“To set parameters for permissible interrogation techniques, [Deputy Chief in the Office of Legal Counsel John] Yoo drafted a remarkable piece of legal reasoning [on August 1, 2002], now generally known as the Bybee Memo. In this legal opinion, Yoo sought to narrow interpretation of the torture statute, which prohibited U.S. personnel from engaging in torture overseas. The contortions in Yoo’s opinion suggested that he wished to make prosecutions for coercive interrogation impossible. Unfortunately, Yoo’s interpretations were so strained that, as one commentator has observed, they amounted to ‘torturing the law.’ ”
– Peter Margulies, Law’s Detour, Page 59