The New York Times, the so-called "paper of record," adds to the record of how torture architect John Yoo got that Inquirer column:
Harold Jackson, The Inquirer’s editorial page editor, said he was surprised by the sudden delayed anger directed his way over Mr. Yoo. He said the decision to hire a columnist was his, but that “Mr. Yoo was suggested by the publisher,” John (sic..er, that should be Brian-ed.) Tierney.
“There was a conscious effort on our part to counter some of the criticism of The Inquirer as being a knee-jerk liberal publication,” Mr. Jackson said. “We made a conscious effort to add some conservative voices to our mix.”
The NYT also spoke with our CEO:
“What I liked about John Yoo is he’s a Philadelphian,” Mr. Tierney said. “He went to Episcopal Academy, where I went to school. He’s a very, very bright guy. He’s on the faculty at Berkeley, one of the most liberal universities in the country.”
To critics of the hiring, he said, “The most important speech to defend is the speech you hate,” and he said there were not all that many critics. “I’ve gotten more mail recently on our making our comics smaller than I have on John Yoo.”
I kind of thought they'd already dispelled that "knee-jerk liberal" thing by hiring Rick Santorum, Michael Smerconish, etc., but maybe that's just me. Two other quick rebuttal points (as I was cited in the Times article but neither called nor interviewed) would be that a) no one has ever said anything about denying Yoo the right to speak freely but this is about giving a megaphone to this man, out of about 4 million Philadelphians, who advocated -- successfully! -- for the United States of America to undertake torture amd b) there are plenty of principled, thoughtful and interesting conservative voices out there, along the lines of Andrew Sullivan, whose moral clarity on this particular issue would have brought some honor to 400 North Broad Street.
Here's a good rule of thumb: Newspapers should protect free speech, but should project moral vision.
Seems like an innocuous article. You've done a good job adjusting your approach over the past few days, Will. On May 7, you called Yoo a "bona fide war criminal" (which I still contend is a libelous statement), and yesterday you said he could "utter his detestable viewpoints on any public street corner...that are so far outside the mainstream." Today you write simply that "no one has ever said anything about denying Yoo the right to speak freely"--that's much more professional and in keeping with your profession. With that said, "newspapers...should project moral vision"???? Whose moral vision? Israelis or Palestinians? Pro-choicers or Pro-lifers? People who agree with Clinton's Defense of Marriage Act or those who oppose it? 'Empathetic' supreme court justices or those who strictly adhere to the Constitution?— Vandy- Wow - those Andrew Sullivan articles are devastating. I'd be curious to hear how you respond, Vandy. Here's one excerpt: --snip-- So is “enhanced interrogation” torture? One way to answer this question is to examine history. The phrase has a lineage. Verschärfte Verneh-mung, enhanced or intensified interrogation, was the exact term innovated by the Gestapo to describe what became known as the “third degree”. It left no marks. It included hypothermia, stress positions and long-time sleep deprivation. The United States prosecuted it as a war crime in Norway in 1948. The victims were not in uniform – they were part of the Norwegian insurgency against the German occupation – and the Nazis argued, just as Cheney has done, that this put them outside base-line protections (subsequently formalised by the Geneva conventions). The Nazis even argued that “the acts of torture in no case resulted in death. Most of the injuries inflicted were slight and did not result in permanent disablement”. This argument is almost verbatim that made by John Yoo, the Bush administration’s house lawyer, who now sits comfortably at the Washington think tank, the American Enterprise Institute. --snip--— Talking point sleuth
- Another excerpt from Sullivan: --snip-- Meet an American hero. He’s Army Captain Ian Fishback, a decorated graduate of West Point, and in training to become a member of the elite special forces. He has served two combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is described by friends as a devout Christian who prays before every meal and carries a copy of the US constitution in his pocket. And while serving at Camp Mercury near the Syrian border in Iraq, he observed horrifying abuse of prisoners, in testimony that was released last week by Human Rights Watch....Fishback finally decided to take a stand when he saw Donald Rumsfeld testify to the Senate on television that the Iraq war was subject to the Geneva conventions. He went to his superiors and told them he believed that what was going on was a clear, continuing violation. They ignored him and told him his career would suffer if he persisted in his complaints. But Fishback went all the way to the secretary of the army and Senate aides. Finally one man responded: Senator John McCain, another war hero, who endured five years of torture by the Vietcong. Fishback’s letter to McCain is a poignant illustration of what has happened to America these past three years: “Some argue that since our actions are not as horrifying as Al-Qaeda’s we should not be concerned . . . Others that clear standards will limit the president’s ability to wage the war on terror. Since clear standards only limit interrogation techniques, it is reasonable for me to assume that supporters of this argument desire to use coercion to acquire information from detainees. This is morally inconsistent with the constitution and justice in war. It is unacceptable.”— Talking point sleuth
Comment removed.- Vandy, you could have also made a list that included things like free speech or censorship, racism or equality...and torture or human rights (pursuant to the a law that was signed by Ronald Reagan, by the way). That's a list with more clarity, no?— will
- "Wow - those Andrew Sullivan articles are devastating. I'd be curious to hear how you respond, Vandy." Well, I'm not entirely sure I agree with Will's assertion that a NY Times columnist with Harvard Ph.D. who happens to be gay is an authoritatively "conservative voice." Maybe others disagree, but the guy I view as a thoughtful, witty conservative is Daniel Henninger of the WSJ. (example of his work: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123681860305802821.html#articleTabs=article) Back on this topic, President Obama said, during his most recent primetime press corps love-in, that "I will do whatever is required to keep the American people safe." http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/29/obama.transcript/index.html I sincerely hope and pray that he means this. But as for his statement that evening that the British don't torture, I'm sure you could wander around Belfast and obtain some diverging views from former IRA members.— Vandy
- "Vandy, you could have also made a list that included things like free speech or censorship, racism or equality...and torture or human rights (pursuant to the a law that was signed by Ronald Reagan, by the way). That's a list with more clarity, no?" Sure, but you didn't specify; you simply made the blanket statement, in an attempt at a dramatic closing sentence, that newspapers should project moral vision, period. Implicitly and presumably on any and all topics. Seems a bit dangerous as a specific rule on all topics; that's all.— Vandy
- First, Vandy, you're ducking. How do you respond to the content of the articles. Second, no conservatives graduate from Harvard? There aren't any gay conservatives? Third, the Sullivan articles are on topic. Fourth, Obama's statements are on topic? Fifth, he didn't say that the British didn't torture - he quoted Churchill denouncing torture. Sixth, the context for Obama's quote was that despite the horrors perpetrated by Nazis, the British didn't torture their WW II detainees.— Talking point sleuth
- Also interesting, Vandy, that apparently you believe that Supreme Court justices who have "strictly adhered to the constitution" were all lacking in empathy. It's not nice to call Alito, Scalia, et. al. sociopaths, Vandy. Might even be libelous.— Talking point sleuth
- I'm assuming Will Bunch is pro-choice. I.e., wanton murder of unborn babies because a human life is an inconvenience. About 40+ million of these murders since Roe v. Wade. And he is going to complain about a little torture of al Qaeda members? Look in the mirror, man.— geoffrobinson
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Just wanted to let you know that you accidentally referred to Andrew Sullivan as conservative.— Scholes
"Whose moral vision?" . . . Why not Jesus Christ's, the scriptures being the moral foundation of Western civilization? WWJD, no?
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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