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Spanish Judge Accuses Six Top Bush Officials of Torture
Legal moves may force Obama's government into starting a new inquiry into abuses at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib
MADRID - Criminal proceedings have begun in Spain against six senior officials in the Bush administration for the use of torture against detainees in Guantánamo Bay. Baltasar Garzón, the counter-terrorism judge whose prosecution of General Augusto Pinochet led to his arrest in Britain in 1998, has referred the case to the chief prosecutor before deciding whether to proceed.
A Spanish court has agreed to consider opening a criminal case against six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, seen in this photo from Aug. 28, 2007, over allegations they gave legal cover for torture at Guantanamo Bay, a lawyer in the case said. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) The case is bound to threaten Spain's relations with the new administration in Washington, but Gonzalo Boyé, one of the four lawyers who wrote the lawsuit, said the prosecutor would have little choice under Spanish law but to approve the prosecution.
"The only route of escape the prosecutor might have is to ask whether there is ongoing process in the US against these people," Boyé told the Observer. "This case will go ahead. It will be against the law not to go ahead."
The officials named in the case include the most senior legal minds in the Bush administration. They are: Alberto Gonzales, a former White House counsel and attorney general; David Addington, former vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff; Douglas Feith, who was under-secretary of defence; William Haynes, formerly the Pentagon's general counsel; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who were both senior justice department legal advisers.
Court documents say that, without their legal advice in a series of internal administration memos, "it would have been impossible to structure a legal framework that supported what happened [in Guantánamo]".
Boyé predicted that Garzón would issue subpoenas in the next two weeks, summoning the six former officials to present evidence: "If I were them, I would search for a good lawyer."
If Garzón decided to go further and issued arrest warrants against the six, it would mean they would risk detention and extradition if they travelled outside the US. It would also present President Barack Obama with a serious dilemma. He would have either to open proceedings against the accused or tackle an extradition request from Spain.
Obama administration officials have confirmed that they believe torture was committed by American interrogators. The president has not ruled out a criminal inquiry, but has signalled he is reluctant to do so for political reasons.
"Obviously we're going to be looking at past practices, and I don't believe that anybody is above the law," Obama said in January. "But my orientation's going to be to move forward."
Philippe Sands, whose book Torture Team first made the case against the Bush lawyers and which Boyé said was instrumental in formulating the Spanish case, said yesterday: "What this does is force the Obama administration to come to terms with the fact that torture has happened and to decide, sooner rather than later, whether it is going to criminally investigate. If it decides not to investigate, then inevitably the Garzón investigation, and no doubt many others, will be given the green light."
Germany's federal prosecutor was asked in November 2006 to pursue a case against Donald Rumsfeld, the former defence secretary, Gonzales and other officials for abuses committed in Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. But the prosecutor declined on the grounds that the issue should be investigated in the US.
Legal observers say the Spanish lawsuit has a better chance of ending in charges. The high court, on which Garzón sits, has more leeway than the German prosecutor to seek "universal jurisdiction".
The lawsuit also points to a direct link with Spain, as six Spaniards were held at Guantánamo and are argued to have suffered directly from the Bush administration's departure from international law. Unlike the German lawsuit, the Spanish case is aimed at second-tier figures, advisers to Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, with the aim of being less politically explosive.
The lawsuit claimed the six former aides "participated actively and decisively in the creation, approval and execution of a judicial framework that allowed for the deprivation of fundamental rights of a large number of prisoners, the implementation of new interrogation techniques including torture, the legal cover for the treatment of those prisoners, the protection of the people who participated in illegal tortures and, above all, the establishment of impunity for all the government workers, military personnel, doctors and others who participated in the detention centre at Guantánamo".
"All the accused are members of what they themselves called the 'war council'," court documents allege. "This group met almost weekly either in Gonzales's or Haynes's offices."
In a now notorious legal opinion signed in August 2002, Yoo and Bybee argued that torture occurred only when pain was inflicted "equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death".
Another key document cited in the Spanish case is a November 2002 "action memo" written by Haynes, in which he recommends that Rumsfeld give "blanket approval" to 15 forms of aggressive interrogation, including stress positions, isolation, hooding, 20-hour interrogations and nudity. Rumsfeld approved the document.
The 1984 UN Convention against Torture, signed and ratified by the US, requires states to investigate allegations of torture committed on their territory or by their nationals, or extradite them to stand trial elsewhere.
