Waterboard Memo Authors Won’t Be Investigated

Officially closing the hotly contested chapter on how the Bush administration conducted its war on terror, the Justice Department has rejected calls for ethics investigations against the two lawyers who wrote and signed off on the memos justifying the waterboarding of detainees.

John Yoo and Jay Bybee will not be investigated by the Justice Department regarding their conduct while working at the Bush White House, though they may be referred to state authorities who have the power to revoke the lawyers’ licenses. –JCL

The Telegraph:

The decision brings to a close a bitterly-debated chapter in the debate about how the Bush administration fought the war on terror in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

After five years of heated internal wrangling, the justice department has rejected calls by its own ethics investigators for tougher measures against the two men.

They had recommended that the cases against John Yoo, now a law professor at the University of California, and Jay Bybee, now a federal appeals judge in Nevada, should be referred to state authorities for further action that could have included revoking their law licences.

Mr Yoo drew up the initial memo authorising extreme interrogation techniques in August 2002 in the febrile atmosphere shortly after the capture of Abu Zubaydah, a top al Qaeda operative. Mr Bybee then signed off on the advice for the White House.

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