From Publishers Weekly
As a former assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, Yoo was in the center of the debate over where President Bush's administration draws the line on the torture of detained terrorism suspects. He revisits that and other controversies in the war on terror, from NSA wiretapping to the legal status of "enemy combatants." His response to most criticisms is that al-Qaeda is a new kind of enemy, and the old ways of thinking (e.g., the Geneva Conventions) prevent us from stopping another terrorist strike. The cornerstone of Yoo's argument is his belief that as commander-in-chief, the president has broad powers "to act forcefully and independently to repel serious threats to the nation." Even the formal declaration of war by Congress has become archaic; Yoo argues that America is at war whenever the president decides the military can "do what must be done." Thus, the Supreme Court's June decision rendering the prosecution of Guantánamo detainees by military commissions unconstitutional is, in Yoo's eyes, "a dangerous judicial intention to intervene in wartime policy" that forces the president and Congress to waste time crafting legislation when we could be out fighting terrorists. Unambiguous and combative, Yoo's philosophy is sure to spark further debate. (Oct.)
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Product Description
John Yoo, the key legal architect of the Bush administration’s response to 9/11, delivers a fascinating insider account of the War on Terror. While America reeled from the cataclysmic events of September 11, 2001, Yoo and a skeletal staff of the Office of Legal Counsel found themselves on the phone with the White House. In a series of memos, Yoo offered his legal opinions on the president’s authority to respond, and in the process had an almost unmatched impact on America's fight against terrorism. His analysis led to many of the Bush administration’s most controversial policies, including detention at Guantanamo Bay, coercive interrogation, military trials for terrorists, preemptive attacks, and the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program. In fascinating detail, Yoo takes us inside the corridors of power and examines specific cases, from John Walker Lindh and Jose Padilla to an American al-Qaeda leader assassinated by a CIA pilotless drone in the deserts of Yemen. In a midterm election year, when the controversies over the president’s handling of the War on Terror are sure to wage more forcefully than ever before, John Yoo’s War by Other Means is set to become one of the fall’s most talked about books.