Mukasey Joins Liz Cheney Pile-On

But disbarring Yoo or impeaching Bybee is an uphill battle

(NEWSER) - The Justice Department has signaled it won't prosecute the Bush administration lawyers who approved interrogation tactics widely considered to be torture, but they may have trouble keeping their jobs. A forthcoming report from the DoJ will recommend possible disciplinary action by state bar associations for the Bush lawyers, sources tell the AP. Jay Bybee, currently an appeals court judge, is facing calls for his impeachment, while students and faculty at Berkeley, where John Yoo now teaches, want him fired and disbarred. More»

(NEWSER) - The Bush lawyers who gave their blessing to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques should not face criminal charges, a Justice Department report has concluded. The report does, however, say that Jay Bybee, John Yoo, and Steven Bradbury showed poor judgment and suggests that state bar associations consider reprimands and possible disbarment, the New York Times reports. More»

Bybee says agency exceeded guidelines

(NEWSER) - The Bush administration lawyer who gave legal cover to the CIA to use waterboarding and other brutal tactics is throwing the agency under the bus. Jay Bybee, who co-wrote the so-called torture memos, told a House panel that the CIA went way beyond what the Justice Department sanctioned, reports the Los Angeles Times . For example, he said the memos stipulated that waterboarding should not be used in "substantial repetitions," but CIA contractors subjected one detainee to it 183 times. More»

Attack ad critics need to grow pair: Andrew McCarthy

(NEWSER) - Critics from across the political spectrum denouncing Liz Cheney’s “al-Qaeda 7” ad attacking Justice Department lawyers defending Gitmo supects should just get over themselves, says Cheney ally Andrew McCarthy. "People are awfully prissy," the former US attorney tells Politico . I think that they are actually more upset that the language that was used in the ad was successful in attracting more attention than was there before." More»

Clinton nemesis actually agrees with Olbermann on something

(NEWSER) - In a move that looked a lot like pigs flying, Ken Starr went on MSNBC's Countdown last night to decry Liz Cheney’s attack on Justice Department lawyers who had defended Guantanamo Bay detainees. Starr spoke to fill-in host Lawrence O’Donnell rather than frequent detractor Keith Olbermann, but Olbermann gave O’Donnell a message to read to viewers: “That’s how seriously we both take this, that even we agree on it.” More»