Spanish judge resumes torture case against six senior Bush lawyers
8.9.09
The 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.
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, which is somewhat ironic, as, although Judge Garzón has been involved in high-profile cases that have delighted human rights advocates — his pursuit of General Pinochet, for example — he has been severely criticized for his heavy-handed approach to terrorism-related cases in Spain (as in the cases of Mohammed Farsi and Farid Hilali, amongst others), and, in fact, aggressively pursued an extradition request for both Jamil El-Banna and Omar Deghayes on their return from Guantánamo to the UK in December 2007, in connection with spurious and long-refuted claims about activities related to terrorism, which he was only persuaded to drop in March 2008.
It is, at present, uncertain whether another attempt to stifle Judge Garzón will derail him from his pursuit of the Bush administration’s lawyers, as he is not known for letting adversaries stand in his way. At the end of June, the Spanish Parliament pointedly passed legislation aimed at “ending the practice of letting its magistrates seek war-crime indictments against officials from any foreign country, including the United States,” on the basis that no Spanish Court should be able to judge officials of foreign countries except when the victims are Spanish or the crimes were committed in Spain.
However, on Sunday, when Público spoke to Philippe Sands, the British lawyer, and author of Torture Team, which provided much of the first-hand evidence for Garzón’s case, Sands explicitly stated that there was “no legal barrier” to prevent Judge Garzón’s prosecution from proceeding. He explained that he believed the recent decision by US Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special investigator to investigate cases of torture by the CIA is related to the Spanish lawsuit and the importance it has acquired because of its instigation by Judge Garzón. Sands told Público, “The recent decision by Eric Holder emphasizes how appropriate the Spanish investigation is. Many commentators believe that this decision has had a significant and direct impact in the United States, reminding people that there is an obligation to investigate torture.”
He added, “Judge Garzón’s actions have acted like a catalyst, and are supported by many people in the United States, including some members of Congress. He has reminded everybody that a blind eye cannot be turned to these actions and that there are people who are not going to let that happen.” He also explained that Eric Holder’s gesture is only a first step, “limited to cases in which interrogators may have exceeded the limits formally approved by lawyers in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel,” that the architects of the “legal decisions that purported to justify the use of torture are not in immediate danger in the United States,” and that there is, therefore, “no legal barrier to the continuation of the Spanish investigation.”
He concluded by stating that it was “important” that Judge Garzón proceeds with the case in Spain, because, although Eric Holder “has confirmed the importance of the Convention Against Torture, he has taken only a first step that “does not really address the actions of those who were truly responsible for its violation.”
Note: I wish to extend my thanks to Carlos Sardiña Galache for alerting me to the latest developments in this important story, which was not mentioned in the English-speaking press, and for translating crucial passages.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK). To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed, and also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, published in March 2009.
As published on the Huffington Post and AlterNet. Cross-posted on The Public Record and After Downing Street. Also mentioned in the Washington Independent and Raw Story.
