Is Liz Cheney stupid, disingenuous or both? Perhaps vicious, evil, untruthful, malicious...?
I shall not bother with wondering if Liz is honest, just, fair or diligent. On the face of her statements, strategy and tactics, none of those adjectives can possibly apply.
Liz says it quite plainly. Waterboarding (and anything else that was done to detainees) is not torture because lawyers at the DOJ wrote memos that said it was not torture.
This is persuasive evidence for the proposition that Liz is stupid.
First, a memo from a lawyer is not a law. It does not alter the law. It is an opinion written by someone you pay to give you good advice about the law.
For analogy, I might go to a lawyer and say, "I want to take this knife and find out if Liz Cheney has a brain. May I do that? Write me a memo that says how that is legal."
My lawyer may be a bad lawyer.
He might send me a memo that says, "Go ahead. I can find no relevant law that prevents you from investigating the interior of Liz Cheney’s cranial cavity with a big knife."
Later, when I am arrested, it will be no defense to the charge of murder to say, "My lawyer said it was not illegal!"
I may have an action in professional negligence against the lawyer. He held himself out as an expert in the law; I paid him for his advice, I relied upon that advice and suffered damages, and on examination his advice was pretty fucking weak. But his bad advice will not shield me from prosecution.
My lawyer may be a good lawyer.
He might send me a memo that says, "Do not open Liz Cheney’s head with a knife. There are laws against even trying it ranging from possession of a dangerous weapon to attempted murder."
This lawyer did not work for the Department of Justice, and if he did Alberto Gonzalez fired his ass.
My lawyer may be a very good lawyer.
He might craft a memo advising me to first find some means to suggest that Liz Cheney is a danger to herself and others; to develop a rationale for questioning whether or not she has a brain. Then, have Liz locked up for being a threat to herself and others based on secret evidence no one (not even Liz) is allowed to review or question. Retain the services of trained professionals in neuroscience and neurology. Move Liz and the doctors to some place where domestic law does not apply. Then have the professionals open Liz Cheney’s head with a big knife.
These are the lawyers who worked at the Department of Justice.
Fair enough. But the fact remains that memos from lawyers ARE NOT laws. They are opinions. And if they are bad opinions – if following their advice results in breaking THE LAW – it will be the courts that determine what the law is and how justice is to be served (assuming they are ever asked to do so).
The argument made by Liz Cheney is, and it is nothing more than this, "The lawyers said it was legal, so therefore it was legal. Daddy was following the advice of counsel."
This, I submit, is sufficient cause to question whether or not Liz Cheney has a brain.