Hayden Continues To Rely On Yoo/Addington/Rizzo

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 07:01:59 AM EST
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The [warrantless surveillance] program was lawful . . . The reflexive judgments to the contrary seem hasty at best. There has been much controversy about the lawfulness of the program. Here I must point out that agency lawyers — career attorneys with deep expertise in the law, privacy and intelligence — assisted their professional Justice Department counterparts in their review of the program but remained comfortable throughout with the lawfulness of all aspects of the surveillance effort.- Michael Hayden

What amazes me about Michael Hayden, the former Bush Administration CIA and NSA Director, is not that he defends his and the Bush Administration actions. You would expect that. But that he does it so poorly does seem strange.

To cite the legal judgments of lawyers who approved torture - people like John Yoo, David Addington and John Rizzo, defies belief. But there you have it. I quoted from his Hayden's latest op-ed and it remains the same style of argument - trust my word. Now this argument worked to convince Joe Klein and the Media for years. A lot of us knew better. and have been proven right. But Hayden lives in a time warp, where nothing regarding the abuses of the Bush Administration lawyers has been revealed. A world where Joe Klein was proven a fool. We're past that now I hope.

Speaking for me only

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Hayden Continues To Rely On Yoo/Addington/Rizzo | 19 comments (19 topical)

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Really? (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by Steve M on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 08:17:37 AM EST

So the career lawyers "remained comfortable throughout with the lawfulness of all aspects of the surveillance effort" - except for the time when they threatened to resign en masse over it, I guess!

He didn't say ALL (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by Big Tent Democrat on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 08:44:26 AM EST

were comfortable.

I assumed he was referencing, Yoo, Addington and Rizzo.


Well (none / 0) (#3)
by Steve M on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 08:52:45 AM EST

When people talk about "career lawyers" they typically refer to the non-partisan folks who staff the Justice Department from one administration to the next. And certainly Hayden's locution is designed to suggest that there was more than just one or two partisan hacks who stood behind the surveillance program.


: Indeed (none / 0) (#8)
by Big Tent Democrat on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 09:50:28 AM EST

That was his intention.

Oh (none / 0) (#4)
by Steve M on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 08:53:57 AM EST

I just realized when he said "agency lawyers" he's referring to the CIA. So that would mean Rizzo and whoever else, I guess? The resignation threats were from the DOJ lawyers only, as far as I know.


: and/or NSA (none / 0) (#14)
by Ben Masel on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 12:52:16 PM EST

Heh (none / 0) (#5)
by ChiTownMike on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 08:57:59 AM EST

But As We've Seen (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by The Maven on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 09:06:03 AM EST

far too many times before, when these kinds of dangerous concepts are reasserted by moderately high-profile individuals whose names have not become too horribly tarnished in the public mind (as opposed to, say, Cheney), the "respectable" Beltway punditocracy will tend to pass it along very nearly unquestioned, as you note. The longer that goes on, the more the issue gets perceived as a "one side says X/the other side says Y", as if both points had enough actual merit as to permit reasonable people to disagree. When we reach that point here -- if we haven't already -- any attempt at imposing genuine accountability and the rule of law gets spun (both by our opponents and that wonderful Beltway media combine) as nothing more than a game of pure partisan retribution. And the ideals of impartial administration of justice suffer yet again.

I doubt very much that Hayden decided purely on his own to write today's op-ed piece; rather, it is likely part of a well-coordinated attempt to obfuscate reality, creating an impression that there was a legitimate legal basis for the procedures. It is no surprise that Addington, Yoo, etc., "remained comfortable throughout" the tenure of the program, as they are hardly the types of minds to ever have second thoughts about anything stemming from their core beliefs.

: Yes, and "...a game of...." (none / 0) (#10)
by KeysDan on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 10:31:30 AM EST

These critically serious matters are so often referred to, and seen as, apparently, a game by many members of the punditocracy.

Quite a few "career attorneys (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by oldpro on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 10:57:02 AM EST

with deep expertise" went off to prison in the Nixon and Reagan administrations, including an Attorney General.

That line alone reveals how laughable the sales pitch really is. Beyond patronizing.

Something is deep alright and it isn't expertise.

