Spain orders arrest of US troops

[Redleg]

Making friends again ... I guess.
First withdrawing the troops, and now trying to investigate into something that doesn't concern us. Well one certainly could look at it that way but I have a different opinion.

All is well

Things went like this:
Sergant Thomas Gibson certainly spoted first someone with lenses but he didn't make the decision in 0.5 secs, he waited 10 minutes for others to take the decision for him, namely capitan Wolford and coronel Philip de Camp. The later was the one who ultimately gave the order to shot.
So it says in today's "El Pais" (spanish newspapers) citing Los Angeles Times, and Le Nouvel Observateur interviews with those soldiers.

Lets see the Sergeant still informed the chain that he believed that what he reported was a legimate target and that he believed he was being fired upon from that direction. The only decision left to the Captain and the LTC was to determine if the target was in a restricted fire area or in an other zone that was known to them to have an area determined by the miltary not to be shot into for any reason. And even with those restrictions the United States Army does not remove the condition of acting in self-defense. Again the Military investigated and concluded that the actions of the Sergeant and the Officers followed the established Rules of Engagement.

They defend themselves by saying they were being attacked but all witnesess (the reporters in Hotel Palestina) said nothing was going on, but suddenly the tank opened fire. I'am inclined to believe them as it was pretty well documented (they were filming all the day).

And I am inclined to believe that the prespective of the soldiers on the ground was different then what the reporters prespective is.

We must also take into consideration that the US military was fully informed that the in Hotel Palestina were journalists (and it was the very same pentagon who told all foreing press to go there so that they would be safe there).

Yep that is a valid point.

Well it certainly doesn't make the US military look good, because as we all know deliberately killing journalists or civilians is a "delict against the International Community" (literally translated from spanish), and as far as I know Spanish Judges can prosecute anyone who comitted a crime against a national (...remembers pinochet...), of course as long as we have cooperation from the other country. Otherwise we can only fill charges and conduct a more or less complete investigation (and make us feel good).

And no one can provide a legimate case that the Sergeant made a delibert attack on journalists to kill said journalists - hince the charges filed by a Spanish Judge is a political stunt because he did not like the level of cooperation or what he was informed of by the United States.


I also learned something today - and leads me to conclude again that its more of a political stunt then anything else. From an international law review

Popular actions may be brought by any Spanish citizen, regardless of [End Page 934] injury or other standing, in the public's interest. 14 One scholar notes that the popular action has its roots in the concept of common concern for protection of the legal order rather than the traditionally more narrow judicial concern, and narrower rules of standing, focusing on the injured party. 15 They permit the party filing to continue to pursue the matter as a private prosecutor, whatever may be the public prosecutor's position during the investigative stage. The Spanish public prosecutor's office may, at its discretion, choose to participate in supporting a popular action. If the public prosecutor opposes the action, of course, the chances of successful completion of an investigation are significantly diminished. The prosecutor plays a much greater role in the trial of the case.
The Spanish Board of Attorneys, which oversees operations of the Attorney General's office and makes policy decisions regarding the position of public prosecutors in cases filed as popular actions, initially opposed the filing of the Argentine case but ultimately cleared the way for the popular action by voting to "neither oppose nor support the prosecution." 16 As for the Chilean case, a 1958 Spanish-Chilean convention on dual citizenship permits any Chilean, whether a resident of Spain or not, to file suit in Spanish court with the same rights as any Spanish citizen. 17 In that case, the public prosecutors initially took a position which explicitly approved the litigation. 18 It was only quite recently, when the Pinochet arrest threatened [End Page 935] amicable relations between Spain and its Latin American colleagues, that the public prosecutors took an active position against the litigation. 19

http://www.umass.edu/legal/Benavides...20Pinochet.doc


So if I don't like the information given to me and I can gain popular support for my action - I can pursue a criminal charge. Again this smacks of politic running amok. Edit: A civil case I could understand but criminal prosecution based upon popularity doesn't sound like justice to me.

So why did the judge issued the arrest warrant? the two previous attemps to get the US to collaborate didnt work so now they might get the message.

Again or is it that the Spanish Judge did not want to accept the answers that he was given.

I suspect he is just trying to do his job. If he wants a political office I think is is out of his mind, Do you think an spaniard would give up a 5000€ monthly (adjusted to the inflation) and a pension of the same amount free of taxes(also adjusted to the inflation) for an elusive political office?

One really never knows