John Yoo thinks Bradley Manning should have been convicted of a death penalty crime. Because terrorism (link):
Manning should have received far more than 35 years in the brig. He should have been eligible for the death penalty, but for the military judge’s mistaken reading of the crime of aiding the enemy. He should have been sentenced to close to the 90 years that were still possible.
If not for retribution, for deterrence (there should be no possibility of rehabilitation offered for such grevious national-security harms).
Yes, there's nothing like hearing about the rule of law from the legal genius who came up with this (
link):
Cassel: If the president deems that he's got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's child, there is no law that can stop him?
Yoo: No treaty...
Cassel: Also no law by Congress -- that is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo...
Yoo: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that.
Genius! Sheer Genius!