Last week, Britain's attorney general, Lady Scotland, launched a criminal investigation into MI5 complicity in the torture of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident held in Guantánamo.
The Obama administration has so far avoided taking similar steps. But the possibility of US prosecutions was brought closer by a report by the Senate armed services committee at the end of last year, which found: "The abuse of detainees in US custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorised their use against detainees."
None of the six former officials could be reached for comment yesterday. Meanwhile, Vijay Padmanabhan, a former state department lawyer, said the creation of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp was "one of the worst over-reactions of the Bush administration".
86 Comments so far
Show AllWe need a consistently applied rule of law in the US. Unfortunately Obama is not willing to support the rule of law (at least when it might imprison members of his ruling elite).
Obama's not willing now to stand up for anything that he stood for while campaigning. Total chump.
Hang 'em high.
What about Rove? And of course, there's Bush.
If these guys are ever brought to trial, then perhaps they will implicate Rove, Cheney, Bush et al. Meanwhile, no vacations to sunny Spain, I suppose.
Joe
B.O can either stand against Bush's torturing terrorists or join them. Justice delayed is justice denied!
Cheney admitted on ABC news that he gave the green light for water boarding and said that he thought the interogation techniques should be continued under the Obama administration. All of these criminals must be brought to justice!!!
By what authority did Cheney act? Was the President incapacitated? I am aware of no constitutional authority for the VP to act with a functional President.
GWB - a functional President?
They are starting with some easy too prove names. Good. They'll get to the others. Meanwhile watch to see which of our sick news media people start ridiculing the Spanish. Maybe congress will ban gazpacho soup.
You know, after seeing your comment(the msm is as big a mess as anything, believe it or not) I had to see what msnbc had on this and they actually have it on the main page of their site which is impressive as I think of msnbc as part of the msm mess where there is usually no news, disinformation or fluff&BS(the college basketball playoffs are very well covered).
But go to cnn, hell no! I might get sick or I might see woffie blitzer and then I would puke on my computer. I don't have tv.
But you're so right and even though there is reporting of this at msnbc's website, I can imagine the reporting rhetoric will soon turn very toxic towards Spain in a conservative media effort to save their national treasures. And again, shame on obama for sitting on his thumbs along with congress and doing NOTHING. Apparently obama did not realize or missed the boat after being elected, to not pursue investigation and presecution of the criminal regeime of w & dick which for me was a major priority of anyone being elected.
Obama will do everything in his power to prevent prosecutions or even investigations into Bush admin crimes.
I think so also. It's somehow like he feels that he is protecting the 'new' sanctity of the corporate/izraeli presidency.
There is also another thing I give thought to that is factor in the digression of our electorate, all those skeletons in their closets. It is one thing to be bought and paid for by lobbyists and beholding to corporations but once the wrong is committed, then it is the sword of Damocles that will fall if one is not responsive to even more nefarious requests. So the protectionism of today is still the samosamo method of maintaining a hold on others by fear of being exposed before the world. And even that is becoming more and more the accepted way of doing 'business' or 'governing' because it is obvious that accountability has all but disappeared, our judicial system is a joke and it is broke.
"Maybe congress will ban gazpacho soup." You mean Freedom Soup, don't you?
-----------------------------------------
What Is Marxism? - a short primer on a subject the working class needs to know.
http://www.marxist.com/Theory/what_is_marxism.html
Go Spain!
May the Bush administration be subjected to the Spanish Inquisition!
8 ball in the side pocket....... nice shot.
If only it comes true. If only it happens. Best news I have seen lately.
No apologies from me obama but you are guilty of dragging your feet and now a foreign country is going ahead with the right thing. It may turn out that these clowns will remain free here in the U.S. because if they left for a visit or whatever, then hopefully there would be enough people with the ability to grab them and take them to justice, and anywhere just so justice is served. I am ashamed to know that a foreign country has to do what your administration should have already done. And I am very ashamed of the corporate america that has to function as a criminal to maintain its empire or what is left of it.
Of course, obama will be forced to declare Spain a terrorist nation and attack them but I haven't seen much in the new administration's efforts to get out of the illegal wars that we are in just for the sake of the military/industrial/congressional complex.
Bravo. Viva Espana. Ole.
Joe
Yo, ditto! far fuckin' out man, way to go Spain
I think I will go there for a holiday next winter.
Sophie Scholl-The Final Days
I guess it is up to a nation that truly believes in law and justice to do what President Obama refuses to do. Shame on you Barack!