For a sequence of articles dealing with the use of torture by the CIA, on “high-value detainees,” and in the secret prisons, see: Guantánamo’s tangled web: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Majid Khan, dubious US convictions, and a dying man (July 2007), Jane Mayer on the CIA’s “black sites,” condemnation by the Red Cross, and Guantánamo’s “high-value” detainees (including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed) (August 2007), Waterboarding: two questions for Michael Hayden about three “high-value” detainees now in Guantánamo (February 2008), Six in Guantánamo Charged with 9/11 Murders: Why Now? And What About the Torture? (February 2008), The Insignificance and Insanity of Abu Zubaydah: Ex-Guantánamo Prisoner Confirms FBI’s Doubts (April 2008), Guantánamo Trials: Another Torture Victim Charged (Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri, July 2008), Secret Prison on Diego Garcia Confirmed: Six “High-Value” Guantánamo Prisoners Held, Plus “Ghost Prisoner” Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (August 2008), Will the Bush administration be held accountable for war crimes? (December 2008), The Ten Lies of Dick Cheney (Part One) and The Ten Lies of Dick Cheney (Part Two) (December 2008), Prosecuting the Bush Administration’s Torturers (March 2009), Abu Zubaydah: The Futility Of Torture and A Trail of Broken Lives (March 2009), Ten Terrible Truths About The CIA Torture Memos (Part One), Ten Terrible Truths About The CIA Torture Memos (Part Two), 9/11 Commission Director Philip Zelikow Condemns Bush Torture Program, Who Authorized The Torture of Abu Zubaydah?, CIA Torture Began In Afghanistan 8 Months before DoJ Approval, Even In Cheney’s Bleak World, The Al-Qaeda-Iraq Torture Story Is A New Low (all April 2009), Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison , Dick Cheney And The Death Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, The “Suicide” Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi: Why The Media Silence?, Two Experts Cast Doubt On Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi’s “Suicide”, Lawrence Wilkerson Nails Cheney On Use Of Torture To Invade Iraq, In the Guardian: Death in Libya, betrayal by the West (in the Guardian here), Lawrence Wilkerson Nails Cheney’s Iraq Lies Again (And Rumsfeld And The CIA) (all May 2009) and WORLD EXCLUSIVE: New Revelations About The Torture Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (June 2009). Also see the extensive archive of articles about the Military Commissions.
For other stories discussing the use of torture in secret prisons, see: An unreported story from Guantánamo: the tale of Sanad al-Kazimi (August 2007), Rendered to Egypt for torture, Mohammed Saad Iqbal Madni is released from Guantánamo (September 2008), A History of Music Torture in the “War on Terror” (December 2008), Seven Years of Torture: Binyam Mohamed Tells His Story (March 2009), and also see the extensive Binyam Mohamed archive. And for other stories discussing torture at Guantánamo and/or in “conventional” US prisons in Afghanistan, see: The testimony of Guantánamo detainee Omar Deghayes: includes allegations of previously unreported murders in the US prison at Bagram airbase (August 2007), Guantánamo Transcripts: “Ghost” Prisoners Speak After Five And A Half Years, And “9/11 hijacker” Recants His Tortured Confession (September 2007), The Trials of Omar Khadr, Guantánamo’s “child soldier” (November 2007), Former US interrogator Damien Corsetti recalls the torture of prisoners in Bagram and Abu Ghraib (December 2007), Guantánamo’s shambolic trials (February 2008), Torture allegations dog Guantánamo trials (March 2008), Sami al-Haj: the banned torture pictures of a journalist in Guantánamo (April 2008), Former Guantánamo Prosecutor Condemns “Chaotic” Trials in Case of Teenage Torture Victim (Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld on Mohamed Jawad, January 2009), Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo’s Forgotten Child (Mohammed El-Gharani, January 2009), Bush Era Ends With Guantánamo Trial Chief’s Torture Confession (Susan Crawford on Mohammed al-Qahtani, January 2009), Forgotten in Guantánamo: British Resident Shaker Aamer (March 2009), A Child At Guantánamo: The Unending Torment of Mohamed Jawad (June 2009) and the extensive archive of articles about the Military Commissions.
Who's still at Guantánamo?
54 Responses
Will Shirley says...
How many courts in foreign lands, suing the Bushies for war crimes, crimes against humanity, mass murder and so forth, will it take before a court in the US takes up the fight? How long before the world sees we can police our own people, even the ones at the top? The real problem underlying America’s relations with the world is that we perpetuate the myth of democracy in America. We persist in describing ourselves as a democracy, indeed we even go so far as to claim we are the foremost democracy, somehow forgetting that Greece was really the originator of the idea, and also forgetting Iceland, the longest running Western democracy and the only one that still runs the way it did when it was a real democracy. By lying to the world about the basic structure of our country we confuse the issues (accident?) by making it seem that the majority of Americans want things like torture and empire. In a true democracy that would be the case, but in a plutocracy miming democracy it couldn’t be further from the truth. Being impossibly far from the truth is where our government has been for decades.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Andy Worthington says...
