Frank magazine, the glossy product of the Clinton School of Public Service, is due shortly for a big rollout. But, here’s a tip, it’s already on-line.

And it’s worth a gander.

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It’s full of articles by and about famous people — John Lithgow, Christiane Amanpour, pro basketball star Yao Ming (interviewed, in Chinese, by a diminutive Clinton School student, and also featured in a film on-line about his foundation).

But for hard news, there’s UALR Law Dean John DiPippa’s interview with John Yoo, the law professor who many believe may be charged in a Spanish court as an international law breaker for his role in the Bush Administration. Yoo, a defender of the unilateral war-making presidency, is seen potentially in the dock as a legal architect of the use of torture by the Bush administration.  Not that Yoo admits to torture, of course.

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FRANK: Let me ask you about your work on what have become known as the “torture memos.”6 First, do you advocate the legality of torture?

Yoo: Let me be clear: I do not advocate torture. What I do say is that the Unites States should be permitted in certain emergency circumstances to interrogate people beyond what we do in the criminal justice system.

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FRANK: Is the anti-torture statute constitutional?

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Yoo: Yes, I think it is — except in a case of extreme emergency. What if the president thinks he will violate a law, but he thinks that violation is necessary to save the country from attack? In my mind, that was the question Lincoln faced at the beginning of the Civil War — he raised an army and paid money from the Treasury without congressional approval. While explaining his action to Congress, he said, “By general law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to
save a life.”

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