Shame on Yoo: Witness Against Torture and for Accountability for John Yoo

Bravo to all of you dedicated activists to expose Yoo and other torture enhancers. Yoo can Cut & Run but he can't Hide from the long arms of Justice! Great "chalk art" to "greet" Yoo too!

Careful folks! Home demonstrations and chalk art? According to the federal government in the case of the AETA 4, those things are terrorist activity.

Honestly, though, I appreciate actions like this. Viva la raza.

Perhaps Yoo doesn't care consciously. But, subconsciously, the activists' persistent calls for Justice & Humanity have to stir his subconscious self-evaluation. Yoo can Cut & Run from activists, but he can't Hide from his own Conscience. As Margaret Meade once said, never underestimate the power of a few dedicated individuals. Once again, many thanks to the brave activists who continue to hound the war criminal (suspects?)

Indimedia is supposed to be a clearing house for free exchange of ideas. Deleting comments that disagree with you invalidates everything you stand for.

I fully support prosecuting Bush and Chenney. I support prosecuting Yoo also, but only if he can be charged with an actual crime. If they are found guilty then let them reap the punishment for their actions and set an example to others.

But I don't support trespassing and harassing people. Our constitution guarantees us that we are all innocent until proven guilty. When you harass people you are taking away this fundamental right. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

No one trespassed on John Yoo's property. The protest was across the street from his house, on the public sidewalk. No one has spoken to Mr. Yoo or harassed him. I personally would like to see him prosecuted as a war criminal the way Hitler's lawyer was prosecuted after WWII. The only way this prosecution will happen is if there is a public outcry.

@ Sappho

Wait, isn't the chalk on his driveway? The first 6 feet from the road is the public right-of-way, after that it's private property. I **think** people can stand in that first 6 feet, but I'm not sure about that. The chalk goes much further than 6 feet so the people doing that would have been trespassing. Also, even though the chalk washes off, I think it still counts as vandalism. So technically, I think it still counts as trespass and vandalism, but I could be wrong.

I think we all would agree that it's harassment. From reading the post and comments, I think that was actually the intent: harass Yoo in order to make the protest more visible. My question is: Should we condone harassing people? I don't think so because it's punishing people without the benefit of a trial.

I'll give one possible scenario that should be considered: What if Yoo were given an Executive Order to produce the document that he did and he were further ordered not to disclose that he was given the order. If that were the case then he would have been under duress just as if someone pointed a gun at his head because violating that order would get him charged with treason. If someone does something under duress then I would not hold them guilty for it, but instead hold the person applying the duress.

You might think my scenario is far fetched, but I could come up with other extenuating circumstances. A trial would get tot he truth (or at least give an opportunity to get to the truth). But with no trial you're just assuming he's guilty. That's wrong in my opinion.

that's just so super-duper rich of you to be concerned about, punishing people without the benefit of a trial

more upset over chalk without a trial than torture

yes, it's all about priorities, my friend

Yoo may be complicit, but who isn't in this country? We elected Bush, and we stood by and accepted the results, even if we didn't vote for Bush. This isn't a game. Demonstrating in front of Yoo's home and defacing it is offensive.

@ Berkeley homeowner

I repeat: the protest and chalking were on the public sidewalk across the street, not Mr. Yoo's private property.

Did you ever hear of that in this country a person is "Innocent until proven guilty"...

Your protest serves only to smear a person who is guilty of no crime; he hasn't even been charged with any wrong doing.

If you want to vent, then wait until he is tried and convicted, and then paint your signs, and grab your chalk, and have a ball, if it will make you feel better.

And be sure to post your own picture so everyone will know what a wonderful person you are.

Put yourself in Yoo's place. Suppose you were accused of a heinous crime, and, before even being arrested, your neighbors were out in front of your house with signs, and chalk, trying to convince everyone of you guilt ? How would you feel ?

The better question is: What would you think if it was Adolf living comfortably in the Berkeley hills, either Hitler or Eichmann? Would you be clamoring for people to reserve judgment? Would you think a little chalk was just too harsh, too personal?

On a more direct note, it's a well known fact that Yoo wrote memos authorizing torture. He has defended those very memos on the grounds that the president can do whatever he wants in a "time of war" and that his legal reasoning was sterling. He doesn't deny what he wrote. There's no mystery there. It's just a matter of if the people of this country, WHO WERE LIED TO AND TOLD NO TORTURE WAS HAPPENING AT THE TIME, will hold this scumbag, and all of his Eichmann buddies, responsible for war crimes.

He should consider himself lucky that he has been able to commit war crimes and the worst thing that's happened to him is some chalk near his house. He blithely opines for a conservative newspaper in Pennsylvania and demonstrators show the discipline to use chalk and not pitchforks and torches.

You don't right a wrong by committing more crimes. The biggest sin of Gitmo was holding people without a trial. If you declare Yoo guilty without a trial then you're doing exactly what you accuse him of. Yes, it's on a smaller scale: harassment vs imprisonment, but it's still the sin of presuming someone is guilty without a fair trial. I can't support that. Even if Hitler were living in that house, I'd still be against vigilantly prosecution. I would be in favor of legal prosecution and making sure the guilty get what they deserve.

John Yoo has admitted and likes to speak publicly about his memos saying torture is legal if the President orders it. He freely admits his guilt in war crimes. Our action was to call attention to him, just like you'd want to know if a serial killer lived in your neighborhood. We weren't trying to harass him or cause any harm to come to him. We want him dismissed from U.C. Berkeley, disbarred, prosecuted AND we WANT HIM TO APOLOGIZE for making the world less safe. We are hated as a nation for the crimes he authorized as a "legal expert." He did shoddy, unethical work, and caused torture and death of hundreds. There are still people being tortured because he gave the green light to this. And furthermore, his greenlighting of torture helped cause the invasion and occupation of the sovereign country of Iraq. That's right-- torture of al-Libi extracted lies connected Al Qaeda with Iraq, and Bush,Cheney, Powell, Rice, etc. used that as an excuse to lead us into a tragic and monumentally expensive war. So John Yoo may want to get away with all this but we're obligated to call for accountability.

If a convicted serial killer were living in my neighbor then I want to know about it. If a person was charged with murder but not convicted, then I'd want to know but I would leave him alone because he was not convicted (Innocent till proven guilty!). If he was just suspected or if some citizen simply thought he might be a murderer then I'd tell the person to let the police investigate the crime and quit harassing the guy.

It does not matter how heinous the crime, you are still innocent until proven guilty!