http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB127/
Jan 9, 2002 - Department of Justice memo concerning the bearing of international laws prohibiting torture on President Bush and the U.S. military
The memo, entitled "Application of Treaties and Laws to al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees,"
was written by lawyers John Yoo and Robert J. Delahunty. *
It states: "Any customary international law of armed conflict in no way binds, as a legal matter, the President or the U.S. Armed Forces concerning the detention or trial of members of al Qaeda and the Taliba." The memo concludes that suspected terrorist detainees can be prosecuted for violating these same laws: "We do not believe that these courts would lose jurisdiction to try members of al Qaeda or the Taliban militia for violations of the laws of war, even though we have concluded that the laws of war have no binding effect [obscured] on the President."
[Referenced in "Double Standards?" by Michael Isikoff, Newsweek, May 25, 2004. Obtained from the Newsweek website at www.newsweek.com]
* Delahunty is Prof of Law at MN's St Thomas University. (can you imagine the twisted logic of his students ?)
http://www.stthomas.edu/law/faculty/bios/delahuntyrobert.htm
Deputy General Counsel at the White House Office of Homeland Security in 2002/2003.
He spent most of his legal career before joining the UST faculty, however, at the Office of Legal Counsel, where he was made Special Counsel and a member of the Senior Executive Service in 1992. His work and writing at the Office of Legal Counsel focused on the constitutional law of foreign relations, Presidential war powers, public international law, treaties, and immigration law. His usual clients included the Office of the Counsel to the President, the Office of the Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, the Office of Management & Budget, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Office of the Legal Adviser to the State Department.
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