[Peace-discuss] FW: SNYTMAG Bazelon Cites War Criminal Jack Goldsmith

[Boyle, Francis A]

Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (phone)
217-244-1478 (fax)
(personal comments only)

From: Boyle, Francis A
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2017 8:58 AM
To: sectns.aals at lists.aals.org
Subject: SNYTMAG Bazelon Cites War Criminal Jack Goldsmith

War Criminal and Torturer Jack Goldsmith: "I detest much of the president's norm-defying behavior...But I worry at least as much about norms related to our governance that have been breached and diminished as a result or in response to Trumpism."
Truly Orwellian Emily! Jack Goldsmith is a war criminal and a torturer. And here you are citing him as your authority  on "norms" in the Sunday Newspeak Times Mag. No surprise there! To the best of my knowledge, so far Trump has not ordered anyone to be tortured-thanks to Mad Dog Mattis. By comparison, Goldsmith and the rest of the Bushies are Chickenhawk/Chickenshit War Criminals and Torturers. And of course Bazelon could not care less that Goldsmith et al engaged in the wholesale torture of Muslims/Arabs/Asians of Color-Their untermensch. Fab
-----Original Message-----
From: archive at blythe.org<mailto:archive at blythe.org> [mailto:archive at blythe.org] On Behalf Of
nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com<mailto:nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 2:47 PM
To: nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com<mailto:nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com>
Subject: [NYTr] Prof of Intl Law Says Harvard Hired a War Criminal


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit

sent by Francis Boyle - Nov 23, 2004

Information Clearing House - Breaking News
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7350.htm

Professor of International Law Says Harvard Hired a "War Criminal"

By Jason Leopold

11/23/04 "ICH" -- A Harvard University Law School alumni and professor of
international law and human rights has started a campaign to boycott the
prestigious university he once attended as a result of Harvard's hiring of
Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith to join its law school faculty.

Goldsmith was identified earlier this year as one of several legal experts
who drafted memos for the White House and the Justice Department saying the
military could skirt the rules of the Geneva Convention when interrogating
Iraqi prisoners. Legal experts have said that word about bypassing the
Geneva Convention trickled down the military chain of command and lead to
widespread abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Francis Boyle, who teaches at the University Of Illinois College Of Law and
graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1971, said he was informed by
colleagues last spring that Harvard was considering hiring Goldsmith and
that he immediately voiced his concerns to Harvard officials.

"These (Harvard) professors think they are above the law," Boyle said in an
interview. "They refused to tell me why they were hiring Goldsmith, who,
many of us in the legal profession believe is a war criminal."

Neither Goldsmith nor Harvard law school officials would return numerous
calls for comment.

Boyle, according to his bio, has written extensively on international law
and politics. He has published eight books. His book, Defending Civil
Resistance Under International Law, has been used successfully in numerous
foreign policy protest trials.

Boyle is also the lead counsel for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Application of
the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
(Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) currently
pending before the International Court of Justice

Goldsmith's March 19, 2004 memo, written for then White House counsel
Alberto Gonzales, who was tapped a couple of weeks ago to replace John
Ashcroft as Attorney General, caused a furor in legal circles because it
authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to transfer detainees out of Iraq
for interrogation - a practice that international legal specialists say
contravenes the Geneva Conventions, according to an Oct. 24 report in the
Washington Post.

"One intelligence official familiar with the operation said the CIA has used
the March draft memo as legal support for secretly transporting as many as a
dozen detainees out of Iraq in the last six months. The agency has concealed
the detainees from the International Red Cross and other authorities, the
official said," the Post reported.

Moreover, Goldsmith personally presented Gonzales, the White House counsel,
with a "series of arguments that they claimed could be marshaled as defenses
against U.S. torture statutes and the United Nations Convention Against
Torture (CAT), which has been ratified by the United States," reported Inter
Press Service last month.

The full extent to which Goldsmith advised the White House to ignore the
Geneva Convention may be revealed during Gonzales's Senate confirmation
hearing in January.

Boyle, a former teaching fellow at Harvard and a former associate at its
Center for International Affairs, became so incensed with his alma mater's
hiring of Goldsmith in June that he immediately launched an email campaign
to boycott Harvard and said he plans to ask other alumni to withhold funds
from the University, which is in the midst of a $400 million fundraising
campaign.

"The Harvard Law School Faculty knew full well the nefarious activities that
Goldsmith had performed at the Department of Justice and the Pentagon before
they voted to hire him. Obviously, the Harvard Law School Faculty wanted a
war criminal to join their ranks. For this reason, the Harvard Law School
Faculty is not fit to educate students. I would strongly recommend that you
discourage students from attending the Harvard Law School for any reason,"
states one of a dozen or so emails Boyle has distributed to colleagues,
students and Harvard faculty.

Boyle said he is asking colleagues and other alumni to "ding" Harvard law
school in the national rankings and "drive their rankings down overall and
by each specialty."

"We need to drive home to the Harvard Law School Faculty that this behavior
is completely unacceptable to their colleagues in the legal teaching
profession," Boyle said. "The Harvard Law School Faculty is not above the
Law. Therefore, I recommend that we respond to each and every peer survey we
get and rank the Harvard Law School last."

It's unknown whether Boyle's actions have had a material impact on Harvard.


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Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (phone)
217-244-1478 (fax)
(personal comments only)

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