Hi Will,
Good to hear from you. I agree that our almost interchangeable political parties are increasingly incapable of creating any kind of fundamental change — and especially compared to what we used to be able to achieve, including genuine moves towards equality, universal education, and universal health care (for some of us). I feel, however, that we may be at the start of a long road to accountability in the US, as I would expect anyone who is pursued for exceeding orders to squeal about who set those limits to be broken in the first place, but I freely concede that I may be being optimistic.
But at least I have a T-shirt slogan for the day: “The US government: impossibly far from the truth”!
...on September 8th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Laura Prezio says...
Thanks for publishing this article and I hope you can keep me posted. The issue of war crimes by the Bush administration are deeply upsetting to me as they represent the loss of morality to the profits of the Neocons who seem less interested in real peace or even anything resembling democracy.
Please continue to post and send to me via email or FaceBook.
Sincerely, Laura Prezio
...on September 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Hi Laura,
Good to hear from you and thanks for the support. I’ll continue posting on Facebook, of course, but if you want to receive articles directly from my site, you can subscribe (for free) to my RSS feed:
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/feed/
...on September 8th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Dave "knowbuddhau" Parker says...
Thanks for all you’ve done. As a student of psychology (BA U. of Washington, grad school dropout), I’m keenly interested in the role of psychologists in all this. But there’s an overarching doctrine that I also believe to be shaping events: full-spectrum dominance. Have you written about it?
Pepe Escobar recently mentioned it. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KI03Df01.html
I see it at work, for example, in SecState Clinton’s renewal of our threat against Britain, should the courts reveal how we tortured Binyam Mohamed.
Might not FSD explain the bizarro world actions of Team Obama? Aren’t they using the same playbook as Team Bush?
...on September 8th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Hi Dave,
Good to hear from you. I’ve come across the concept of “full spectrum dominance,” and suspect that, in many ways, it’s the default position of the US, even without the influence of the Project for the New American Century. Clearly, given how many powerful people in the States love being the world’s military top dog (and make colossal amounts of money from it), there was no way that Obama was going to come in and dismantle it all, and, overall, it’s worrying that we’re not hearing anyone talk about scaling back on America’s global military presence and overkill, but there are some differences: “full spectrum incompetence” was actually what the Bush administration implemented, plus “full spectrum breaking of all laws, including the absolute ban on torture.”
...on September 8th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Andy Worthington says...
On Facebook, this article provoked a flurry of responses:
Dunia Ben Haj Yahia wrote:
I think they should prosecute Bush himself too. He is the head of it as the world is aware of.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Andy Worthington says...
I replied:
All in good time. The lawyers are the weakest link, as Philippe Sands demonstrated in Torture Team.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Lance Ciepiela wrote:
Seems like in bygone times the USA used to take great pride in policing their own without any help from anyone. Apparently Obama/Holder are not up to it. High level Bush Administration officials, including Bush, get to walk, while Congress asks “If anyone knows of a crime?”. Pelosi wouldn’t dare to do anything about it anyway.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Andy Worthington says...
I replied:
Too true. In the second part of my interview with him, available tomorrow, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson savages Reid and Pelosi for their spinelessness.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Andy Worthington says...
I also received a number of messages from Khadija Podd, whose husband, Mohammed Fahsi, is imprisoned in Spain, which persuaded me to add a paragraph to the article that mentions Mohammed and another man, Farid Hilali, as well as the irony that Judge Garzon is now seeking the assistance of Jamil El-Banna and Omar Deghayes, when, after their release from Guantanamo in December 2007, he sought to have them extradited to Spain in connection with long-discredited terrorist allegations.
Khadija Podd wrote:
Andy, this is Khadija. Please do not praise this man. He is the cause of most of the hundreds of unjust arrests of Muslims in Spain, including my husband. He knows of their torture, he is complicit in holding them for up to 4 years without charge, he is part of the system. He is not popular with human rights activists in Spain nor with Amnesty International. I know more about him than you.
