Bush lawyer defends Obama on drones

USATODAY

The drone issue is creating some unusual political alliances.

John Yoo -- the George W. Bush administration lawyer who authored legal memos for the war on terror, including enhanced interrogation techniques -- is defending President Obama on the use of armed drones, in the face of criticism from libertarian Rand Paul.

"I admire libertarians, but I think Rand Paul's filibuster in many ways is very much what libertarians do -- they make these very symbolic gestures, standing for some extreme position," Yoo said on a conference call sponsored by the Federalist Society.

Yoo, a University of California-Berkeley law professor, has criticized the Obama administration on other issues but said of drone strikes: "If an American joins an enemy with which we are at war, he is or she is a valid target as an enemy combatant. That's been the rule throughout our history."

Paul, R-Ky., protested the potential use of drones against U.S. citizens, and launched a highly publicized 13-hour filibuster this week against the nomination of CIA Director John Brennan.

Other conservatives, including Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, criticized Paul's filibuster (and defended Obama's drone program) -- but Paul won praise from some liberals and civil libertarians who would normally be sympathetic to the Obama administration..

Attorney General Eric Holder sent Paul a letter emphasizing that the president does not have the authority to use drones against non-combatant Americans on U.S. soil.

"We worked very hard on a constitutional question to get an answer from the president," Paul said. "It may have been a little harder than we wish it had been, but in the end, I think it was a good healthy debate for the country to finally get an answer that the Fifth Amendment applies to all Americans."