Spanish judge resumes torture case against six senior Bush lawyers

[kpete]

Source: After Downing Street

Spanish judge resumes torture case against six senior Bush lawyers

8.9.09

Judge Baltasar GarzonThe Spanish newspaper Público reported exclusively on Saturday that Judge Baltasar Garzón is pressing ahead with a case against six senior Bush administration lawyers for implementing torture at Guantánamo.
http://www.publico.es/internacional/249182/garzon/aviva/causa/guantanamo

Back in March, Judge Garzón announced that he was planning to investigate the six prime architects of the Bush administration’s torture policies — former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; John Yoo, a former lawyer in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, who played a major role in the preparation of the OLC’s notorious “torture memos”; Douglas Feith, the former undersecretary of defense for policy; William J. Haynes II, the Defense Department’s former general counsel; Jay S. Bybee, Yoo’s superior in the OLC, who signed off on the August 2002 “torture memos”; and David Addington, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff.

In April, on the advice of the Spanish Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido, who believes that an American tribunal should judge the case (or dismiss it) before a Spanish court even thinks about becoming involved, prosecutors recommended that Judge Garzón should drop his investigation. As CNN reported, Mr. Conde-Pumpido told reporters that Judge Garzón’s plans threatened to turn the court “into a toy in the hands of people who are trying to do a political action.”

On Saturday, however, Público reported that Judge Garzón had accepted a lawsuit presented by a number of Spanish organizations — the Asociación Pro Dignidad de los Presos y Presas de España (Organization for the Dignity of Spanish Prisoners), Asociación Libre de Abogados (Free Lawyers Association), the Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España (Association for Human Rights in Spain) and Izquierda Unida (a left-wing political party) — 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). The newspaper reported that all these groups and individuals would take part in any trial.

Read more: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/45837

[asjr]

1. I've always felt those varmints thought

they were auditioning for a role in a James Bond movie.

[Larkspur]

2. Thank you Judge Baltasar Garzon!

Justice against America's fascist cronies needs to happen.

[Vidar]

3. Good for Judge Garzón.

[Soylent Brice]

4. man

this is going to be really sad if another country has to take care of our own bullshit. greatly appreciated, but sad.

[fascisthunter]

5. kick(nt)

[ensho]

6. kick

nt

[Ghost Dog]

7. Well, he's biased, obviously

:sarcasm:

This one will have legs... (front page in Spain's press today - edit: not the above story, but this one:).

'Human rights judge'Garzon faces charges of misconduct in Spain

Madrid - Spain's most prominent judge, Baltasar Garzon, who has pursued alleged human rights violations around the world, will himself face the judiciary on charges of professional misconduct, a Supreme Court judge announced Tuesday. Judge Luciano Varela said he would question Garzon on Wednesday on the basis of a complaint filed by a tiny far-right trade union and another association.

The proceedings against the controversial judge have elicited criticism from the International Commission of Jurists, which called them "unjustified."

The proceedings were "especially worrying" given that they were related to a human rights investigation which "Spain has the international duty to carry out," the daily El Pais quoted a representative of the Geneva-based commission as saying.

The trade union Manos Limpias accuses Garzon of misconduct in deeming himself competent to investigate the human rights abuses of Spain's late dictator Francisco Franco during his 1939-75 rule and the preceding three-year civil war.

In 2008, Garzon accused Franco and 44 of his late collaborators of the disappearances of more than 100,000 people. Soon, however, he was forced to drop the inquiry under pressure from prosecutors referring to an amnesty granted to Franco's collaborators in 1977, among other arguments.

Garzon subsequently transferred the inquiry to courts in the regions where Franco's mass graves were located.

/... http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/284734,human-rights-judgegarzon-faces-charges-of-misconduct-in-spain.html

(Remember how a UK Law Lord under Mr. Jack Straw was recused from the Pinochet case because he was a member of (or had contributed to) Amnesty International? I said at the time, maybe they should disqualify the Judges who are not members of or contributors to Amnesty International...)

[Solly Mack]

8. k/r

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Hope hope hope hope hope please please please.

Ironic...the country with the history of the Grand Inquisition is trying to clean up our mess.

[ScottLand]

10. I hope it works too.

Some say the Spanish have no business in it, but if an American wants to see a trial, it's blasted as partisan. SOMEONE somewhere has to have balls.