Garzon is the judge who has ignored the fact that my husband Mohammed Fahsi was kept in incommunicado detention for nearly 5 days, was tortured (including sleep deprivation, threats to his family, hooding etc). Garzon has conducted a flawed “investigation” against Mohammed in which he has not given any right to reply and has accepted hearsay (even given by a witness who later retracted everything because he admitted he was threatened by the police to give a false testimony). He is a showman who actually is deeply disliked by human rights activists in Spain. if you don’t believe me, watch the Amnesty International video about my husband’s torture.
Amnesty International have repeatedly, both in person and in writing, requested the Spanish authorities to investigate the alleged torture of Mohammed and others. They (which includes Garzon) refuse to do so. Do you not think that this is a case of people in glass houses … Why be willing to prosecute Americans for something which is happening in your own backyard? And the vast majority of Muslims who have been arrested in Spain and then eventually have gone to trial have been acquitted. Some investigations by Garzon have been subsequently criticized by the trial judges.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Carlos Sardiña Galache wrote:
I agree with Khadija: Garzón is somewhat of a showman and an opportunist who is always looking for high-profile causes in order to be constantly in the spotlight. Sometimes he is right (his case against Pinochet or his search for justice with the victims of Franco) and sometimes he is fatally wrong (his persecution of some legitimate Basque separatist organizations and closing of newspapers or, worse, the baseless cases against alleged Islamist terrorists — Mohammad Fahsi or Falid Hilali are only two cases, there are many many more — that have badly damaged the reputation of the entire Muslim community in Spain) and, as far as I know, he has never shown any regrets about it. It is quite telling that he used to prosecute supposed Islamist terrorists during the Bush administration’s war on terror and now, with Obama, is prosecuting people of the Bush administration for crimes in which he is indirectly but in some degree an accomplice.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Carlos also wrote:
He is a quite controversial figure here in Spain. I think that, in this particular case, he is acting rightly and what he is doing may have very good consequences, so it must be supported, but we shouldn’t forget who Baltasar Garzón is.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Andy Worthington says...
And Khadija replied:
Well said Carlos. Did you read what I said about investigating torture as well? I am working very closely with Amnesty and they have tried many times to get Spain to investigate the torture against Mohammed which they refuse to do. It does not make sense to investigate Americans for something which is happening in your back yard. Also remember, Garzon and the other AN magistrates just work shifts, so they don’t necessarily choose the cases they investigate.
Have you seen Rastros de Dixan? A brilliant film about Islamophobia in Spain which criticizes Garzon too.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Andy Worthington says...
And I replied:
Hi Khadija,
Yes I realize what a showman he is — and how he also mercilessly pursued Jamil El-Banna and Omar Deghayes on a spurious basis when they returned to the UK from Guantanamo in December 2007. I wrote about some of his failings here:
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2007/12/21/the-guantanamo-britons-and-spains-dubious-extradition-request/
I don’t approve of his showmanship — and I especially don’t approve of his behaviour in cases like that of your husband — but when it comes to the prosecution of senior Bush lawyers he may prove to be very useful indeed.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Khadija replied:
Don’t get too excited Andy. I have it on good understanding that he would be in contempt of court as he was originally involved in the interrogations of Guantanamo inmates while they were illegally detained there during the time of Aznar. I believe the case will get given to another magistrate anyway.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Andy Worthington says...
I replied:
Another magistrate would be preferable. I just want the case to go ahead …
And Khadija, my sympathies are with you. I don’t think my article praised Garzon; just expressed support for his intent to pursue Bush’s lawyers …
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Khadija wrote:
No problem Andy and I am sorry if I seemed annoyed. I am not annoyed at you (or anyone for that matter) but I have been on the receiving end of injustice for nearly 4 years, and it gets you down sometimes. If anybody wants to see the other side of Spanish justice, go to http://www.youtube.com and enter mohammed fahsi in the search box. You will see a short video produced by Amnesty International about the torture and incommunicado detention of Mohammed, my husband. You will read that Spain has one of the toughest detention regimes in Europe. Amnesty is culminating its campaign for Mohammed on September 15th, so please support us.
