Last semester the topic of torture came to Chapman University with a debate featuring law professor John Yoo. The reason he was the spotlight of these debates is because he co-authored the “torture memos”. Chapman’s local paper, The Panther, covered the event with great detail.
“Three major issues dominated the debate: what defines torture, whether torture is an effective means of gathering information and whether the executive branch has the right, in times of war and crisis, to allow the use of harsh interrogation techniques.” Many of these answers are obvious but John Yoo, like Cheney, supported that the techniques were effective and therefore, justified. “Fifty percent of information we’ve had on al-Qaida came from interrogation of [its] leaders.”
After many argued with Yoo, he defended his role in the torture memos. “The memos are about legal interpretation, they’re not about policy,” he said. “They don’t urge policy makers to take any particular course of action.” Proving that these interrogation techniques are not illegal does not get you off the hook. The investigation by Eric Holder will most likely over look John Yoo, but this doesn’t mean he isn’t guilty just like all others involved. Hopefully the increased support for Holder will cause all those who were involved, like Yoo, to be put under the spotlight.
photo by Corey Clark
0 comments:
Post a Comment