A memo that was released yesterday demonstrates that John Yoo had another of his "opinions" after 9/11 that various unpleasant things done to prisoners by the military are just hunky-dory. You know, "assault, maiming, and other crimes." This in itself isn't a huge surprise since we've heard that before, but a note in the memo (and where else but Washington is an 81 page document a "memo"?) alludes to another memo in the following disturbing way

... our Office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations.
See Memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President, and
William J. Haynes, II, General Counsel, Department of Defense, from
John C. Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Robert J. Delahunty,
Special Counsel, Re: Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States at 25 (Oct 23, 2001). (emphasis added)

I feel the need to point out that the ACLU is asking us all to wear orange on Friday in support of closing Guantanamo Bay. This isn't because they were kind enough to help support Uppity Wisconsin by buying an ad, though of course that's always appreciated.

The US support of a system of torture, indefinite detention, and everything else that Gitmo stands for is a continuing embarrassment to all of us who want to be proud of our country. Please find out more by clicking on the ad on your left, and remember to wear orange on Friday Jan 11. We're also providing a copy of the ACLU toolkit below.

"I think, to the average person, this is not all that complicated: Waterboarding. Torture. Illegal. Unconstitutional. Most people, I believe, would associate those four words together..."

--Sen. Herb Kohl on attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey's refusal to say whether waterboarding is illegal.

... as JFK used to say. 

Here's W's version: 

Bush said it was unfair to ask Mukasey about interrogation techniques about which he has not been briefed. "He doesn't know whether we use that technique or not," the president said during the session.

Further, Bush said, "It doesn't make any sense to tell an enemy what we're doing."

... Without saying whether interrogators use waterboarding, Bush said, "The American people must know that whatever techniques we use are within the law."

Asked whether he considers waterboarding legal, Bush replied, "I'm not going to talk about techniques. There's an enemy out there."