[bluesmail]

11. Highly recommend! . . . EOM

[tocqueville]

12. "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

proven again

[Ghost Dog]

13. Yeah, yeah.

(For those who haven't seen it) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gldlyTjXk9A

:)

[derby378]

14. Meanwhile, back in Dallas...

...George W. Bush puts his feet up on the ottoman, watching FOX News in the privacy of his home in an affluent neighborhood, secure in the knowledge that Secret Service agents with submachine guns have blocked public access to the neighborhood in which he lives - but also confident that the Obama administration will never hold him to account for his crimes against America.

[harmonicon]

15. "a political action" my ass

A foreign or international court MUST doing something about this, BECAUSE no one in the US will due to politics.

[bvar22]

16. I want the 6 Spanish judges.....

...for Leadership positions in the Democratic Party.

[burrowowl]

17. Go Garzon!

[Senator]

18. Obama Resumes His Display Of Impotence

It is a national disgrace that this prosecution (necessarily) exists.

It is our (now Obama's) duty to deal with our own torturers and war criminals. It is a duty we owe to our greater generations, who fought and died to forge the laws and treaty obligations our once-great nation championed.

It is a duty currently being abrogated (arguably http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE53H1Y020090418">a war crime in itself).

Our Torture Nation doesn't deserve to "look forward" to better healthcare, or economic recovery, or anything else on our selfish agenda.

----

[erehwon2]

19. Sorry, Senator, but that's wrong

Obama is being smart. Right now this very minute we have a chance to push through healthcare reform 60 years in the making. There are two "wars" aka hostile occupations to end pronto. And much more besides, including the torture/war crime.

He'll be addressing the nation on HCR tonight, and I hope aggainst hope that he comes out forcefully in favor of a public option. No triggers, no co-ops, but meaningful and massive HCR right now.

Next up: get the troops home where they belong.

While all this is happening, at the very same time, i.e. right this fucking minute, Garzon is laying the foundations for a solid case against the torturers. This is right on several levels:

- It won't get much attention in the US press until it's a fait accompli, which will take a while. In other words, the mouth breathers won't have time to swiftboat the process, plus they wouldn't know how to find Spain on a fucking map. Of Spain.

- Obama will have the luxury of being above the fray if Garzon's on the case.

- Garzon is the man for the job, you do NOT want to be on his shitlist. Thanks to him, Pinochet ended up effectively under house arrest in the UK, in Maggie's house no less.

- It will be on an international scope, I hope those torturing fukkers end up in Den Haag aka The Hague. Milosevic needs the company.

- The investigation will be done on Spain's dime.

Garzon gets his homework done before presenting his cases. I suspect he'll rely on the cooperation of the US gummint, and I'm quite sure he'll get what he needs. I think there's already enough in the public domain to roast those creeps, but Garzon is a very thorough man.

If Obama didn't exactly plan it this way, well, he should have.

[Senator]

21. Sorry too, but the damage is done.

As I said, the existence of the Spanish probe is already a national disgrace. And no amount of rationalization about imagined strategery can change that fact.

The treaties that we as a nation forged -- and are currently in breach of -- do not permit Obama the "luxury" of meeting our obligations "on Spain's dime."

The duty to face up to our own war criminals is affirmative and absolute. There are no "exceptions" for dealing with our own selfish interests first or for cowering from "mouthbreathers" (which btw, http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/foreign_torture_probe_threat_to_MJrf3E3odMXl0L3fNts8dJ">isn't doing any good).

Torture remains http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Senator/17">Obama's steroids problem.

It is wrong on all levels.

--

[erehwon2]

25. We're on the same page here on the issue

It's just a matter of how to go about it.

I'd like to respond to your rebuttal line by line, and I'd welcome any further comment from you as we apparently share the same viewpoint on the ILLEGAL, IMMORAL bad fucking torture issue.

Senator: As I said, the existence of the Spanish probe is already a national disgrace. And no amount of rationalization about imagined strategery can change that fact.

Erehwon: Agreed. But I wasn't saying it was strategery, just said that if Obama hadn't planned to internationalize it, he should have. Holder, our guy, is on the case too, largely under the radar, a good thing at the moment. He and Garzon would make a great team. Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth; if Garzon is going after the bad guys, let's hope that Holder will cooperate. More than one grunt has had to pay dearly for disregarding both the USMCJ cum Geneva Convention, rightly so, but it didn't start with the Lyddie Englands of this world. This goes way up to the top, and the only way to nail the enablers and big guys is to get all ducks thoroughly in a row. It takes time and the case has to be airtight.

Senator: The treaties that we as a nation forged -- and are currently in breach of -- do not permit Obama the "luxury" of meeting our obligations "on Spain's dime."

