6
December 2017
(Public) Editor
The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY, 10018
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
The New York Times recently published an op-ed from John Yoo, the author of the George W. Bush administration’s interrogation memos
while an official in Bush’s Justice Department. Yoo -- who should have stood
trial for war crimes -- was given a platform on October 31, 2017 NYT op-ed page
(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/31/opinion/trump-pardon-manafort.html?_r=0)
to opine whether or not to fire Robert Mueller.
We believe that the NYT's endorsement of Yoo as an opinion leader was
politically and ethically inappropriate, identifying him in the bio at the end
of the column not as the author of the repugnant Justice Department memos that
justified waterboarding and other illegal methods of interrogation, but benignly
as a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, a scholar at the
American Enterprise Institute, and an authority on power. This biased and amnesiac identification is a misapplication
of the public trust and is why your paper still needs a Public Editor.
We further believe that the NYT displays a moral blindness about
corrupted functionaries like Yoo. David Talbot notes, “War criminals like Yoo,
along with other warmongers from the Bush and Obama eras, dominate newspaper
op-ed pages and TV news channels and even public radio stations. They are held
up as the sane alternative” to Trump and his people.
We attest that it is critically important for healthy democracy to remind
its media gatekeepers like the NYT: there is nothing "distinguished" or
“civilized” about John Yoo. His opinions about politics and ethics -- even when
given a place in the New York Times – disguise a history that is corrupted and
coarsening. The taint of corruption
adheres to the Times when its editorial forum suggests not only respectability
of Yoo, but also commits to an ongoing publicity of depraved gravitas. Our
nation's use of torture has degraded victims, perpetrators, and policy makers,
and has damaged the integrity of our nation. Men like Yoo do not merit a place in the pages
of the New York Times so long as their operations inside our republic continue
bearing rotten fruit.
Respectfully yours,
Rev. Douglas Olds, et al
Anti-Torture Team
First Presbyterian Church
72 Kensington Road
San
Anselmo, CA 94960
