A popular Australian comedy show took the fight over the US's torture program straight to John Yoo's law class at the University of California-Berkeley.
A performer from The Chaser's War on Everything interrupted a lecture by John Yoo -- the former Department of Justice lawyer who wrote many of the legal memos justifying the Bush administration's torture program -- by standing up on a desk dressed in "Abu Ghraib" fashion -- a dark cloak and a black, pointed hood.
"Professor, I've got one question," the comedian asked. "How long am I required to stand here until it counts as torture?"
When students suggested that the comedian leave, he replied: "I'd love to move but every time I do my balls get buzzed."
"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to end the class," Yoo said, gathering his papers and moving towards the exit.
Said Yoo to the comedian: "I'll give you a certain amount of time to leave before I report [this] to security."
This is not the first time Australian network ABC1's Chaser's War on Everything has stepped into controversy.
In September of 2007, the show caused a stir when it crashed an APEC conference in Sydney, Australia, pretending to be a Canadian diplomatic convoy with Osama bin Laden riding inside.
Earlier this year, the show ruffled some feathers in Rome when it landed a blimp in St. Peter's Square, outside the Vatican.
-- Daniel Tencer
Hat tip Zap Log
Senate investigators said the seeds of the policy originated in a Feb. 7, 2002, memo signed by President Bush declaring that the Geneva Conventions, which outline standards for the humane treatment of detainees, did not apply to captured al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
Responding to the report, Vice President Dick Cheney stated that the CIA asked his advice regarding these techniques less than a year after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and he helped get the "process cleared."
John Yoo is sorry for nothing op Salon.com.
