Judge Bybee's cruelty (Jon B. Eisenberg)

[struggle4progress]

In approving torture, his remoteness from the actual torturers increases his degree of responsibility
Jon B. Eisenberg

... On Aug. 1, 2002, Bybee, then an assistant attorney general, signed an 18-page memo to the CIA approving its use of 10 "techniques" in the interrogation of a captive al-Qaeda operative named Abu Zubaydah. The CIA wanted assurance that the techniques would not violate laws against torture. Bybee provided that assurance in chillingly detached prose ...

This is the evil of which Arendt spoke: the remoteness of the desk-bound bureaucrat from the torture chamber itself. Arendt wrote that "such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man" ...

The judgment against Eichmann speaks to Bybee: Far from absolving him of guilt, his remoteness from the actual torturers - his thoughtlessness - increases the degree of his responsibility. His is a special kind of evil - the evil of nonchalance where there should be outrage ...

I wonder whether Bybee feels guilty before God. He certainly has no business being a federal judge. His presence on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals brings disgrace to that court. He should resign.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20090426_Judge_Bybee_s_cruelty__In_approving_torture__his_remoteness_from_the_actual_torturers_increases_his_degree_of_responsibility_.html

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. I'll second that notion!

Nonchalance where there should be outrage is also a good description of the most desired result from the massive propaganda operation waged against Americans by our modern, corrupt media.

One hopes Bybee would resign, but it will not happen. The fact that he was willing to manufacture such a legal opinion indicates his moral compass appears to be seriously broken or non-existent. Impeachment is the other mechanism, but will there be enough political will to impeach?

[struggle4progress]

2. I don't know what Bybee will do. He was off almost everybody's radar screen

until very recently, and when he showed up on the screen, there was promptly a news story about how all his friends thought he was very embarrassed about the memo

This alleged embarrassment seems too sudden to be anything other than a big steaming crock -- but the very appearance of that news story suggests rightwing LaLaLanders are concerned for Bybee's future

[Senator]

3. K&R

[tblue37]

4. Although he signed off on the memo, it was John Yoo who wrote it, I believe.

That in no way absolves Bybee, of course, and they should definitely impeach and prosecute his ass, but it was who wallowed in that repulively minute detail about what awful things one might do to a detainee.

[glitch]

5. I just wonder what the judges he works with think of working with him.

My guess is they're disgusted. I wonder if they show it, and how he feels about that.