Yoo, Gonzales, Haynes,Addington Subject to EU Arrest If They Travel by SmileySam
Sat Mar 28, 2009 at 07:38:19 AM PDT
I'm not one of those people that loves to say I told you so, well maybe I am... Anyway Scott Horton has a short piece up over at Harpers announcing that Spain has opened their investigation of the Bush legal team responsible for the policy of Torture adopted by the Bush regime.
Bush Torture Lawyers Targeted in Criminal ProbeThe case was opened in the Spanish national security court, the Audencia Nacional. In July 2006, the Spanish Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a former Spanish citizen who had been held in Guantánamo, labeling the regime established in Guantánamo a "legal black hole." The court forbade Spanish cooperation with U.S. authorities in connection with the Guantánamo facility. The current criminal case evolved out of an investigation into allegations, sustained by Spain’s Supreme Court, that the Spanish citizen had been tortured in Guantánamo.http://harpers.org/archive/2009/03/hbc-90004640
Unless you are one of those that really followed the horrors and injustices at Gitmo you can't be blamed for knowing little to nothing about the original case this has all grown out of but it might be worth your time to read up on it just in case this goes somewhere. It's the case of Hamed Abderrahaman Ahmad, aka "the Spanish Taliban". After 2 yrs in Gitmo and another 6 yrs in Spanish prisons the Spanish Supreme Court freed Hamed and smacked down the lowers courts, hard.
The Supreme Court said the High Court had not considered Ahmad "innocent until proven guilty" and used evidence collected at Guantanamo that "should be declared totally void and, as such, non-existent."
"It is entirely remiss in its role of providing evidence," the Supreme Court said of the High Court.
The Supreme Court said the detention of hundreds of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay without charges and in judicial "limbo" was impossible to justify on either legal or political grounds. Ex-Guantanamo Spaniard cleared by supreme court.http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=4875
I have long said it may come to us having to count on another country to do our dirty work when it comes to bringing our own War Criminals to justice. There is no where in the EU where these "lawyers" are safe from arrest if Spain were to really push this case. Of course there are a lot of "If's" that would have to be worked out, but since these criminals aren't Bush or Cheney would like to think the chances for arrests would be much higher.
Before you just blow this off as another piece of pie in the sky you should read Scott's piece and pay attention to whom is involved in the investigation, Judge Baltasar Garzón Judge Garzon is no newcomer when it comes to dealing with Terrorists. He may just be the one with enough juice to bring this pot to a boil.
Garzón came to international attention on October 10, 1998 when he issued an international warrant for the arrest of former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet over the alleged deaths and torture of Spanish citizens during his tenure; the Chilean Truth Commission (1990-91) report was the basis for the warrant, marking an unprecedented use of universal jurisdiction to attempt to try a former dictator for an international crime. Eventually it was turned down by British Home Secretary Jack Straw, who refused Garzón's request to have Pinochet extradited to Spain on grounds of Pinochet's health. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltasar_Garz%C3%B3n
The above Wiki page also mentions Garzon has had more than a fleeting interest in Henry Kissinger and Operation Condor. Pinochet, Kissinger, and no Waterboard Willie Haynes and his crew. I look forward to following this mans crusade for justice. I'm not good at being patient. Waiting for the wheel to grind ever so slowly is the hardest part of this for me, but it's no where's near as hard as those who were the victims. If anything is ever to be done bring Bush to justice we're going to have to flip the underlings like Gonzales or Yoo. Even if they don't flip, a international trial is bound to bring plenty of evidence into the public domain making it harder for Pres. Obama and AG Holder not to bring charges of our own.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/28/714005/-Yoo,-Gonzales,-Haynes,Addington-Subject-to-EU-Arrest-If-They-Travel