Formal complaints were made to Judge Garzon about the torture but he refused to act on these complaints. He should have referred them to another court for investigation. Mohammed’s lawyer has now started a criminal prosecution against those allegedly responsible for his torture.
Also Andy, see if you can get hold of a brilliant DVD called RASTROS DE DIXAN. I attended the conference in Barcelona in June and spoke. It is about Islamophobia in Spain and the many baseless and groundless arrests that have been taking place in the past decade against Muslims. Garzon is mentioned more than once.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Andy Worthington says...
I replied:
Thanks, Khadija. I understand your specific frustrations, and also your general concerns about the treatment of Muslim “terror suspects” in Spain. Everywhere I look in Europe I see subtle variations, but the same problems …
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Carlos wrote:
I haven’t seen “Rastros de Dixan” yet, but it’s on my list. It’s disgusting what is happening in this country and in Europe, Islamophobia is growing like anti-semitism some decades ago. I once read an article in El País quoting an official statement of the police, stating that “ALL the Pakistani community is a potential threat to Spain and Europe”. Sometimes, quite often actually, I am deeply ashamed of being Spanish.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Andy Worthington says...
And Khadija wrote:
I attended the conference in Barcelona which launched the DVD and met the film’s producers. I also spoke. Mohammed’s lawyer is Jaume Asens and of course I also know Benet Salellas (his dad was a hero of mine and I was very sad when he passed away). Since my husband’s arrest I have been actively involved in a campaign to halt the undemocratic practice of incommunicado detention in Spain. Although I long for Mohammed’s release, it is not my only goal. I really want to help change things for the better in Spain. We have even got the UN involved who have a question for the Spanish authorities about Mohammed’s treatment which they will have to answer in November at a meeting in Geneva. Are you someone who wants to participate in our campaign? I am also writing a book with the first journalist to break Mohammed’s story in the UK.
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Andy Worthington says...
And this was my reply:
Hi Khadija,
You know I always want to know more about unjust anti-terror laws. I can only apologize for not having had the time to look in depth at the story of your husband and others …
...on September 8th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
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Andy Worthington says...
And more from Khadija:
Thanks for that andy. I really appreciate it because what’s happening in Spain is outrageous and is receiving very little attention (other than by Amnesty who have been amazing). The reality is that Spain uses preventative imprisonment for up to 4 years without charge, incommunicado detention in which torture invariably takes place, secret summary so the defence lawyers (mostly employed by the state anyway) can’t mount any defence. What upsets me is that there are parallels to Guantanamo and yet instead of Spain having the decency to investigate allegations of torture or putting an end to incommunicado detention, it decides to prosecute other people from other countries for doing the same thing. if you are interested you can send me your email and I can send you translations of Mohammed’s and others torture statements, translated by someone connected with Reprieve. it does not make pleasant reading.
...on September 9th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Andy Worthington says...
More on this soon, hopefully, as I’ve asked Khadija to send the statements …
...on September 9th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Khadija also wrote:
Don’t worry Andy, it’s never too late. My husband was held (as most Muslims are in Spain) for 3 years and 4 months before he was charged. His trial starts on September 21st, nearly 4 years after his terrible and violent arrest. Thankfully, because of my campaign, 2 Amnesty observers will be present at the trial in order to ensure a fair one (there have been some very unsafe convictions in the past). The Audiencia Nacional (National Court) is an off-shoot from the Franco era and has changed very little. This is where Garzon does all his “investigations” from. He uses the press shamelessly to leak unsavoury (and untrue) stories when it helps the Prosecution to do so. Mounir (my brother in law) was told to say “Viva Franco” after he’d been beaten up by the arresting officers, who filmed everything on their mobile phones (a la Abu Ghraib). It’s a disgrace.
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...on December 10th, 2010 at 4:47 am
Bringing the ‘Bush Six’ to Justice (ie in Spain not US) | In Light of Recent Events says...
