We hope world leaders at the G20 Summit in London can get global finances under control.
But who will get the world's head straight?
Spanish legal officials have been considering war crimes charges against half a dozen former Bush administration officials for their treatment of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.
Gee, we hope Miss Universe will be a character witness, after she visited Gitmo and blogged that "I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful."
Where does a Spanish court get off thinking it's the world's hall monitor?
Oh, yes -- from Spanish law, which gives its courts universal jurisdiction in such matters. Well, that settles that.
Until recently, a Spanish judge, for instance, has also been investigating Israel for a 2002 attack in Gaza.
It's interesting that neither the Spanish courts nor the United Nations has much of a stomach for investigating, oh, say, the terrorists or their state sponsors (who, during the day, double as U.N. members).
No. They only want to go after those who are fighting terrorism on behalf of the rest of Western civilization.
Of course, Spain seemed to check out of that club after the Madrid train bombings in 2004 that helped install a leftist government with no desire to take on terrorism.
It's so much easier, cleaner and safer to sit on the sidelines and question how other Western leaders wage the battle -- then second-guess them and even threaten them with war crimes.
The truth is, the Spanish action is a form of terrorism in itself: The six targets of the Bush administration "probe" never lifted a finger against anyone.
"The putative defendants," writes Andrew C. McCarthy in National Review , "did not carry out a single belligerent act, conduct a single interrogation, or direct the operation of any military or intelligence agents actually engaged in hostilities."
Moreover, the lawyer trying to stir this up, Gonzalo Boye, is a former terrorist himself with the Revolutionary Left Movement. Boye earned his law degree in prison after participating in the kidnapping of a Spanish businessman.
The businessman, notes McCarthy, spent 249 days in a cell that measured two meters long, one meter wide and less than two meters high.
This is a man who now wants to be the world's hall monitor and pass judgment on world leaders.
Any country that gives the time of day to someone like Boye does not deserve it from us.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Well, I'm grateful that someone in this wide, wide world is willing to bring charges against criminals that were responsible for the anti-American and anti-Geneva Convention agreements at Guantanamo. GGpap
And, if I recall my school days well, it was always the kids that were trying to skirt the rules that hated the Hall Moniters the most. GGpap
Their time will come.
as usual, i'd like to remind everyone in class that there have been few (like, zero) terrorist attacks on u.s. soil since gitmo. if hot pokers were being used in some manner, i'm still a big fan of bush and co. for keeping the terrorists running scared. 'bout dang time if you ask me. as for spanish authority or any such silliness, tell them to re-read the part in history where their armada got permanently parked: your time is up, mr. not-so-significant state (right up there with portugal now).
GGpap, your first two posts today are the stupidest pre-election CNN b.s. parroting and the conclusion you draw from this b.s. is also stupid. Hating Bush was a p.r. success for the misinformed. You're in great danger of being sucked in by the foolish scams of the Marxist in the whitehouse. He wants the world court to decide your fate.
amen!!! pat.
ACES writes: "Where does a Spanish court get off thinking it's the world's hall monitor?" Umm, about the same place we do?
Oh, and Mr. Pettythomas, good to see you back to your paranoidal form deary. I was worried about you for the last couple of posts. Had you been taking your meds?
Where is Franco when we need him?
I can see some of our liberals with the protestors breaking the windows of the Royal Bank of Scotland and screaming about the evils of capitalism.
"And in Spain tonight, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco is still dead." with apologies to Chevy Chase.
Ret. Army, son of a gun...Franco dead? Imagine that. I wonder for whom the bells toll then? Now don't answer that, I know it was for the Loyalists and not the rebels.
That's what happens when you have a policy that supports torture. Where does the US have legitamacy in demanding human rights in China, russia, North Korea, etcc, when we support torture? This is the right-wing's legacy to this country. Oh yeah, I forgot to add the legacy of financial collapse that Obama is currently repairing on the world stage.
You better hope Jack Bauer never finds you.
Oboba is just a flunky for a corrupt political machine. He looks like a deer in headlights at the G-20
If they're found guilty, I hope they send Boye to come get him! I got somethin' for him! :o)
RetiredArmy...."good night and have a pleasant tomorrow."
The last time I checked, WE were the World Police. I guess they can sue us all they want, we never siged the treaty allowing us to be tried in any international court. This is why.
ACES writes: "Where does a Spanish court get off thinking it's the world's hall monitor?" Umm, about the same place we do? Oh, and Mr. Pettythomas, good to see you back to your paranoidal form deary. I was worried about you for the last couple of posts. Had you been taking your meds?
Posted by Retired Army on Fri Apr 3, 2009 8:19 AM....Retarded Army, why haven't YOU been investigated and tried for terrorism. After all, you were in the US Army. Makes about as much sense.
That's what happens when you have a policy that supports torture. Where does the US have legitamacy in demanding human rights in China, russia, North Korea, etcc, when we support torture? This is the right-wing's legacy to this country. Oh yeah, I forgot to add the legacy of financial collapse that Obama is currently repairing on the world stage.
Posted by shivas on Fri Apr 3, 2009 9:23 AM...Show us ANY proof that wee support torture. Seems we have legislation against it.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/134347/seymour_hersh%3A_secret_u.s._force...
Copy and paste the above onto your browser. I suppose that violating the Geneva Convention is no big deal. But wait, there's more. And the irony is that you repubs worry about O usurping power, when you didn't care what was going on under your noses for the last eight miserable years. The Constitution meant nothing to bush and cheney.
jedex6 What you said is true, but it will fall on deaf ears of those who hate our President.
There's proof about US secret prisons overseas in Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Thailand and Eastern Europe. GITMO was set up after question about these prisons started coming up. GITMO residents were probably treated better than anyone in these other prisons. There are lots of links about it on the web. American media was suppressed from talking about. The rest of the world knows, just not us .........http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101644.html
A Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, was whisked away to Syria while returning home from a business trip. He was kept in a coffin most of the time for a year. He was only taken out to be severely beaten during questioning. He fit the profile. The problem was that he was innocent. He got out due to Canadian inquiries. No lawyer, no trial, no habeas corpus.
There's a lot of party loyalty and protecting each other's back going on about this. It's understandable. No one wants to be executed or outed for following others. All this Jack Bauer stuff may make an exciting TV show but the real life dirt doesn't wash off well.
Another thought about war criminal charges:
I didn't think some of the people accused as war criminals were involved with the torture accusations. Douglas Feith seemed more associated with selling the war and possibly fabricating evidence as about Iraq. He's very fidgety when questioned by oversight committees. I think we should send him to GITMO to find out what he knows.
Maybe we should just attack Spain and make a parking lot out of it. While NObama is there!
NoPartyFan, so Canada sends someone they don't want back to his native Arab country, Syria, where they torture him and it's our fault?
Riverman1, don't you know? Everything is our fault! We are Americans.
Canada didn't send someone back to Syria. Our intelligence agency did. They were the ones questioning him. Canada brought him home .