Tag: OPR

Feb 23 2010

Open Thought for the Day

From a commenter at reddit, on the subject of Associate Attorney General David Margolis, with Holder’s approval, reducing the conclusion of the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility report on Yoo and Bybee’s Torture Memos  to Bush to say that they showed only “poor judgment“:

If Obama’s ‘Justice Department’ had conducted the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, all of the Nazis would have gone free – ‘Merely Poor Judgement, the Holocaust was just a policy mistake’!

There is a road, no simple highway,

Between the dawn and the dark of night,

And if you go no one may follow,

That path is for your steps alone…

Feb 20 2010

Open Lies

Open Thread. OPR Report released last night.

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Valtin has a good rundown here. And of course OCD emptywheel here.

FDL DDayden here.

This is essentially getting away with murder, or if you like, torture. Margolis has saved Yoo and Bybee from any disciplinary action, relying on Yoo and Bybee’s own responses to the charges and what amounts to a generous reading of the law. Margolis basically took Yoo and Bybee’s side, that OPR did not apply the necessary framework, over OPR. It amounts to “we cannot know what was in the heads of Yoo and Bybee.”

That’s how it reads to me, anyway, maybe others will disagree. They can decide for themselves. But basically, another, and perhaps the last, opportunity for accountability and justice for the Bush torture regime, at least from inside the US government, has been squandered.

Olbermann video with Turley here. THANKS to TheMomCat who embedded this video below in comments.

UPDATE: h/t Turkana has a diary at GOS with a heads up on Leahy’s press release.

Leahy Announces Hearing On OPR Report

February 19, 2010  WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to examine the Office of Professional Responsibility Report on the Office of Legal Counsel, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced today.  The report was released to Congress today.

The hearing will be held Friday, February 26, at 10:00 a.m.  Witnesses will be announced in the coming days, and the hearing will be webcast live online.

Apr 21 2009

Holder May Appoint Counsel, Next Step: OPR Opinion

It’s been an emotional two days for those of us who don’t sleep well knowing our country almost certainly committed war crimes.  It’s a kneejerk issue for me — I’ll admit that without apology.  If America doesn’t hold its leaders accountable for torture, then it’s no longer my America.  And I love my America dearly.  Country aside, the core of my being is offended by the existence of torture in this world.  If some of my money bought waterboards, I now have a stake in the company.  Call it moralizing if you like, but I just can’t live with that.  And yes, I become very emotional.

But tonight, after an especially discouraging day, hope comes from the Rachel Maddow Show in the form of interviews with the estimable Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Michael Isikoff from Newsweek Magazine.  For me, sources don’t get much more reliable than Senator Whitehouse.