Yoo Can Torture, 16x20 oil on canvas, Sandra Koponen © 2015DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICEJohn YooDOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel Deputy Assistant Attorney General 2001 – 2003Yoo was a member of the Bush administration’s self-styled “War Council” composed of senior administration lawyers. Yoo was one of the primary authors of the memos that supplied the legal basis for the torture programs of the CIA and the DOD. His August 1, 2002 memo authorized the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including waterboarding. (He had reportedly given the CIA interim approval to use the techniques several months prior.) And his March 14, 2003 memo gave expansive authority to the military to torture detainees. He also drafted numerous other memos giving the executive nearly unchecked authority in the “war on terror,” including memos in which he concluded that the President had the unilateral authority to suspend the United States’ obligations under international treaties. In crafting his memos, Yoo repeatedly set aside arguments from top State Department officials and military service lawyers that his reasoning was legally flawed and would have profoundly negative consequences for the United States.***https://www.aclu.org/infographic/infographic-torture-architects

Yoo Can Torture, 16x20 oil on canvas, Sandra Koponen © 2015

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

John Yoo

DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel Deputy Assistant Attorney General 2001 – 2003

Yoo was a member of the Bush administration’s self-styled “War Council” composed of senior administration lawyers. Yoo was one of the primary authors of the memos that supplied the legal basis for the torture programs of the CIA and the DOD. His August 1, 2002 memo authorized the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including waterboarding. (He had reportedly given the CIA interim approval to use the techniques several months prior.) And his March 14, 2003 memo gave expansive authority to the military to torture detainees. He also drafted numerous other memos giving the executive nearly unchecked authority in the “war on terror,” including memos in which he concluded that the President had the unilateral authority to suspend the United States’ obligations under international treaties. In crafting his memos, Yoo repeatedly set aside arguments from top State Department officials and military service lawyers that his reasoning was legally flawed and would have profoundly negative consequences for the United States.*

**https://www.aclu.org/infographic/infographic-torture-architects