“There are some striking similarities between Schlegelberger, the self-pitying instrument of Hitler’s will, and Judge Jay S. Bybee of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who played a key role in devising the Bush junta’s torture policies. Both of them came from conservative religious backgrounds; both believed in unqualified obedience to established authority. And as Bybee’s May 26 testimony before a closed-door meeting of the House Judiciary Committee demonstrates, he — like Schlegelberger — has mastered Himmler’s method of redirecting pity from the victims of state-authorized crimes to the perpetrators thereof.” (07/20/10)