War by Other Means : An Insider´s Account of the War on Terror

In the tumultuous days and weeks after 9/11, a young lawyer in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel named John Yoo became a key architect of the Bush administration’s legal response to the terrorist threat and a strong advocate of its expansive view of presidential power. The controversial opinions he worked on would elicit charges that the administration was subverting the Constitution, tipping the balance of power among the three branches of government, trampling the civil rights of detainees and authorizing coercive interrogation. Mr. Yoo worked on memos and opinions that determinedly attempted to redefine torture. He also argued that the terrorist attacks created “an emergency situation” in America, and that given this situation, “the government may be justified in taking measures which in less troubled conditions could be seen as infringements of individual liberties.” (NYTimes.com)