Obama’s First Statement on Spain’s Attempt to Prosecute the ‘Bush 6:’ Let’s ‘Look Forward not Backwards’

Spain’s attorney general says the case will not proceed, and Obama says he doesn’t want to look back. So who in the world will actually hold these officials accountable?

By Jeremy Scahill

Today’s comments by Spain’s attorney general, Candido Conde-Pumpido, on the future of the torture case against the “Bush 6” were certainly a set-back to the Spanish prosecutors who are trying to do what the Obama Justice Department thus far has refused to do—hold Bush-era officials accountable for their role in torture. “We cannot support that action,” he said.

Conde-Pumpido said the investigation into whether the “Bush 6” gave legal sanction to torture will not proceed in Spain, asserting that allowing it would turn Spain’s National Court “into a plaything.” While this is not the final word on the Spanish case, it is for all practical purposes dead in the water. It is a fact that Obama administration officials have been in contact with the Spanish government regarding this case and what role, if any, Washington may have played in this decision, we do not presently know.

“If there is a reason to file a complaint against these people, it should be done before local courts with jurisdiction, in other words in the United States,” Conde-Pumpido said.

This is an interesting comment.

Remember this: the efforts in Spain to hold these officials responsible for their role in the US torture apparatus would largely be irrelevant or unnecessary if they—and others—were being held accountable by the Obama administration’s Justice Department in the US legal system. That is not to say the Spanish do not have a case here—six of their citizens have been held at the US prison camp at Guantanamo. But, in the eyes of many, the best venue for such a trial would be right here in the US or in an International Criminal Court, which the US refuses to recognize without preferential treatment to US citizens.

Obama has stayed away from directly commenting on the Bush 6. His spokesman, Robert Gibbs, apparently thinks it is hilarious to joke about the efforts of a nation whose citizens have been unlawfully detained and potentially tortured by the US to try to hold those responsible accountable. Now, Obama has made his first public remarks on the issue in an interview with CNN En Español.

Q    Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón is considering a lawsuit filed by attorneys representing six Spaniards who were at one point held at Guantanamo. And that lawsuit wants to go after President Bush’s legal team.  What is your reaction to that?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you know, obviously I’ve been very clear that Guantanamo is to be closed, that some of the practices of enhanced interrogation techniques I think ran counter to American values and American traditions.  So I’ve put an end to these policies.

I’m a strong believer that it’s important to look forward and not backwards, and to remind ourselves that we do have very real security threats out there.

So I have not had direct conversations with the Spanish government about these issues.  My team has been in communications with them.  I think that we are moving a process forward here in the United States to understand what happened, but also to focus on how we make sure that the manner in which we operate currently is consistent with our values and our traditions.

And so my sense is, is that this will be worked out over time.

While the days of the Spanish case may be numbered, the efforts to hold Bush-era officials accountable should not be. While some have called for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, thus far all we have seen from the Obama administration is the reconciliation part. As for the truth, the Obama administration’s position is muddy at best, as it continues to invoke “state secrets” and block or resist the release of unredacted key Bush-era documents on torture. Perhaps Obama’s most disturbing comment above was his attempt to redirect the issue of accountability for these crimes to reminding “ourselves that we do have very real security threats out there.” That’s a classic Cheney/Ari Fleisher move. Is Obama suggesting we all just forget or excuse the crimes because we face threats in the world?

The “Bush 6” are likely resting a bit easier today after the Spanish AG’s announcement. Unfortunately, they also seem to rest easy here at home as well. As ex-Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, one of the six, recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “ours is a country of laws, and no reasonable person doubts that the American legal system has integrity. If President Barack Obama and the prosecutors see a crime to be prosecuted, they can act.”

True. That is certainly what the Center for Constitutional Rights has been arguing. But the disturbing thing here is that Feith seems pretty confident that won’t happen. And rest assured, it is not because crimes weren’t committed, but rather because that is not how the political machine operates. The two parties just “move on” or, in the words of Obama, “look forward.”

But for the victims of this torture; for the people in the US who demand accountability and believe that it is necessary to bring the crimes to light and not sweep them under the rug of history, this battle will continue. But perhaps more important, holding these individuals accountable sends a message to future administrations. That’s why the Center for Constitutional Rights is calling for prosecutions:

“In the face of this blatant lawbreaking and institutionalized torture and war crimes committed by the Bush administration, now is the time for accountability. The mechanism exists to hold these officials accountable for their criminal behavior and dissuade future government officials from engaging in torture, war crimes, warrantless surveillance of Americans, and other lawbreaking activities – criminal prosecution of those responsible.”

In addition to Feith, the “Bush 6” are:  former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; former Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; Justice Department officials John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee; and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.