Justice Dept. Finally Sued Over Torture Emails
When last we spoke about John Yoo, in early March, The National Archives and Records Administration was begging the Department of Justice to cough up information about all his missing emails from the period that he was composing America's fine torture emails. And back in February, it was demanded that the Justice Department explain whether the missing emails of Yoo and and fellow torture memo author Patrick Philbin were disappeared by means of "unauthorized destruction." John Conyers, chair of the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, made the same demand on March 1. It is now the middle of May and the DoJ is still like "la la la, I can't hear you." Also, the DoJ is not forthcoming about what exactly was destroyed-that question being, were emails about the torture memos specifically disappeared? Now, while technically we think any number of government outfits should be formally investigating the DoJ itself (awkward!), it's fallen on the stonewalled nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to file suit in the U.S. District Court for D.C.
Hmm, maybe they are lolligagging because, John Yoo was right, and the administration is basically acknowledging that the Bush administration was more correct in its legal justifications than what Obama was willing to concede during his campaign.
See: Guantanamo Bay, KSM
Unfortunately, I think you're right. It does seem that once Obama got in there and saw the full picture, he backed off a lot of things. Not saying he agrees with them, but he probably saw the legal shock-waves it would cause if he allowed others to pursue action against the positions the government had taken.