Spanish Officials: Stop U.S. Torture Probe

Fmr. A.G. Gonzales May Not Face Spanish Judge After All

Spanish prosecutors have recommended against moving forward with an investigation into whether six Bush administration officials sanctioned torture against terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

The country’s attorney-general recommended the probe be dropped because he said the men were not present when the alleged torture took place and is therefore without merit.

“If one is dealing with a crime of mistreatment of prisoners of war, the compalint should go against those who physically carried it out,” said Candido Conde-Pumpido, Spain’s Attorney-General.

The men involved in the investigation were former U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonalez, ex-Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith; former Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; Justice Department officials John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee; and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.

The recommendation by prosecutors stops short of an outright call for dismissal of the case, but it does raise legal objections that would make it impossible for the case to move forward in the way it is now.  The Spanish court is one of several groups, including many human rights organizations, who have tried to bring Bush officials to court for alleged torture abuses. 

A senior court official told The Associated Press that a formal announcement would not come until Friday. He said prosecutors would stop short of an outright call for dismissal of the case, but would raise a series of legal objections that would make it impossible for it to proceed in its current form. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

In this case, it is alleged the “The Bush Six”, as the men have become known as, stretched legal advice, ignored the Geneva Convention, and adopted a narrow definition of which interrogation techniques constituted torture.

This case is interesting because Spanish law allows its courts to reach beyond its borders to try cases of torture or war crimes. It’s all based on a doctrine known as universal justice, making Spain a pseudo-world police.

Human rights lawyers involved in the case say they are disappointed and called the decision to recommend dropping the probe politically motivated. 

“The attorney-general speaks of the court being turned into a plaything. Well, I don’t think the attorney-general’s office should be turned into a plaything for politicians,” said Gonzalo Boye to The Associated Press.

“The attorney-general’s argument is a political one, not a legal one. It is a terrible precedent if those intellectually responsible for crimes can no longer be held accountable.”

This is not the first time Spain has been involved in an international prosecution.  In 1998, High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon, the same judge who presided over “The Bush Six” investigation issued an international arrest warrant for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998. 

Source: The Associated Press, Reuters