Berkeley City Council to Consider Resolution Urging Prosecution of John Yoo

By Linda Rigas

In Berkeley, on Monday, December 8, at 7:00PM, the Berkeley City Council will hold a Public Hearing regarding a Resolution on John Yoo. A copy of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission's recommendation can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/65oruh (see "Attachment #1").

The Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission's recommendation to the City Council presents an important call for all Americans to stand in opposition to abetting John Yoo, University of California professor and author of the "Torture Memos" which were key to the establishment of a system of state torture. This Resolution calls for John Yoo to be prosecuted for war crimes and dismissed from his position as Professor of Law at Boalt Hall. The ramifications of the Resolution ensure that torture is not tolerated in the city of Berkeley and will serve as a model for other communities' efforts to hold high administration officials of torture to account. The passage of the John Yoo Resolution presents a critical step in investigating the codification, implementation, and acceleration of the authorization of torture—a responsible step that must now be taken to call for the end of torture as a pillar for endless war.

FireJohnYoo.org, a member of the No To Torture - John Yoo Must Go Coalition, supports the Commission's John Yoo Resolution and asks organizations and individual advocates to do the same. Fire John Yoo encourages directly contacting city council members to support the Resolution, and to visibly stand and speak out against torture before the City Council on December 8th. If you are unable to attend the Public Hearing, please write a statement that can be submitted to the Council. By taking these actions, we can have an enormous impact on the direction the U.S. will take in honoring its commitment to rescind the use of torture.

People of conscience demand the removal of John Yoo, legal architect of the Bush Regime's torture policies, from the employ of the University of California. How will the community of Berkeley respond when someone asks: "What did you do during this time?

Linda Rigas
JD Candidate, New England School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts
Member of FireJohnYoo.org
Legal Intern, Physicans for Human Rights

Write and call Berkeley City Council Members to show your support for
recommended actions against John Yoo, Legal Advisor to the Bush
administration and author of memos giving the green light for torture:

Mayor Tom Bates mayor@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7100

District 1 Linda Maio lmaio@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7110

District 2 Darryl Moore dmoore@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7120

District 3 Max Anderson manderson@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7130

District 4 Jesse Arreguin jarreguin@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7140

District 5 Laurie Capitelli lcapitelli@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7150

District 6 Susan Wengraf swengraf@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7160

District 7 Kriss Worthington kworthington@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7170

District 8 Gordon Wozniak gwozniak@CityofBerkeley.info (510) 981-7180

The Mayor and Council Members may also be reached by mail at:
2180 Milvia Street
Berkeley, CA 94704.

City Council Meetings begin at 7:00 PM and take place at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way

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[Torture] is a specific application of the Bush Doctrine, one that in addition to the terrible consequences for Iraq, threatens to have far broader consequences for the entire earth. It is a doctrine through which the American Empire attempts to establish a new world order based on the fantasy of absolute security for itself and disregard, domination, insecurity and destruction for others. So I think it is important for us to think about the idea that it is not mere lawlessness then that lies at the core of the actions that have been undertaken by the U.S. government, but something much more threatening. It is an attempt to establish a law that will now rule the globe—an empire's law that is a form of unilaterally constituted and imposed illegitimate and unaccountable rule by a global power that attempts to perform the role of a global sovereign, declaring itself to be able to set the exception. And this has deeply draconian implications for the future of [torture as a pillar of endless] war, as much as it does for the future of legality. -Amy Bartholomew