Guilty of Journalism by Kevin Gosztola & Abby Martin

Author:Kevin Gosztola & Abby Martin [Gosztola, Kevin & Martin, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: press freedom; WikiLeaks; censorship; freedom of the press; Edward Snowden; Julian Assange; law; political science; social justice; government; human rights; civil rights; injustice; political science books; geopolitics; political philosophy; civil disobedience; world politics; civil rights movement; international politics; political books; justice; politics; law books; international human rights; journalism; news; internet; crime; philosophy; revolution; essays; biography; sociology; conspiracy; writing; psychology; economics
ISBN: 9781644212738
Publisher: seven stories press
Published: 2023-01-13T18:00:00+00:00

Meddling in European Justice Systems to Shield the CIA

During the Obama administration’s first year, officials ended the CIA’s torture program and released memos drafted by the Bush Justice Department to justify torture. But as countries such as Canada, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom openly questioned the role their coalition forces played in supporting the torture program, the US thwarted accountability.

A 2010 report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), compiled before documents were published by WikiLeaks, argued the US was “increasingly isolated in its unwillingness to investigate the roots of the torture program, its refusal to compensate torture survivors, and its failure to hold accountable the senior government officials who authorized interrogators to use torture.”26

The ACLU described the Obama administration as an “obstacle to accountability for torture.” Not only were Obama officials resistant to releasing documents related to the torture program, but they “extinguished lawsuits brought by torture survivors—denying them recognition as victims, compensation for their injuries, and even the opportunity to present their cases.”27

US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks showed officials had meddled in the justice systems of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain to shield CIA agents, US military officers, and Bush administration officials from prosecution.

In March 2009, under the law of universal jurisdiction, the Association for the Dignity of Spanish Prisoners requested that the Spanish national court indict Alberto Gonzales, former attorney general; David Addington, former chief of staff and legal advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney; William Haynes, former Defense Department general counsel; Douglas Faith, former undersecretary of defense for policy; Jay Bybee, former head of the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel; and John Yoo, the author of legal memoranda that came to be known as the “torture memos.”28

A complaint put forward by the organization accused the named officials of conspiring with “criminal intent to construct a legal framework to permit interrogation techniques and detentions in violation of international law.” They argued the judiciary had an obligation to prosecute because five Guantánamo prisoners were from Spain.

Arnold A. Chacón, the deputy chief of mission for the US embassy in Madrid, was irked by the organization’s attempt to steer the case to Judge Baltasar Garzón, whom Chacón noted had spent the past two decades generating “international headlines with high-profile cases.” The “most famous case” was Garzón’s “attempt to bring to trial in Spain former Chilean ruler Augusto Pinochet.”29

By May, US officials succeeded in pressuring Spanish officials, including National Court chief prosecutor Javier Zaragoza. Garzón “bowed” to Spanish prosecutors and abandoned the complaint against Bush administration officials.30 Zaragoza “challenged Garzón directly and personally,” asking if he was “trying to drum up more speaking fees.” Garzón informed Zaragoza he was interested “for the record only and would let it die.”

Also, Zaragoza shared with US officials his plan to coerce Garzón into backing off prosecutions involving US torture. Garzón ordered Spanish police in 2004 to visit Guantánamo and collect evidence against “suspected terrorists.” When former Guantánamo prisoners reported their mistreatment that same year, Zaragoza claimed Garzón took no action. Zaragoza believed

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