That's just it, this President doesn't get it, this is out of his hands and instead he is turning it into a political issue, and it is not! This is the same BS that was pulled with tricky dick, ohhhh, poor us, the country can't take it, aahhhhh!, So, here we are facing the same garbage again decades later because of it, only much worse this time! Time to put this story to rest once and for all, screw the neocons and republicans that cry foul, they stood by and watched it happen, so they have no say in this matter now.
Obama, you keep saying no one is above the law, but apparently that is nothing more than empty rhetoric?
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968)
INVESTIGATE, INDICT, PROSECUTE, IMPRISON
"ohhhh, poor us, the country can't take it, aahhhhh!"
hey - trials cost money and we just can't afford any justice right now.
sorry folks, MOVE ON, nothing to see here.
"The ancient memories are held by the past, addled by the present, constrained by a malleable future and explained away into confusion." - Roberto Yarzagaray
If in court, precedent weighs in on determinations, and in the Supreme Court one is dealing ultimately with social balance, then extremism in the financial sphere, in the political sphere has been a strategy for gaming the judicial system. It is not just those seated on the bench - though not inconsequential.
Tao te Ching ch.18
"When Tao is cast aside
Duty and humanity abide.
When prudence and wit appear,
Great hypocrites are here.
When the six relations have no point,
Filial piety and paternal love are taught.
When the countryside is out of joint,
Loyalty and allegiance are man's lot."
Vive Espania!
About freakin time somebody did something about these fascist criminals.
Hopefully now Canada will find the balls to keep these and other fucking war criminals out of my country.
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
Barack Obama..The Audacity of Protecting War Criminals
you're either with them or against them, Barak
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
It's a public humiliation that the hand of justice must reach from Spain across the Atlantic.
It is a measure of just how very corrupted Americans have become. These colors do not run because they can't stand up.
This puts the US on a par with Chile, whose abuses we fostered. It sure would be nice to clear up the abuses of the last 50 years.
Unfortunately, it's a bit late.
An ounce of prevention is worth, what...a pound of cure.
Our species is incurable.
I say give these guys immunity as long as they indict Bush, Cheney , Rove and Condi lies alot. Until they are brought to justice America will remain a crime family under Obama.
Don't forget Colin Powell.
Apple/MAC/wants/to/charge/me/$1200/to/fix/my/space/bar/so/bear/with/me...
Like/H/Kissenger/these/abbettors/and/ enablers/may/find/their/ability/to/travel/ abroad/restricted/for/the/rest/of/their/ lives./It's/too/bad/the/Spanish/courts/
can't/try/them/in/absentia.In/the/future/perhaps/even/Bush/Cheney/
Rumsfeld/etc./will/be/indicted/.For/now the/Spanish/government/is/doing/the/ Obama/administration/a/favor/by/the/ establishment/of/this/precedent./
Next/ step/is/for/Senator/Leahy/to/get/his/ hearings/going/on/the/legislation/to
/set up/a/Truth/Commission./Let/the/Congress/get/the/ball/rolling/on/this./Barak
has/economic/recovery/global/warming/and/education/to/deal/with/at/present./He/
can't/do/everything/at/once.
see http://www.ifixit.com/
"This case will go ahead. It will be against the law not to go ahead."
We hear such statements from time to time and they have a significant impact on people by somehow expressing the conviction most people have for the rule of law to prevail over "might makes right" and "rule by the sword". But we have to address the inevitable question: Is Spain playing politics too? That is, trying to use the crisis to its zero-sum advantage? It's not that we're overly suspicious. Rather we want to boost the legitimacy of these judicial initiatives. The elitevil running the USA past eight years consciously targeted the rule of international law for complete destruction. So USans have a civic obligation to look into it, to aid the recovery of the rule of law that serve the public interests.
At the next round of peace and justice demonstrations we need to get the message out and chant stuff like "Obama join the World Court!.... Obama join the world!
The trick is to do it even if you think he won't listen.
And we should not have just a "peace demonstration".... there needs to be a peace and Justice solution.
In fact if the folks in London do it, Obama might catch it.
Glad to see Addington on the docket. I hope this case proceeds and all are found guilty. It will be hard for the world court to ignore.
The Jaded Prole
"Rule of Law" or "Rule of Power"?
Let's see: The Brits are angry that their politicians knew of the torture and did nothing to stop it, The Spaniards dicovered that their government had allowed"Rendition Flights" to land at Moron Air Base near Seville, The Canadians have a law against allowing entrance to anyone involved with the torture of human beings, Australians did not allow a torture victim to speak about his torture.
