Zoopolitik

For human rights advocates seeking a full investigation into torture under George W. Bush’s administration, hope may come not from U.S. President Barack Obama or Attorney General Eric Holder, but from Baltasar Garzón, the crusading judge who took on Augusto Pinochet in Spain. According to The New York Times, a high-level Spanish court is opening a criminal investigation against six officials of the Bush administration “on whether they violated international law by providing a legalistic framework to justify the use of torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.”

The move represents a step toward ascertaining the legal accountability of top Bush administration officials for allegations of torture and mistreatment of prisoners in the campaign against terrorism. But some American experts said that even if warrants were issued their significance could be more symbolic than practical, and that it was a near certainty that the warrants would not lead to arrests if the officials did not leave the United States.

Among those named in the complaint are former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, former Justice Department lawyer John C. Yoo, and Douglas J. Feith, the former under secretary of defense for policy.

My hope is Spain will shame the United States into opening its own investigation. As President Obama told the nation, Eric Holder will be the people’s attorney — perhaps we should pressure him to do his job.

If the Bush administration was justified in its actions, we need to know it. If not, those who condoned and enabled torture should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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