Gonzales, Yoo, Feith to be indicted by Spanish prosecutors for torture?

[Jacobtm]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-13/the-bush-six-to-be-indicted/

This appears to be the piece that everyone is mentioning/linking back to. Does anyone have other info on this? I can't imagine that it would actually happen, but it'd be very interesting.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Wow that would be awesome.

[Landslide Lyndon]

The idea that prosecutors in another country can indict public officials in the U.S. is absolutely ridiculous.

Not if they commited crimes against citizens of that country.

But thanks for trying anyway. Hope to see you in our next show.

[Jacobtm]

The idea that prosecutors in another country can indict public officials in the U.S. is absolutely ridiculous.

They're being charged with breaking Spanish law, specifically torturing Spaniards. Nothing ridiculous about trying people for breaking your laws...

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Spain has no right to do this.

[Sensei]

Spain has no right to do this.

really? Could you elaborate?

I only see the Spanish government acting on the torture of Spaniards.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Spain has no right to do this.

So if an American citizen is tortured by a foreign country then the US has no right to prosecute the perpetrators?

Go read a book before you make such ridiculous statements.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

He's just trying to display Moderate Heroism again. For some reason Moderate Heroism entails mindless jingoism.

[Scam of God]

I already posted this.

But yes, Spain is entirely within their right as a sovereign nation to prosecute foreign officials if it is found that those foreign officials have tortured U.S. citizens.

Will we extradite? Hell no. That's why an irregular rendition is in order. Pull an Eichmann on the bastards.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Is there precedent for this sort of thing?  Nations not at war with each other prosecuting citizens for torture?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The US prosecuted Charles Taylor's son.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

The US prosecuted Charles Taylor's son.

He was a US citizen, wasn't he?

[Landslide Lyndon]

And of course the same judge (Baltazhar Garzon) prosecuted Pinochet for the ''dissapearance'' and torture of Spanish citizens in Chile during his dictatorship.   

[Scam of God]

Is there precedent for this sort of thing?  Nations not at war with each other prosecuting citizens for torture?

Adolf Eichmann. I should think that case would be near and dear to your heart.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The US prosecuted Charles Taylor's son.

He was a US citizen, wasn't he?

Not sure but ultimately irrelevant. If I drove up to Canada and kidnapped and tortured a Canadian citizen and then was arrested, I would be extradited to Canada and tried there, not by the US.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

John Yoo deserves to be in jail.

[Stampever]

Spain doesn't have jurisdiction over the United States, so even if they do go ahead with this, there is nothing they can do.  Fortunately, it apears that more rational minds in Spain are going to stop this from happening. 

"Spain Prosecutor Against Probing Guantanamo Case"

[Franzl]

I don't see a problem with this.

It's not like we're going to let Spain have them....they're obviously fully in their rights to prosecute if they feel that their laws have been broken.

[Scam of God]

Spain doesn't have jurisdiction over the United States

I'd suggest you go through and read the U.N. Charter more thoroughly: any member nation is permitted to convict the citizens of another member nation when the lives or well-being of its own citizenry have been violated.

[A18]

John Yoo deserves to be in jail.

For what? Giving absurd legal advice?

[Scam of God]

John Yoo deserves to be in jail.

For what? Giving absurd legal advice?

Yes. There indeed ought to be a law precluding legal officials or lawyers from offering a member of the Federal government legal advice which is unconstitutional.

[A18]

Well, the legal advice certainly wasn't unconstitutional. At most, the torture was.

Perhaps you mean providing a legal rationale for unconstitutional conduct; but that's a laughably unworkable rule. It would be unworkable enough in a world inhabited purely by originalists. In our age of the "living Constitution," it's about as feasible as outlawing all conduct inconsistent with goodness and niceness.

[Stampever]

Spain doesn't have jurisdiction over the United States

I'd suggest you go through and read the U.N. Charter more thoroughly: any member nation is permitted to convict the citizens of another member nation when the lives or well-being of its own citizenry have been violated.

I suggest you read the Supreme Court ruling on Reid v Covert (1957).  The ruling clarified the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution over treaties ratified by the United States.  Therefore, the Constitution supercedes the UN Charter.  The next step would be to identify where a "crime" actually occurred (if one occurred at all).  Since these individuals were not captured in Spain, and the torture that is assumed to have taken place did not occur in Spain, Spain can only ask for those suspected of guilt to be extradited for a hearing.  With all that being the case, Spain doesn't have jurisdiction.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The Constitution also prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

[Stampever]

The Constitution also prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

Yet Capital punishment is legal in the United States.