March 08, 2009
You want the truth? Yoo thinks you can't handle the truth
John Yoo, excoriated by the Left for his Justice Department memos on how to deal with the terror threat in the aftermath of 9-11 (especially his discussion regarding the use of aggressive questioning techniques on terrorists) responded to his critics in Saturday's Wall Street Journal.
His "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!" moment came near the end.
Imposing Fourth Amendment standards on military action would have made the Civil War unwinnable -- combat occurred wholly on U.S. territory and enemy soldiers were American citizens.
The military does not have the time to obtain warrants before soldiers fire upon enemy targets and personnel; the battlefield does not provide the luxury to collect evidence needed to meet probable cause standards in civilian courts.
Even if the Fourth Amendment applied, we believed that courts would judge military action under a standard of "reasonableness" -- as they might review a police officer who fires in self-defense -- rather than demand a warrant to use military force to stop a terror attack.
Exactly right. It's warfare, not lawfare, with different rules for very different goals: Victory for us, defeat for the enemy; as few Americans dead as is humanly possible, as many of theirs at room temperature as is needed for them to concede defeat.
It ought not be that hard to comprehend.
God save the United States from those who cannot distinguish between the two.
Posted by Mike Lief at March 8, 2009 01:07 AM
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Comments
What could you expect from Yoo's critics, who have never been closer to military combat than watching the occasional peace demonstration on TV?
Posted by: The Little Coach at March 8, 2009 05:42 PM