Yoo, Gonzales, Haynes,Addington Subject to EU Arrest If They Travel

[FourScore]

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

[MannyGoldstein]

1. At Least Some Countries Have A Sense Of Justice

There is now a rich irony to this quote by Patrick Henry:

"They may introduce the practice of France, Spain, and Germany--of torturing, to extort a confession of the crime. They will say that they might as well draw examples from those countries as from Great Britain, and they will tell you that there is such a necessity of strengthening the arm of government, that they must have a criminal equity, and extort confession by torture, in order to punish with still more relentless severity. We are then lost and undone."

[ensho]

2. kick - important news, thank you

nt

[goforit]

3. So be it!!! Our own justice system is inept, so Hats off to the EU!!!

[Kaleva]

4. Title is misleading

[FourScore]

6. I don't know why you say that. The Scott Horton article clearly states:

"The Spanish criminal court now may seek the arrest of any of the targets if they travel to Spain or any of the 24 nations that participate in the European extraditions convention (it would have to follow a more formal extradition process in other countries beyond the 24). The Bush lawyers will therefore run a serious risk of being apprehended if they travel outside of the United States."
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/03/hbc-90004640

Did ya' read it?

[Kaleva]

10. "The Spanish criminal court now [b]may[/b] seek the arrest .."

That's different then what the title of the OP says.

[santamargarita]

5. Definitely recommended - two kicks

:kick: :kick:

[KharmaTrain]

7. This Is How Real Accountability Starts

Forget about our politicians...they couldn't sneeze about the crimes of this regime without the rushpublicans and their corporate toadies screaming about being "unpatriotic" and "partisan" and "vindictive". And forget about a Justice system still trying to assess the damage created by 8 years of politicization...the vast amount of crimes and corruption are truly overwhelming...especially for a Department still under the thumbs of too many politicians. The International courts aren't so compromised and have many legitimate reasons to investigate and prosecute crimes of this regime...or to move them up the international ladder to the World Court.

The Spanish have special grounds here as their involvement in the "Coalition of the Willing" was predicated in a lie and resulted in the Madrid bombings. booooshie's criminal enterprises put all of Europe at risk for years as the conflict in Iraq followed by all the abuses only energized the Islamic minorities in those countries and put them in the middle of boooshie's wars for profit. Here's hoping the ball starts to roll now...and other countries join in demanding investigations and creating an international furor over allowing these war criminals to avoid being held accountable for their actions.

The major letdown is I suspect President Obama will do the "political expedient" thing and try to ignore anything more than perfunctory probes into the abuses and allow this country to be a shelter for war criminals.

[Independent_Liberal]

8. I, myself, am starting to think it's better if the international community are the ones...

...that get the ball rolling.

I've pretty much learned now that our politicians won't do anything unless they are put under extreme, and I mean EXTREME, amounts of pressure.

Maybe one of the international investigations could force the Obama Justice Department to act. Jonathan Turley has said that Obama and Holder risk becoming war criminals themselves and will be in violation of the conventions against torture if they don't act.

While I think Leahy's truth commission effort is a good idea and may dig up some info we don't have yet, it still won't perform the job of bringing true accountability.

I think the best thing is the start of criminal investigations either in the Justice Department or at the international level that could lead to indictments or a local or state district attorney pursuing murder charges like Vincent Bugliosi has suggested. Any one of these could prompt the start of possible retroactive impeachments that can lead to removal of pensions or disqualifications for future public office.

Civil RICO suits are another good way to start too.

[glowing]

11. What exactly would the truth commission do? There is no investigation.. unless

you want all of the players.. but we tortured. Its a fact. Its been admitted by Cheney. What exact evidence are they looking for? The Red Cross has verified that the torture transpired.

[Hawkowl]

9. Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!

HA! It takes the heirs of the Franco and the Spanish Inquisition to show us the moral courage to prosecute torture. Irony indeed.

[annabanana]

12. Extra rich creamy irony indeed!

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