Spanish Lawyer: "These People Will Be Convicted-There Is NO Reason For Bush 6 To Relax Or Celebrate"

[kpete]

Nobody Expects the Spanish Prosecution

Can a court in Madrid bring Gonzales, Yoo, and company to justice?
Mother Jones talks to the lawyer seeking indictments of the "Bush Six."

—By Bruce Falconer

GB: We are seeking more than just indictments. These people will be convicted, either in Spain or in the United States. I would prefer that the trial take place in North America, as that would be the best example of a legal system working for everyone.

MJ: The Spanish parliament passed a draft law on May 19, setting additional restrictions on universal jurisdiction cases like yours, presumably with the intent of making them more difficult to file. How might the new law affect the Bush Six case? Does it target your investigation specifically?

GB: The Spanish parliament is in the process of approving new regulations, but that will have no effect on this case. We represent Spanish victims, so there is sufficient relevance to Spain for the case to go forward. The new regulations are being devised in order to obtain impunity for the Chinese and Israeli authorities involved in other universal jurisdiction cases. They will not apply to people involved in torture committed at Guantánamo. In the Bush Six case, we fulfill all the new requirements of the draft law, so there is no reason for the Bush Six to relax or celebrate.

MJ: How likely is it that this draft law will pass? When do you expect it will?

GB: The law will be passed without a doubt, as it is in the interest of both major political parties. For the first time in several years, they are in agreement on something. They want to grant impunity to people who have committed the most serious criminal offences as defined under international treaties. Sooner than later, the government will regret changing the law and its collaboration with the opposition. The draft law would never have been written without political pressure exerted by both Israel and China.

more:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/06/nobody-expects-spanish-prosecution

[billyoc]

1. Have they offered a reward for their capture yet? I don't want to seem like a mercenary,

but I'm a mercenary. :shrug:

[ixion]

2. the "Bush Six"

has a nice ring to it...

[dgibby]

6. More like 666! n/t

[Kahuna]

7. DUzy!

:rofl:

[L. Coyote]

22. This is why we come to DU, drawn like flies on pukes.

Best snarks in the sea. :rofl:

[Gregorian]

17. These are the six-

Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, ex-Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington, Justice Department officials John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee.

It's weird that Bush is so lame he doesn't even make the list. Haha.

[Bucky]

19. After eight years of hearing Dubya referred to as "Bush II", the name "Bush 6" is frightning

My mind goes... Jeb, then Jenna, then one of Jeb's sociopathic kids, then Neil, then that perky frat boy who went on the Today Show and called all Democrats racists because they opposed the Gonzalez nomination... what was his name again? That one scares me the most.

[pleah]

3. K&R

[lindisfarne]

4. An added twist:

Boyé himself is no stranger to terrorism cases. He spent eight years in a Spanish prison for his involvement in the 1988 kidnapping of businessman Emiliano Revilla, who was held hostage for eight months by members of ETA, a Basque separatist group that appears on the US State Department's list of international terrorist organizations. Boyé claims to only have lent the kidnappers his ID and characterizes his incarceration as the result of "a very unfair trial."

Now, Boyé has become something of a de facto prosecutor. But a recent resolution passed by the Spanish parliament could undermine his case. Spain's two leading political parties—the Socialists and the People's Party—overwhelmingly passed a measure on May 19 calling for a law that would restrict the use of universal jurisdiction. Will the measure quash the Bush Six investigation? Mother Jones discussed the case with Boyé.

[snappyturtle]

5. K&R Sounds hopeful to me!

"In the Bush Six case, we fulfill all the new requirements of the draft law, so there is no reason for the Bush Six to relax or celebrate."


Thanks for posting!

[Vidar]

8. I cheered the Greens & Libertarians when they contested the Ohio vote

count in 2008. Now, I'm applauding the Spanish.

[sce56]

26. I take it you meant 2004! n/t

[Forkboy]

9. I so want this to happen, but I'm way too scared to even hope.

Real justice at that level seems to rarely happen.

