Bush Officials Face Liability For Terror Policies

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

(09-28) 14:13 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and one of his hardline lieutenants face the rare prospect of being held personally liable for alleged violations of individuals' rights in the aggressive aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

High-ranking officials usually are protected from such civil rights claims. Not necessarily in these cases.

Three federal courts have left open the possibility that former Bush officials may have to reach into their own pockets to compensate people who were swept up in the law enforcement and intelligence efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks.

In two cases, judges appointed by Republican presidents have refused to dismiss lawsuits at an early stage that were filed against Ashcroft and former Justice Department official John Yoo. One complaint challenges Ashcroft's strategy of preventive detention. The other seeks to hold Yoo accountable for legal memos he wrote supporting detention, interrogation and presidential power.

In a third case, the full federal appeals court in New York is reconsidering an earlier decision by three of its members to toss out a lawsuit by a man who was changing planes in the United States when he was mistaken for a terrorist and sent to Syria, where he claims he was tortured.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/28/national/w140853D94.DTL

[gratuitous]

1. Uh oh

Bush and Cheney in danger of disgorging some of their loot from eight years of ruining the country? Bummer.

[k agathon]

2. duplication

duplication

[k agathon]

3. it is far from over.

This is just the beginning, it may go all the way to the Supremes. In the end it will more than likely get tossed. Governing the country by either political spectrum or party would be impossible if individual government employees are liable for as much as giving "advice" on the legality or possibly the illegality of an action(s).

[RC]

4. And so we just let them walk away from their crimes?

We already did that once with Iran-Contra and look what it got us.
Bring back the guillotine so they can't fake the justice.

[metapunditedgy]

6. no way, pal. When appointed officials (who know better) lead us into obvious war crimes,

it's time to prosecute.

Most importantly, don't just stop at the top. A LOT of people were involved, and the law applies to them, too.

[Arctic Dave]

8. When the advice you give is a direct violation of law, there might be a legal case to prosecute.

Advice on how to commit crime seems to me to fall under assessory.

[zogtheobvious]

11. Unfortunately, you are right

It will go all the way to the Supremes, where they will toss it and hope that the outrage has dimmed enough by the time it reaches them that they can get away with it without too much public recrimination. And if they do take political damage? Fuck it. It's not like they have to campaign to defend their seat against a challenger. Political damage to a Supreme Court justice is like throwing a rock in the ocean. It makes a little splash but nothing else really comes of it (unless you happen to be an unfortunate sea anemone just swimming by at the time.)

There is so much legal and bureaucratic bullshit floating around now that anybody can break the law and hide behind mounds of red tape.

Feh. It becomes harder and harder for me to parse these blogs. The more my eyes open about the state of our government, the less I want to read about it. It's harder and harder to see any real solution. Being an angry yet powerless voice on these blogs vents a lot of steam but solves little else. They only listen to us at election time. Armed uprising is the purview of the Right-Wing fringe radicals and I think most of us here, myself included, want no part of that. So what's left? Other than becoming a multibillionaire lobbyist fighting for Liberal causes, what's the alternative?

Get out and vote.

BWAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH I ~almost~ said that with a straight face! No... seriously, the real alternative seems to be apathy, plain and simple. I got nuthin' else.

And that's pretty fuckin' sad.

P.S. Fer what it's worth,welcome to DU, Helo!

[earcandle]

14. I know what you mean.

[TankLV]

17. Take your repuke talking points back to your fellow repukes...!!!

The LAW must be UPHELD - EQUALLY - for EVERYONE!!!

[fascisthunter]

5. very good

[ejbr]

7. Aren't we supposed to be looking forward and not behind?

Who cares if laws were broken?

[RoccoR5955]

9. FROG MARCH! FROG MARCH! FROG MARCH!

This one too!

[Ozymanithrax]

10. Since Impeachment does not work as a deterent...

there must be some way to hold public officials liable for violations of the constitution and abuse of power.

[DeadEyeDyck]

12. Is this thread locked?

Guess not. Rock on John Yoo

[Solly Mack]

13. K&R

[earcandle]

15. Look, we have a constitution that protects us from this abuse.

Lock up Graham Lindsay or whoever that was that deregulated
the banks.  ASAP, so no one ever attempts that again. 

Lock up The Bush group for the terror policies that grew
mercenaries all over the world and murdered millions of people
and caused hardships for anyone not killed.

Lock up the Pharmaceutical owners who released vaccines that
caused Autism and nerve diseases.

And lock up the owners of Wackenhut, or whatever they are
called now for the crime industry's growth in Prisons for
Profit and release all of their victims with paid retribution
from the owners of those companies.

Stop employing prisoners who compete with the market and lower
wages and remove those private industries so that they cannot
use prison labor.  Prison labor must be for the public
interests only.  No profiteering from prison labor.

Start here. 

[G_j]

16. K&R

[newtothegame]

18. How are they "facing liability" anywhere in this article? n/t