If we the people had wide open transparency (none / 0) (#7)
by joze46 on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 09:46:14 AM EST

If we the people had wide open transparency

It would be lot different. Please indulge me to prove it is necessary to have oath and affirmation at both ends of the public spectrum or chaos envelopes relationships. Such as simple questions Sarah Palin knew but had to dance around Bush's doctrine. Which now we know is secret torture, with corruption in a war that was not necessary along with a Ponzi Federal Reserve giving money away secretly to the tune of trillions of dollars. Palin has had a simple and brief taste of the corruption honey. If she is a true conservative, now is back stepping to learn more about the sieve we are in. Of course McCain the camp did not like Palin from the get go. I'm getting the feeling she could possibly be honest within a cesspool of corruption.

Good Quality Control, should be a prime factor on the media's, we would all realize taxing those entities would likely resolve our problems besides keeping our heads from going insane.

Most of my conclusions reflect on good Quality Control in political methods with good honest reporting by television Journalism in mainstream media would precipitate less of a need for legal regulations. America our government licensed media in the public electro magnetic spectrum brought us here to this point in time. The media is saturated in corruption.

Obviously as an example, Michael Jackson appears to have been taken from an Iconic Black Idol of the best performer in pop to a drug obsessed addict murdered by his doctor that reveals a selfish internal greedy family struggling for the Jackson's money. Imagine Michael Jackson had some pretty good security to keep his flaming hair video secret for years till it was outed. No, just planed media corruption for the right moment. Imagine what our government has kept secret for a hundred years or so, or what the media knows to out at the right moment could be very ugly in your face.

Of course we all need to monitor "disservice cable" which is essentially basic cable and hate radio to be activist citizens to help each other. Those in the control of the media have consciously made it seem that they put forward their desire to be a public friendly service yet are the ambassadors of corruption and secret tyranny. Please, we are in this mess because they brought us here. We all need to be public philosophers as Plato said in his "Republic". Well, it's not happening. But we don't need to monitor the President, have over sight to these wire tapping deals. Are they just listening to terrorist stuff or could it be banking related? Of course it is possible and likely to observe money laundering. How in the heck could anyone parley a derivative market into the hundreds of trillions with out fixing the wheels of paper money knowing the Federal Reserve will jump in.

Example by just the other day it was revealed Bush and company tinkered with the idea with sending troops to arrest some Al Qaeda related groups in Upper New York this was considered at the same time Bush pushing the war to take it to the enemy, then in America in 2001. All the while how much of the enemy is in our back yard at the time of Bush's decision to go into Iraq or Afghanistan. This is better than blazing saddles, the Connecticut Yankee gets caught red handed in basic wire tapping laws and banking Reserve scheme but Congress is as Attorney General Holder said " We are a nation of cowards" while Bush and Company rides off into the sunset with trillions in tax dollars.

"A world where Joke Line . . . (none / 0) (#9)
by Capt Howdy on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 10:17:47 AM EST

. . . was proven a fool"

I have read that in the mulitverse every thing that can happen does in some other universe.

but I always thought it had to be physically possible.

Wasn't DOJ packed with new hires (none / 0) (#12)
by oculus on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 11:20:01 AM EST

who were recent graduates of Liberty Law School?

Yes, spearheaded by the infamous (none / 0) (#13)
by KeysDan on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 12:32:42 PM EST

Monica Crowley. (no relation to the Sgt of same name, I think).


Do you mean (none / 0) (#17)
by Steve M on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 01:17:53 PM EST

Monica Goodling?


: I do. (none / 0) (#18)
by KeysDan on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 01:38:04 PM EST

: I keep mixing up my Monicas. Regrets. (none / 0) (#19)
by KeysDan on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 01:42:45 PM EST

Hayden was appointed to NSA by Clinton (none / 0) (#15)
by Ben Masel on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 12:55:19 PM EST

and even before Bush came in purged the Agency of those who would question repurposing towards domestic survweillance. The fiirst salvo was instituting urine tests.

Shake the tree and see what falls out (none / 0) (#16)
by Sumner on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 01:02:24 PM EST

Interesting who leaps to defend Yoo. Of course, those in the know, understand that the mammoth NSA data centers currently being built around the country are part of the total control grid being quietly set up.

Cheers, here's TIA!