John Yoo is a law professor who served in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003. In that capacity, he participated -- often quite centrally -- in the key post-9/11 legal decisions that framed the Bush administration's war on terror, including the Patriot Act, the National Security Agency surveillance program and administration positions on torture, military tribunals and the treatment of alleged terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

In War by Other Means, Yoo delivers on his subtitle. This is indeed "an insider's account of the war on terror." He sets an ambitious goal for himself: "to explain the choices that the Bush administration made after 9/11," choices made "under one of the most dire challenges our nation has ever faced."

A scathing review of John Yoo, but somewhat complementary of his new book. I'd like to read his book. I would hope he would understand that Clarence Thomas's view of executive privledge is radical, and opposition to it isn't rooted in ignorance, but if the man who is responsible for about half of what pisses me off about the war on terror indeed just published a rant accussing everyone who disagrees with him of being idiots, its another brick in the wall. Of course, at some point on this blog I've probably called him the same, but a blog is not like a book.

The Amazon page is entertaining. Nearly no one has reviewed the book. Opinions are breaking on partisan lines about the policy. Clearly, Republicans see this as a work of brilliance, and Democrats see it as chilling. I have to wonder what the partisan break would look like if Yoo had been working for Clinton.

Taking Liberties - washingtonpost.com