[Peace-discuss] Fw: Spain Investigates What America Should

[unionyes]

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From: <moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG>
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Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 8:39 PM
Subject: Spain Investigates What America Should


> Spain Investigates What America Should
> by Marjorie Cohn
>
> April 6, 2009
>
> San Francisco Chronicle
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/06/EDSG16SH3N.DTL
>
> A Spanish court has initiated criminal proceedings
> against six former officials of the Bush
> administration. John Yoo, Jay Bybee, David Addington,
> Alberto Gonzales, William Haynes and Douglas Feith may
> face charges in Spain for authorizing torture at
> Guantanamo Bay.
>
> If arrest warrants are issued, Spain and any of the
> other 24 countries that are parties to European
> extradition conventions could arrest these six men when
> they travel abroad.
>
> Does Spain have the authority to prosecute Americans
> for crimes that didn't take place on Spanish soil?
>
> The answer is yes. It's called "universal
> jurisdiction." Universal jurisdiction is a
> well-established theory that countries, including the
> United States, have used for many years to investigate
> and prosecute foreign nationals for crimes that shock
> the conscience of the global community. It provides a
> critical legal tool to hold accountable those who
> commit crimes against the law of nations, including war
> crimes and crimes against humanity. Without universal
> jurisdiction, many of the most notorious criminals
> would go free. Countries that have used this as a basis
> to prosecute the most serious of crimes should be
> commended for their courage. They help to create a just
> world in which we all seek to live.
>
> Israel used universal jurisdiction to prosecute,
> convict and execute Adolph Eichmann for his crimes
> during the Holocaust, even they had no direct
> relationship with Israel.
>
> A federal court in Miami recently convicted Chuckie
> Taylor, son of the former Liberian president, of
> torture that occurred in Liberia. A U.S. court
> sentenced Taylor to 97 years in prison in January.
>
> Universal jurisdiction complements, but doesn't
> supersede, national prosecutions. So if the United
> States were investigating the Bush officials, other
> countries would refrain from doing so.
>
> When the United States ratified the Convention Against
> Torture, it promised to extradite or prosecute those
> who commit, or are complicit in, the commission of
> torture.
>
> President Obama, when asked whether he favored criminal
> investigations of Bush officials, replied, "My view is
> also that nobody's above the law and, if there are
> clear instances of wrongdoing, that people should be
> prosecuted just like any ordinary citizen."
>
> "But," he added, "generally speaking, I'm more
> interested in looking forward than I am in looking
> backward." Preoccupied with the economy and two wars,
> Obama reportedly wants to wait before considering
> prosecutions that would invariably anger the GOP.
>
> Evidence that Bush officials set a policy that led to
> the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo continues to
> emerge.
>
> According to ABC News, Gonzales met with other
> officials in the White House and authorized torture,
> including waterboarding.
>
> The Office of Professional Responsibility, which
> reports to the U.S. attorney general, drafted a report
> that excoriates Yoo and Bybee for writing the infamous
> torture memos. Haynes, Addington and Feith participated
> in decisions that led to torture. The release of
> additional graphic torture memos by the U.S. Department
> of Justice is imminent.
>
> It is the responsibility of the United States to
> investigate allegations of torture. Almost two-thirds
> of respondents to a USA Today/Gallup Poll favor
> investigations of the Bush team for torture and
> warrantless wiretapping. Nearly four in 10 support
> criminal investigations.
>
> Former Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora told Congress,
> "There are serving U.S. flag-rank officers who maintain
> that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S.
> combat deaths in Iraq - as judged by their
> effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into
> combat - are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib
> and Guantanamo." Providing impunity to those who
> ordered the torture will be the third recruiting tool.
>
> If the United States refuses to investigate now, it
> will be more likely that some future administration
> will repeat this scenario. The use of torture should be
> purged from our system, much like we eradicated
> slavery.
> ==
> Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School
> of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild.
> She is the author of Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush
> Gang Has Defied the Law and co-author of Rules of
> Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military
> Dissent (with Kathleen Gilberd).  Her articles are
> archived at www.marjoriecohn.com.
>
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