The opposition party and its media propaganda wings (TV, print, radio) all went ballistic, citing the rule of law, and bringing up the necessity of impeachment hearings.
There are certain lawyerly ways of using words but not answering direct questions directly. Those who are practiced these ways, have well learned that never having to say you're sorry means never answering "yes" or "no". Somehow, they keep getting away with this. When the question is whether or not waterboarding constitutes torture, and those being questioned profess not to be able to answer yes or no, does it seem unfair to subject them to waterboarding until such time as they CAN answer the question yes or no?
John Yoo, the author of the Bush administration "torture memos" is one of these dissemblers. Robert Parry of Consortium News reports this exchange between Rep. John Coyners (D-MI) and Yoo during the June 26, 2008 hearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution.
Conyers referred to a news report of a non-responsive non-answer Yoo gave when asked if the President could legally order the torture of the child of a terrorist suspect in order to get the suspect to talk. This scenario has played out on the Fox TV series 24. Parry writes the following:
The Judiciary Committee chairman asked: “Is there anything, Professor Yoo, the President cannot order to be done to a suspect if he believes it’s necessary for national defense?”
When Yoo dissembled, Conyers posed the question more pointedly: “Could the President order a suspect buried alive?”
Yoo continued to fence with the congressman, avoiding a direct answer.
“I don’t think I ever gave advice that the President could bury somebody alive,” Yoo said, adding he believed that “no American President would ever have to order that or feel it necessary to order that.”
Pointedly, however, Yoo avoided a direct response to the question of whether he believed the President had the authority to do it.
