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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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 OPINION 
17

Yoo: Wiretaps Were Legal and Necessary

President had right to violate 'obsolete' FISA, Bush lawyer writes

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(Newser) – Last week the inspectors general of the Justice Department, CIA, and other agencies suggested the Bush administration violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, singling out lawyer John Yoo for memos justifying warrantless wiretapping. Yoo defends himself today in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, writing that FISA was "an obsolete law" that the president had a constitutional responsibility to override. "Gathering intelligence—including intercepting enemy communications—has long been a key aspect of war," he says.

Yoo, now a professor at Berkeley, not only wrote the so-called torture memos while at Justice but also advocated nearly unchecked surveillance powers for the chief executive. He writes that presidents since FDR have "lived up to their duty in times of crisis," and last week's report was "responding to the media-stoked politics of recrimination." For Yoo, the justification for wiretapping is self-evident; the military and intelligence agencies can't defend the nation "unless they know where to aim."

John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.
John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
In this March 13, 2008 file photo, President Bush makes a statement on FISA legislation on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.
In this March 13, 2008 file photo, President Bush makes a statement on FISA legislation on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, file)
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In FISA, President Bush and his advisers faced an obsolete law not written with live war with an international terrorist organization in mind. It was to meet such emergency circumstances that the Founders designed the presidency. -

Clearly, the five inspectors general were responding to the media-stoked politics of recrimination, not consulting the long history of American presidents who have lived up to their duty in times of crisis. - John Yoo, former Bush official

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17 comments
VIEWING:
 
Fondue
Jul 16, 09 7:50 AM CDT
Mr. Yoo, they were illegal and unnecessary. Please, go directly to jail. Do not waste our time any further. Reply
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+8
gabo
Jul 16, 09 7:56 AM CDT
Oh, that pesky constitution...... Reply
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+3
IN RESPONSE:
Fondue
Jul 16, 09 8:22 AM CDT
I know right
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+5
IN RESPONSE:
Snarfeh
Jul 16, 09 12:11 PM CDT
Now, now...be nice to Professor Woo. He was justifiably terrified, like many rebumblicans, that a terrorist was going to bomb *his* subdivision.
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0
Nwambe
Jul 16, 09 8:14 AM CDT
Yoo knew who and what to do He was scared, you see, of terrorists, times two! Domestic and foreign, FISA would help. But when it didn't, Bush only said "Well..." "Into Iraq we go, John Yoo, and my oh my, what a hullaballoo!" And so to a nation humble and God-fearing The Bush baddies just keep disappearing Until all we're left with is a Mr. John Woo To which a Berkeley professor can only say "Yoo Who?" Reply
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+1

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