Spain wants torture charges against Bush Six dropped

Kelsey McGalliard
April 17, 2009
3:25pm

Judge Baltasar Garzon wants to press charges of human rights abuse against six leading Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, for providing legal cover to activities at Guantanamo. The other five U.S. officials he wants to put in the dock are former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, former Defense Department General Counsel William J. Haynes II and Vice President Dick Cheney's former legal counsel, David Addington. The massive 98-page complaint was filed in March 2008 by Gonzalo Boye, a former Chilean attorney who now lives and practices in Spain, on behalf of the Association for the Rights of Prisoners. The case has already been going on for more than a year and has so far received relatively little attention in the American media, but its implications are huge. Spain's Socialist government was highly critical of the Bush administration's policies in the war on terror. But it enjoys warm relations with the new U.S. administration led by President Barack Obama, and some critics have suggested that Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero does not want to risk embarrassing his friend. "It's a shame the prosecutor is taking this position, but not a surprise," Boye told CNN. "They always obey political orders. They don't want to be in a bad position in front of the Obama administration."
I am on the fence with my feelings towards this case because both sides make very good points. On one side they should pay for the tortures that they committed. I was informed in another class that the Bush Administration considered putting a bag tightly over someone’s face and then pouring water on them was not torture. So it makes me wonder under Bush’s administration how they defined torture. What other terrible acts did they allow that they consider not being torture? It makes me so mad! Another side of the case is that since U.S. is such a powerful country that there might be problems that go along with the case. I will say that since the Bush administration is over, there might not be that much controversy but you never know. In the end I do think that it will be better off being dropped. Unfortunately I do think that the Bush administration should be punished for what they did as well.

http://www.upi.com/news/issueoftheday/2009/04/16/Spain-wants-torture-charges-against-Bush-Six-dropped/UPI-95961239896403/