This is what John Yoo calls "tough questioning tactics"
On national security, Obama kept to the Bush-Petraeus drawdown schedule for Iraq and reluctantly surged troops to Afghanistan. But he has tried his best to fit the war against al-Qaeda into the box reserved for criminal activities: He promised to shut down Guantanamo Bay, abjured tough questioning tactics, loosed a special prosecutor on CIA interrogators, announced a civilian trial in New York City for 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and automatically treated al-Qaeda's Christmas Day bomber as a criminal suspect.
At least Yoo and his evil colleagues used to refer to "torture" as "harsh interrogation techniques." So now they're calling waterboarding and other globally recognized forms of torture..."tough questioning tactics"? Next Yoo will be referring to waterboarding as "gentle spring face gardening."
Yoo's column is so riddled with misleading statements or the occasional whopper that it's impossible to do this one justice. He "reluctantly" surged into Afghanistan, after campaigning on a platform to do exactly that for nearly two years? Really? If John Yoo can really read minds, then what does he even need tort....excuse me, "tough questioning tactics" for. Beyond that, Yoo is obsessing on some half-assed Democratic failed opposition to some GOP appointees while ignoring the scores of Democratic judicial nominations that were stalled by Republicans in the 1990s and even now. Also, he seems to accuse Obama of exercising too much power -- didn't Yoo just write a book in favor of extreme presidential power?
Whatever else happens, I'll be interested to see what "regime change" means for this guy.