Erehwon: My view of this is pretty much summed up above, to which I would add that I did mention previously that the violation of international treaties in the form of torture, murder, hostile occupation, illegal invasion and more actually supersede national law, i.e. are the ultimate law of the land. In order to get the due diligence to make the airtight cases right up to the top, Holder and Garzon will hopefully work together to nail these fucking expletives. Bearing in mind that Garzon managed to pin down Pinochet in the UK, where was the Chilenian gummint in all this? Nowhere. Erehwon. The UK didn't know what the fuck to do, and Maggie was the last refuge of that murdering torturing corporatist corrupt pisshole. I have strong feelings about that case, too.

Senator: The duty to face up to our own war criminals is affirmative and absolute. There are no "exceptions" for dealing with our own selfish interests first or for cowering from "mouthbreathers" (which btw, isn't doing any good).

Erehwon: Damn straight, Senator. Once the case stands a chance, both in national and international law, yes, it's off to Maggie's Farm with these goatfuckers. But it's got to be airtight. I hate to say that politics is the "art of the possible", "sausage factory", but right now the groundwork is being lain for the payback, again, pretty much under the radar, while some pretty acute and enormous issues are front and center at this moment: HCR now, getting the troops home and stop fucking with whole countries. Let the mouthbreathers dance around with Orley, O'Reilly and that fucking liar Hannity and lunatic Beck. They won't know what hit them when out of the blue Holder and Garzon start the prosecution.

Senator: Torture remains Obama's steroids problem.

Erehwon: Agree entirely. But first he's got to hit a couple out of the park and put bluedawgs and repub groupthinkers in their place. Meanwhile, the case has got to build with due diligence and hardcopy on who's responsible for our disgraceful illegal disgusting behavior. Name and shame and put these fuckers where they belong, which is not a nice place at all.

Senator: It is wrong on all levels.

Erehwon: This prosecution should have been done years ago, but it wasn't for obvious reasons, i.e. the perps were in fucking power. That's level one. What to do now? The right thing: Get all the source documents, chains of command, physical evidence together and let Holder and Garzon get down to bidness. I want to see a prosecution that can stick.

We executed people for less after WWII. We initiated the Geneva Convention.

We as a nation aren't perfect by a long shot, but never in my worst dreams did I imagine that people from the country I love could act like this as a matter of policy. I fucking hate this torture rendition enemy combatant wiretapping bullshit.

Senator, I think we share much on this, and that our biggest difference are in sense of timing and means of expression. Pardon my occasional lapse into crass language.

The public domain has plenty of material to snag those anti-American torture fans, but I want the prosecutions so airtight that The Hague will have to stock up on its library and crayon supply as soon as we've settled HCR and the occupations.

So book 'em, Danno.

Cheers,
2Nowhere

PS: No hard feelings, Senator, here's a modest little lagniappe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGs2iLoDUYE

[Senator]

26. No, not at all.

You seem unable to come to terms with the fact that Obama is driving the Torture Getaway Car. You are happy to ride shotgun -- continually planning alternate routes that will never be taken.

This is only a slight variation of the http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Senator/14">vast Impeachophobia epidemic -- for many DC-Dems, a chronic and terminal condition. The "case" has been "air tight" for literally years. (And Obama has been in dismissive http://talkingimpeachment.com/blog/Hall-of-Shame-Inductee----Barak-Obama.html">denial for literally years.)

It really isn't about them -- particularly in the "get them! get them!" sense that is the object of your post.

It's about us and whether we act on the principles we espouse or do we endlessly rely on "practical considerations" to rationalize our inaction, our moral failure.

Obama has already failed as a moral leader. He cannot redeem himself, or our tattered National Soul, while we tolerate that failure.

---

[leveymg]

20. If anyone deserves rendition and harsh interrogation, it's these bastards

If the Madrid Police show up, sedate them, and bundle them onto a waiting plane at Dulles Airport for a flight to The Hague, I won't stop them.

[panzerfaust]

22. So why is it "off the table" here in our country?

That, and all the other crimes committed by the previous administration (with the support of many in our own party - oh, perhaps THAT is the reason?).

[Senator]

23. It's beyond politics. Responsibility itself is "off the table."

It is the core characteristic of Our Lamest Generation.

Run your company or the entire economy into the ground? Get a bailout.

Can't manage to perform well enough on the field? Take a steroid.

Can't win an election at the ballot box? Have Poppy's buddies issue a high court edict.

Can't manage to simply abide by and enforce the laws and treaty obligations our greater generations fought and died to forge? Just mumble some platitudes about "looking forward" (blinders firmly in place) and let the rest of the world deal with the ongoing atrocities.

---

[Overseas]

24. Kicking and hoping. /eom