LAT: 'If There Was Criminal Wrongdoing (By Bushco)-THERE SHOULD BE PROSECUTIONS'

Editorial
Judging the war on terror
The U.S., and now other countries, are conducting legal inquiries into Bush-era policies.
April 4, 2009

The Obama administration has deleted the term "global war on terror" from the government lexicon but is finding it more difficult to wipe the slate on some of the dark activities that rhetoric was used to justify. Since his election, President Obama has said he would prefer to look forward instead of backward at charges that the Bush administration used illegal detention and torture to prosecute its campaign against terrorism. That's an understandable political impulse, but it may prove difficult to sustain.

A Spanish court has opened criminal proceedings against six senior Bush administration officials accused of providing the legal framework to allow the torture of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center ...

The Spanish case comes on the heels of a British investigation into whether an MI5 security official colluded with American agents to torture Binyam Mohamed, a British resident held at Guantanamo. The two cases reflect a growing international determination to find out whether the Bush administration abandoned the rule of law in pursuit of terrorists. We too want to know. ...

The Obama administration must restore the international community's confidence in the U.S. rule of law, as well as our own. That means that investigations into possible criminal wrongdoing in the terror war should proceed with all due care and vigor. Once the probes are completed, the findings should be made public, whenever possible. And, as Obama has said, if there was criminal wrongdoing, there should be prosecutions.

more at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-torture4-2009apr04,0,3397737.story

n/t

Other countries, just give them time. It is early yet.

given jurisdiction issues and sovereign immunity.

Wasn't Kissinger convicted in some parts of Europe, and if so, how was that done? I guess what I'm asking is, is there a precedent for this?

And hopefully, there are those who will never stop tryng to prosecute.

First sign of hope is in Spain. Several indictments were brought against Bush cronies for torture/war crimes.

Right now, the nation of Francisco Franco seems to be taking the lead in prosecuting crimes against humanity committed by the United States government. Thankfully, at this time, they're following rules of criminal procedure and developing evidence. Other groups of people might not be quite so circumspect about the rules of law, and decide to exact punishment in a more ad hoc manner. But I'm sure that nobody here or anywhere in the United States could possibly get too upset about having to pay with their lives for the crimes of the Bush administration, right?

Those are our options, folks.