Michael Isikoff of Newsweek went through the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility report on John Yoo and Jay Bybee and found this remarkable exchange on page 64:
Yoo was asked to explain how the torture statute would interfere with
the President's war making abilities, and gave the following answers:Q: I guess the question I'm raising is, does this particular law
really affect the President's war-making abilities ....
A: Yes, certainIy.
Q: What is your authority for that?
A: Because this is an option that the President might use in war.
Q: What about ordering a village of resistants to be massacred? .
. . . Is that a power that the President could legally -
A: Yeah. Although, let me say this. So, certainly that would fall
within the Commander-in-Chiefs power over tactical decisions.
Q: To order a village of civilians to be [exterminated]?
A: Sure.
Yoo clearly lost all sense of morality when he tried to decide what the limits were on Presidential power.
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