Yet,not one Criminal responsible for a system of: bribing people $5000 to turn in anyone they thought was a terrorist, kidnapping people, removing people from countries without an extradition hearing, inhumanely transporting human beings, declaring people enemy combatants without proof, torturing prisoners in order to "brainwash" them, extracting illegal confessions, destroying evidence of illegal torture, perjury before the United States Congresses, etc.has been brought to justice.
My God, President Barack Obama has "No Power".....As a Constitutional Lawyer and a man who swore to abide by and defend the U.S. Constitution, his obligation would be to call for immediate "Indepenent Investigations" of: The attacks of 9/11, Fabricated and falsified documents used to justify the Invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, use of cluster bombs, use of uranium depleted weapons, use of phosphorous loaded bombs, destruction of evidence in many cases of wrongdoing, illegal spying and data mining, and the list goes on.
President Obama's Power seems to eminate from all the Council on Foreign Relations Members he appointed to key advisory positions and that is one of the groups that has supported "The Carter Doctrine" and "The Project For A New American Century"
No, "The Rule of Law" is meaningless to "The Men Of Power".
Sioux Rose
HERBERT: Solid points. You are one immune to the "koolaid" taken in by so many.
It always has been. We are the schmucks who let them run wild for the last thirty years.
I hope the Spanish High Court hangs these bastards from the highest yard-arm in the land. Apparently, the Spanish High Court is doing more to sanatize the reputation of the United States than any private citizen or elected official. Thank God for the Spanish High Court-the victims of all these torture lovin' sickos will finally (I hope) get their day in court! This is not about politics-this is about "justice."
This could be good news, and if maybe one of these criminal officials were to stop over in Spain on the way to some other destination, that might be really interesting.
AD
I may be wrong but I believe that under European law and the Constitution of the EU any member state must arrest said persons for extradition to Spain if they land on EU territory.
The Spanish Court can issue a European Arrest warrant.
Yeah, but after the brits arrested Pinochet they managed to finagle a way to avoid shipping his butt off to Madrid.
(He and Thatcher were so close they squeaked.)
(He and Thatcher were so close they squeaked.)
_______________________________________________
Thanks a lot, patgarrett!
I'll be back after I finish soaking my brain in bleach.
· Yr Obd't Servant
They had a threeway going with RayGun, too.
Try lemon juice--bleach is very toxic stuff.
Thank you Spain! It is refreshing to see some adherence to the rule of law - the norm in Europe is to maintain an official hypocrisy (i.e. "torture is illegal and will be punished but only if you're an African despot"). Not to diss Europe, I envy European citizens as they appear to actually make government work FOR them to some degree.
In contrast the US government appears to be nothing less than a huge organized crime cartel that sees it's citizens as raw material (or whores) which it pimps to the "johns" (large corporations) for a fee (campaign contributions). A super-pimp - 300 million hos! You can mistreat the hos too - yippee! For a small fee you can poison them with mercury, sell them beef laden with mad cow disease (recently the US govt ruled that a small boutique meat packing company was NOT allowed to test every cow - the reason? It would make the rest of the packing companies look bad). You can sell them drugs that create more problems through side effects than they solve .. you can market said drugs directly to the hypochondriacs! You can dump nano-particles by the billions into the environment - the effect? Nobody knows, and nobody is stopping to figure it out. You can release thousands of chemicals freely, without regulation, until the water supplies are full of tranquillizers and the fish are changing sex. And .. you can pick their pockets on occasion and give all the loot to the super-wealthy.
What a perfect setup for the "family".
Nothing personal. It's business.
Like most members of the Democratic Party, Obama is a liar. He promised justice, while campaigning, strode about the dais saying no one is above the law. Within days, and with no pressure, he switched to his 'moving forward' routine like the good little boy president he promised his Israeli sponsors. This country is toast and there is no hope to save it from the crap heap.
thong-girl
Come on now. You sound angry. You expect a liar (a.k.a. politician) to tell the truth?
The rest of the world does not want the USA to go on the scrap heap. We would take them with us. They want the US restored to some semblance of decency, even if they have to help us along a bit.
And the place where we are most vulnerable to foreign pressure is our disregard for the rule of law.
Nearly 3% of our population in jail for smoking a joint while the traitors who shredded the constitution apparently practicing "law" as usual?
If the rest of the world lets us get away with this they deserve what they get.