Can't Get Enough of Yoo!
So Yoo didn't, as we know, hold his debate on the torture and the war on terror, her in Berkeley, out of security concerns (that's the story, and we're sticking to it). He did, however, debate Jeremy Waldron in a similar format at Columbia. Want to hear what he has to say (aside from more than a polite amount of joking about the "People's Republic of Berkeley" -- my favorite: "In Berkeley, we wouldn't have a structured debate like this, people would just start yelling." Neither true nor funny. Stick to your day job, Prof. Yoo, leave the stand-up to bloggers and other pros)? Columbia's ACS chapter has kindly posted a video of the debate, so you should check it out here if you have an hour to spare during this busy week.
Labels: Only In Berkeley, Rabid Conservatives, Yoo-Hoo
posted by Anonymous at 8:16 PM
4 Comments:
"Neither true nor funny."
Are you kidding? There's no way that debate could have happened at Boalt.
There's an off-chance that if the event weren't publicized to the Berkeley community, it might at least get started. Assuming, of course, that no Boalties made death threats.
But there's no way it wouldn't get immediately interrupted (by Boalt students no less) if Yoo started justifying aggressive and painful interrogation techniques.
Obviously, there is no way to definitely prove one way or another that the debate could really go down, but all inclinations and past evdidence lead us against that conclusion.
Well I watched it despite not having the hour to spare. (Though I did make decent progress on one of my outlines with the Real Player window in the corner.) Great debate and good questions from the audience.
Still think Yoo's position is indefensible, but I prefer a civil debate where he can provide his own rope to hang his position on.
It's disappointing to watch Yoo dance around the normative moral issues inherent in the administration's policy. I understand the logic of the "I'm just a lawyer" approach. But I think it's intellectually dishonest to not grapple with it head on.
But maybe if we could engage with these debates with him here in Berkeley, instead of watching him remotely on the other coast, he'd stop playing with straw men.
Funny how he slams his home school. If he doesn't like it why does he stay? Oh yeah, there was that huge ethical lapse at DOJ. So I guess we're stuck with a tenured professor who acts like a child who doesn't want to be here and he's stuck somewhere he doesn't want to be because no one is going to hire the "torture professor."
By the way, I completely disagree that students would prevent Yoo from debating at Boalt. In fact, he debated in front of a group of law students at Boalt LAST FALL and no one shouted him down. And his last-minute cancelation from the Spring debate was laughable. This whole right-wing cry-baby thing is getting really old.
11:13: Which debate was that? I don't remember that happening in the Fall of 2004.
8:46: We shall see whether or not the debate could happen. Check this out:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Please join us for our upcoming public panel on Monday
evening, May 2, 2005.
IIS Presents
Human Rights, International Law, and the War on Terrorism
with
John Yoo - Professor of Law, Boalt Hall School of Law,
University of California, Berkeley
Mark Danner - Professor of Journalism, University of
California, Berkeley
Tom Farer - Dean of the School of International Affairs,
University of Denver, and former President of the
Organization of American States (OAS) Human Rights
Commission
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. in Booth Auditorium, Boalt Hall (Bancroft
Way, Berkeley)
See more on this forum, including bios of the speakers, at
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/SpecialEvents/FiftyYears/torture_lecture.html
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