Wikileaks: US pressured Spain over CIA rendition and Guantánamo torture

[Joanne98]

Leaked cables show Spanish officials and prosecutors shared information about investigations into US human rights abuses

US officials tried to influence Spanish prosecutors and government officials to head off court investigations into Guantánamo Bay torture allegations, secret CIA "extraordinary rendition" flights and the killing of a Spanish journalist by US troops in Iraq, according to secret US diplomatic cables.

Among their biggest worries were investigations pursued by the magistrate Baltasar Garzón, who US officials described as having "an anti-American streak".

"We are certainly under no illusions about the individual with whom we are dealing," they said after he opened an investigation into torture at Guantánamo Bay prison camp. "Judge Garzon has been a storied and controversial figure in recent Spanish history, whose ambition and pursuit of the spotlight may be without rival."

The revelations contained in the leaked documents will be embarrassing to Spanish prosecutors who shared information on cases they were involved in, and whose identities the Americans wanted protected.

They included the attorney general, Candido Conde-Pumpido, national court chief prosecutor, Javier Zaragoza, and fellow prosecutor Vicente González Mota, responsible for the CIA flights affair.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/30/wikileaks-us-spain-guantanamo-rendition

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[kas125]

2. K&R

[flyarm]

3. K&R

[midnight]

4. Anyone think these pressures were responsible for Spain

backing off from prosecuting bush and cheney for war crimes?

[molly77]

8. midnight

May I add Mark Foley and Ted Stevens to the list? Tom DeLay may still walk notwithstanding a jury finding him guilty. Scooter Libby was pardoned.

Don Seigleman was shackled in the court room after his sentencing from trumped up charges. Then transferred from jail to jail away from his family.He dared to question the votes in his home state. Where he was ahead in the polls and the vote until 1 AM.

Black representatives in Congress are targeted.Fascist much?

I really do not want to see the term "conspiracy theorist" for a long time. There is no theory behind this. It is fact and in our faces.

[Solly Mack]

5. I hope more people read this

[Jefferson23]

6. anti American streak my ass. They me sick with this bullshit. n/t

[OnyxCollie]

7. K&R. nt

[Swamp Rat]

9. kick

[Jefferson23]

10. Kick for visibility. n/t