[…] Still, this did not end the matter. It would still be up to investigating Judge Baltasar Garzón—a world-renowned jurist who had initiated previous prosecutions of war crimes and had publicly said that former President George W. Bush ought to be tried for war crimes—to decide whether to pursue the case against the six former Bush officials. That June—coincidentally or not—the Spanish Parliament passed legislation narrowing the use of “universal jurisdiction.” Still, in September 2009, Judge Garzón pushed ahead with the case. […]
...on January 9th, 2011 at 2:49 am
2009-10-08 Request to RCMP to arrest George Bush when he is in Canada. COMPREHENSIVE argument. » The Battles says...
[…] http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/09/08/spanish-judge-resumes-torture-case-against-six-senior-bu… […]
...on August 21st, 2011 at 4:32 am
Could a Wikileaks ‘grand jury’ of international jurists prosecute the USA for war crimes? « Darker Net says...
[…] Garzon’s pursuit of the Bush Administration re. torture allegations- click here. To see what constitutes a war crime, click here. To see an excellent summary of the war crimes […]
...on July 30th, 2012 at 5:58 am
Could a Wikileaks ‘grand jury’ of international jurists prosecute the USA for war crimes? | Darker Net says...
[…] Garzon’s pursuit of the Bush Administration re. torture allegations- click here. To see what constitutes a war crime, click here. To see an excellent summary of the war crimes […]
...on August 24th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
2012-08-05 UPDATE on Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, includes becoming defence lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange » The Battles says...
[…] http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/09/08/spanish-judge-resumes-torture-case-against-six-senior-bu… […]
...on October 8th, 2012 at 7:50 pm
•2009-09-08 Spanish judge resumes torture case against six senior Bush lawyers » The Battles says...
[…] http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/09/08/spanish-judge-resumes-torture-case-against-six-senior-bu… […]
...on October 8th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Indicting the US Government for crimes against humanity – unsealing the evidence | Darker Net says...
[…] Republicans during his first few months in office to protect Bush administration officials facing a criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies that some considered torture. A […]
...on March 8th, 2013 at 8:32 pm
Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe ~ Mother Jones (from 2010) | Stop Making Sense says...
[…] Still, this did not end the matter. It would still be up to investigating Judge Baltasar Garzón—a world-renowned jurist who had initiated previous prosecutions of war crimes and had publicly said that former President George W. Bush ought to be tried for war crimes—to decide whether to pursue the case against the six former Bush officials. That June—coincidentally or not—the Spanish Parliament passed legislation narrowing the use of “universal jurisdiction.” Still, in September 2009, Judge Garzón pushed ahead with the case. […]
...on March 29th, 2013 at 5:14 am
Iraq War and perverting the course of justice: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #6 | Darker Net says...
[…] first few months in office to protect Bush Administration officials facing an overseas criminal investigation for their involvement in establishing policies that condoned the use of torture. A […]
...on April 13th, 2013 at 10:30 am
Politics hardcore: The historical truth and nuclear weapons on the Earth.. « Welcome to Zoltan Szabo's Blog site! says...
[…] http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/09/08/spanish-judge-resumes-torture-case-against-six-senior-bu… […]
...on June 5th, 2013 at 10:11 am
2009-10-08 Arrest Bush, Saskatoon: letter to RCMP and Chief of Police » The Battles says...
[…] http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/09/08/spanish-judge-resumes-torture-case-against-six-senior-bu… […]
...on September 13th, 2014 at 8:29 pm
How the USA government perverted the course of justice to avoid war crimes prosecutions | Uprootedpalestinians's Blog says...
[…] Obama’s first few months in office to protect Bush administration officials facing an overseas criminal investigation for their involvement in establishing policies that condoned the use of […]
...on August 10th, 2016 at 7:35 am
How the US government perverted the course of justice to avoid war crimes prosecutions says...
[…] Obama’s first few months in office to protect Bush administration officials facing an overseas criminal investigation for their involvement in establishing policies that condoned the use of […]
...on August 11th, 2016 at 12:27 am