Undeterred by his own attorney general and common sense, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon intends to prosecute Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Douglas Feith, William Haynes, Jay Bybee, and David Addington (collectively, the “Bush Six”) for their role in providing the legal framework for Guantanamo:
On Saturday, however, Público reported that Judge Garzón had accepted a lawsuit presented by a number of Spanish organizations … and three former Guantánamo prisoners (the British residents Jamil El-Banna and Omar Deghayes, and Sami El-Laithi, an Egyptian freed in 2005, who was paralyzed during an incident involving guards at Guantánamo).
Spain? Welcome to Spain, Now Coup-Free for Twenty-Seven Years? The nation that had a Fascist dictator until 1975? Good work.
The hypocrisy in Spain’s complaints about our treatment of Al Qaeda suspects is rich. First of all, Spain itself tried to have El-Banna and Deghayes extradited to Spain on terror charges, so at least some organs of the state believe that these were not innocent angels. Beyond this, though, Spain has spent the past fifty-five years fighting ETA, and during this long fight made ample use of the GAL, an anti-ETA death squad that conveniently seemed to have all of the information and resources of the Spanish state; mind you, the people being assassinated were, in the eyes of their assassins if not themselves, citizens of Spain. Even today, any political party that advocates the dissolution of the Spanish state is banned. Were we to take that approach we would have no Texas or South Carolina Republican parties…
Not sure if this should be surprising from a country that claims the return of Gibraltar – ceded to Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 – is its top foreign policy objective without seemingly noticing that, directly across the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain holds the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on what would otherwise be Moroccan territory.
The Bush/Cheney government was terrible. It was terrible for the United States and terrible for the world. However, there needs to be a sense among allies that each other’s justice systems will be allowed to function. For far too long, the US has taken a cavalier approach to friendly nations who provide sanctuary to fugitives from our courts (Roman Polanski/France and Samuel Sheinbein/Israel). A far more muscular approach would be welcome.
Similarly, it is ridiculous to prosecute someone for his acts in his capacity as an officer of another nation’s government. If Spain has a political problem with our behavior in Guantanamo, it should address it on a government-to-government basis; if it wants to launch a trade war – or a real war – over the issue, that is its sovereign right. Maybe they can kill or capture the Bush Six. It should be clear, though, that grabbing John Yoo out of some French cafe and extraditing him is no less an act of war than shooting him in the halls of the Pentagon. And there is no need to make our nation fight on behalf of these incompetent assholes. Abandon them to their stupidity.
I wish I could get exited about this issue, but I’m afraid I just can’t. For some reason, this appears to be a side issue to draw one’s attention away from a real problem, namely Spain’s levels of unemployment. My understanding is that Spain has one of the highest unemployment rates in the EU…something approaching 18%. Yikes!
Anyway, I’d like to hear Judge Garzon’s theories on jurisdiction. I’m no lover of the Shrub administration, but I wonder how he’d like it if Judge Hartzer issued a warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Garzon on a suspicion of say, narcotics trafficking.
Yeah, we took care of the French with Operation “Freedom Fries”, not lets take care of the Spaniards with Operation “Freedom Fly”….
Personally, I don’t care who prosecutes the above mentioned A-holes, so long as someone does. Torture is a crime, it is a felony here and in China, it is also morally reprehensible. I am for the prosecution and indictment of those who torture and those who collaborate in the practice of torture, regardless of it’s efficacy or punitive value. Those who practice torture and who advance a state policy of the practice are criminals that must be sought out, denounced and prosecuted.
Unemployment, drug trafficking, Basque separatists, etc., are not in the scope of this conversation. Don’t let yourself be distracted by the Spanish Lisp….
Best regards,
Econolicious
Further more…..
“……Similarly, it is ridiculous to prosecute someone for his acts in his capacity as an officer of another nation’s government…..”
Ronald Reagan, May 20, 1988, transmitting the Convention Against Torture to the Senate for ratification:
The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention. It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.
The core provisions of the Convention establish a regime for international cooperation in the criminal prosecution of torturers relying on so-called “universal jurisdiction.” Each State Party is required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution.
Convention Against Torture, signed and championed by Ronald Reagan, Article II/IV:
No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. . . Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law.
Best regards,
Econolicious
And you take the CAT seriously? Fellow ratifying members China, Israel, Libya, Russia, Saudi Arabia? Do you think the security services of these nations provide better treatment to captured state enemies than obtains in Guantanamo?
Just because you can get away with it doesn’t make it right.
I can’t help but agree with Econolicious
The US signs international treaties. They are equivalent to laws passed by congress. We signed the Geneva Conventions, giving authority to ourselves and to other signatories to prosecute officials who violated the Convention Against Torture, provided that their own governments proved unwilling or incapable of doing so themselves.
That’s the only legitimate complaint against the Spanish prosecution of Bush administration officials that can be made: that it hasn’t been shown that our own government won’t prosecute them (though it is very likely the case).
Secondly, To argue that allies should stay out of each other’s business and let their justice systems function without interference demands that the US abide by the same rule. It doesn’t, it hasn’t, and it has no plans to. (Remember, the administration is still threatening the British government to compel Britain’s judges to suppress evidence of torture). Let’s stop doing that before we ask everyone else to.
“It should be clear, though, that grabbing John Yoo out of some French cafe and extraditing him is no less an act of war than shooting him in the halls of the Pentagon. ”
I just wanted to point out that the CIA (that’s us!) did exactly this to citizens in a variety of foreign countries, such as Canada and Italy (look up Maher Arar’s case). In fact, we not only extradited these people, but we subjected them to torture. If one of our allies grabbed John Yoo off our streets, we would be in no position to complain, much less declare war.
Taunter:
I don’t take anything seriously…. Frankly, I couldn’t care who gets tortured or molested, so long as it’s not me or any of my friends or family. I just don’t like Alberto Gonzales and Co. and I hope they get deep fried. The means for getting there, don’t matter to me…..
It’s personal. If the Spaniards don’t get them, someone else will. In the meantime, I want to see them squirm like the miserable pathetic cowards they are.
Enough said….
Best regards,
Econolicious
However, there needs to be a sense among allies that each other’s justice systems will be allowed to function.
And…. How is our Justice System working these days? The Bush 6 need to come up on charges in the U.S. They won’t. This Judge is doing the right thing.
Isn’t Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon a rogue judge? I don’t believe he is speaking on behalf of the state – rather he is his own personal Don Quixote crusade for justice. Among other things, he is leading a lonely effort to dig up information on the Franco regime, etc… (and if the intertubes are to be believed, also prosecuted some people connected to the GAL you mention above?)
Yet your post indicts the Spanish government broadly? Not that the Spanish are without criticism, but if Garzon is a bit of wild man that the Spanish Establishment distrust but don’t shackle, then I’m not sure your argument broadly hangs together…
At least this judge has the conviction and integrity to do the right thing; in this case, the real hypocrisy is that not a single American legislator/jurist/politician has the courage to do the same despite consistently and loudly proclaiming America’s moral uprightness.