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SW: war on terror memos
"In the wake of the September 11 attacks, there had been much debate inside [[Bush regime|the administration]] about what was permissible in the treatment of prisoners and what was not. The most suggestive document, in terms of what was really going on inside military prisons and detention centres, was written in early August 2002 by Jay S Bybee, head of the justice department's office of legal counsel. "Certain acts may be cruel, inhuman, or degrading, but still not produce pain and suffering of the requisite intensity to fall within [a legal] proscription against torture," Bybee wrote to [[Alberto R. Gonzales]], the White House counsel. "We conclude that for an act to constitute torture, it must inflict pain that is difficult to endure. Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." [[http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091404A.shtml]
==[[Bush Administration War on Terror Memos]]==
[[ProPublica]] notes that "the Bush administration’s [[Global War on Terror|"war on terror"]] - including its controversial policies on detentions, interrogations and warrantless wiretapping - were all underpinned by legal memoranda. While some of those memos have been released ... the former administration chose to keep many others secret, citing security and confidentiality concerns. The decision to release them now lies with [[Barack Obama|President Obama]]. To help inform the debate - and inject an extra dose of accountability - we’re posting a list of the relevant memos, both public and secret." [http://www.propublica.org/special/missing-memos]
Memo authors include [[John C. Yoo]], [[Steven G. Bradbury]], [[Jay Bybee]], [[James B. Comey]], [[Robert J. Delahunty]], [[Jack Goldsmith]] and and other legal architects (and some internal critics) of the Bush Administration's use of torture and detention policies now being reversed.
==Biographical Information==
Nominated by [[George W. Bush]] to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, '''Jay S. Bybee''' was confirmed on March 13, 2003.
