Michael Ratner: Bringing the 'Bush Six' to justice

[marmar]

Bringing the 'Bush Six' to justice
If those responsible for the Bush administration's torture policy will not face charges in the US, then in Spain it must be

Michael Ratner
guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 January 2011 12.30 GMT


Today, the Centre for Constitutional Rights filed papers encouraging Judge Eloy Velasco and the Spanish national court to do what the United States will not: prosecute the "Bush Six". These are the former senior administration legal advisors, headed by then US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who violated international law by creating a legal framework that materially contributed to the torture of suspected terrorists at US-run facilities at Guantánamo and other overseas locations.

Friday's filing provides Judge Velasco with the legal framework for the prosecution of government lawyers – a prosecution that last took place during the Nuremberg trials, when Nazi lawyers who provided cover for the Third Reich's war crimes and crimes against humanity were held accountable for their complicity.

CCR would prefer to see American cases tried in American courts. But we have joined the effort to pursue the Bush Six overseas because two successive American presidents have made it clear that there will be no justice for the architects of the US torture programme, or any of their accomplices, on American soil.

Thanks to the US diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks, we now know why seeking justice abroad has also been fraught with difficulty – why there have been so many delays and even dismissals. The same US government that will not pursue justice at home, not even when the CIA destroys 92 videotapes that show detainees being tortured, has put a heavy thumb on the scales of justice in other countries as well. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/06/george-bush-torture

[ladjf]

1. Dream on Walt Disney. If it's one thing this WH is working hard on,

it's covering all the asses of the Bush Administration and it's subordinates.

[pacalo]

2. After 10 years of dashed hope, there's only one question: will Spain come as cheaply as Nigeria?