[Poiuyt]

10. Why aren't Bush and Cheney included here?

The so-called "Bush Six" case targets Gonzales; John Yoo, former Justice Department attorney and lead author of the "torture memos"; Douglas Feith, former deputy secretary of defense for policy; William Haynes II, Pentagon general counsel; Jay Bybee, former assistant attorney general; and David Addington, former chief of staff and legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney.

(same link)

[glitch]

12. That's what I'd like to know.

Hopefully tactics, maybe these little fish will roll over on the big fish and bring a more thorough conviction for the big fish.

[arcadian]

11. Kix & Red

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

13. Thanks kpete

I'm wondering what happens to them if they are convicted. Where will they be incarcerated and for how long?
I guess if they are convicted in Spain it gives our Justice Department less to prosecute in the way of War Crimes.

Bush and Cheney could hardly be given a pass if all the people under their orders were convicted in a foreign court. It seems like it would be against our "Core Values" to let these folks fry alone.

Personally I'm wondering what is taking so long to find the crimes committed in our name by those two, one reading of your Journal should save the Department of Justice plenty of time putting the crimes in order.

That is if we are who we say we are. I kind of doubt that though given all that has happened in my life since 1998.

[SpiralHawk]

14. "Stop picking on me. Whine." - Commander AWOL & Republicon Lie & Torture Freaks

[Solly Mack]

15. K&R

[Gregorian]

16. Please! Please!

I hear about Sanford, but I think about a country that has lost it's focus. They murdered a million people, so some say. And I am not resting until they are behind bars. Which may lead to a restless life. But I am tenacious. And I thank those who won't give it up. But they had better encase themselves in armor proof steel. Because these criminals will do anything to keep from paying the price for their crimes.

[hack89]

18. Obama won't let it happen.

it's not a precedent he wants to set.

[L. Coyote]

23. Good. Because US Justice was totally corrupted by the Bush Junta.

On Junta Day, 2000.12.12, I told an undercover spy that we'd some day have to revisit
every law passed, every judge appointed, or true Democacy would forever be in doubt.

Who would trust a US court to try Bush, seriously?

[Soylent Brice]

20. excited to hear this, but i won't hold my breath

i'll be disappointed as hell if another country has to clean up our own mess for us.

[grahamhgreen]

21. We should have let Spain win in soccer for this favor!

[mudplanet]

24. I'm admiring Spaniards more each day

too bad we can't do our own dirty work.

[cali]

25. too bad spain never did a fucking thing about their own torturers and war criminals

I'm all for prosecuting bushco, but for pete's sake, Spain's hypocrisy deserves a shout out. The torture and murder conducted by Franco was hideous.

RIP, Garcia Lorca and thousands and thousands of others.

[mudplanet]

27. Actually, Spain did quite a bit about their own torturers

and, AFAIK, they continue to investigate some of the shit that went down under the fascists. Of course, they could of done a lot more but the good guys lost the civil war. Remember that. I'm not sure what you would expect of them outside of fighting a bloody protracted war for a good cause.

[cali]

29. no they did not. not a bit.

they had a brief investigation in 2008- 30+ years after Franco. The did jackshit. Why make up crap that they did. I happen to know a bit about this, and no there were exactly ZERO prosecutions of the THOUSANDS of murders, not to mention torture. Your post is not even approaching the factual. Dog, I hate that kind of bullshit.

[mudplanet]

30. Alright, I stand corrected

I don't have the time or inclination to research this subject so I'll concede. Let's trash the Spaniards for what they didn't do and not praise them for what they will or did do. Unlike the Americans, who actively went after the fascists murders in Chile (no, wait, they paid them and praised them), in El Salvador (no, wait, they paid them and flew them on special jaunts to DC for golf and steak dinners and gave them asylum in Miami), in Haiti, in Congo, in Guatemala, in Nicaragua. I think you get my point, dog. If you want to trash someone for failing to bring fascist murderers to account you don't have to go far from home.

[mudplanet]

31. And they did it with MY tax dollars!

[RainDog]

28. kick n/t