John Yoo v. Brilliant, Tasteless Pranksters

I've long wondered why John Yoo is teaching at UC Berkeley. Barring prison, it at least seems like he shouldn't be teaching. But if he can get a job teaching, how and why did he end up at Berkeley?

This video sheds some unsurprising but hilarious light on how it's going. And since I was on campus myself just yesterday, it seems particularly timely:




My favorite part is that the class applauds.


EDIT: This Glenn Greenwald piece about a letter by UC Law Dean William Orrick helps explain Berkeley's willingness to hire Yoo: the school's desire to defend and cement academic free speech transcends just about everything else.

EDIT II: Whoops, J.N. already posted this.

And John Yoo Responds...

After our discussion in the comments, it seems worth mentioning John Yoo's response to the release of nine memos in which he explicitly denigrated the first and fourth amendments and arguably encouraged war crimes. In (of all places) the Orange County Register, Yoo gives an interview with the following choice tidbits:

Q. Were you surprised with the student reaction at Berkeley to you being there?

A. Berkeley is sort of a magnet for hippies, protesters and left-wing activists. So I'm not surprised that being one of the few recognizable conservatives on campus that I would generate a lot of heat and friction. It happened well before working in the Bush administration.

Step 1: Announce status as reactionary asshole who hates "hippies." Check. Whatever "hippies" are, now that the 1960s have been over for forty years, John Yoo hates them.

Q. You recently wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal criticizing President Obama for closing Guantanamo Bay.

A. He's really restricting what the CIA can do in the war on terrorism. That's my opinion. Now that I'm not in the government, part of my role, because I have a certain amount of expertise, is to try to keep the government honest.

Honest. Huh. That was not the word that first came to mind, as I'm not sure how relevant honesty is here. More like evil. "Part of my role, because I have a certain amount of expertise, is to try and keep the government evil." But hey, it's his interview.

Q. What needs to be understood with governmental decisions?

A. There are tradeoffs inherent in every question. Someone can say, "I think it's more important that other countries have a more favorable opinion of us than any intelligence we gain from interrogation." That's a benefit and a cost. That's the cost … we will get less information about the enemy.

The enemy... does that include the 533 prisoners who were released from Guantanamo Bay? Or just the 241 still under guard? Or do you mean, all 779 illegally 100% legally held detainees? I'm so confused!

Q. Do you have a different perspective as a private citizen?

A. The thing I am really struck with is that when you are in the government, you have very little time to make very important decisions. You don't have the luxury to research every single thing and that's accelerated in war time. You really have decisions to make, which you could spend years on. Sometimes what we forget as private citizens, or scholars, or students or journalists for sure (he laughs), is that in hindsight, it's easier to say, "Here's what I would have done." But when you're in the government, at the time you make the decision, you don't have that kind of luxury.

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY THE BILL OF RIGHTS EXISTS. That is exactly, 100%, why we have some lines that never get crossed, no matter what.

But here's the real kicker, which is getting particular play around the internets:

Q. Is there anything you would have done differently?

A. These memos I wrote were not for public consumption. They lack a certain polish, I think – would have been better to explain government policy rather than try to give unvarnished, straight-talk legal advice. I certainly would have done that differently, but I don't think I would have made the basic decisions differently.

Translation: "I would have been just as disrespectful of civil rights, but would have either shredded the memos after they were read or lied more openly to the public about their meaning."

In conclusion: fuck you, John Yoo. Fuck. You.