision, as mentioned before, came from the Undersecretary of Defense, Douglas Feith. In his memo to the Vice President, Secretary of State, and other top-level officials, the President agreed with the proponents of suspending Geneva.

Who approved the use of torture and ill-treatment by US military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: approved illegal interrogation methods that facilitated the use of torture and ill-treatment by US military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. Rumsfeld closely followed the interrogation of Guantanamo detainee Mohamed al-Qahtani who was subjected to a six-week regime of coercive interrogation that cumulatively amounted to torture. He was a member of the NSC Principals Committee, which approved the use of torture for CIA detainees. Rumsfeld never exerted his authority to stop the torture and ill-treatment of detainees even after he became aware of evidence of abuse over a three-year period beginning in early 2002.

Who authorized and oversaw the CIA’s use of waterboarding, near suffocation, stress

CIA DirectorGeorge Tenet: authorized and oversaw the CIA’s use of waterboarding, near suffocation, stress positions, light and noise bombardment, sleep deprivation, and other forms of torture and ill-treatment.

How many times was Zubaydah waterboarded?

Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times .

Why do US officials like the arrangement with Zammar?

State Department officials like the arrangement because it insulates the US government from any torture the Syrians may be applying to Zammar. And some State Department officials suspect that Zammar is being tortured. [107]

What is the 9-11 Commission?

An independent, nonpartisan commission, along the lines of the 9-11 Commission, should therefore be established to examine the actions of the executive branch, the CIA, the military, and Congress, and to make recommendations to ensure that such widespread and systematic abuses are not repeated. [16]

What was the Bush administration's response to the revelations of detainee abuse?

The Bush administration’s response to the revelations of detainee abuse, including the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, which broke in 2004, was one of damage control rather than a search for truth and accountability. The majority of administration investigations undertaken from 2004 forward lacked the independence or breadth necessary to fully explore the prisoner-abuse issue. Almost all involved the military or CIA investigating itself, and focused on only one element of the treatment of detainees. None looked at the issue of rendition to torture, and none examined the role of civilian leaders who may have had authority over detainee treatment policy.

Why are detainees denied access to third parties?

In addition, the detainees were denied access to an independent third party. In order to ensure accountability, there is a need for a procedure of notification to families, and of notification and access to detained persons, under defined modalities, for a third party, such as the ICRC.