Spanish Judge issues arrest warrant for US soldiers in Iraq

[Elrohir]

Whoo boy, this is going to get messy.

Link

Spanish Judge Issues Warrant for Three GIs
Spanish Judge Issues Arrest Warrant for Three U.S. Soldiers in Spanish Journalist's Death in 2003
By MARIA JESUS PRADES Associated Press Writer
The Associated PressThe Associated Press

MADRID, Spain Oct 19, 2005 — A judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq war, killing a Spanish journalist and a Ukrainian cameraman, a court official said Wednesday.

Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, all from the U.S. 3rd Infantry, which is based in Fort Stewart, Ga.

Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died April 8, 2003, after a U.S. army tank crew fired a shell on Hotel Palestine in Baghdad where many journalists were staying to cover the war.

Reuters cameraman Taras Portsyuk, a Ukrainian, also was killed.

Pedraz had sent two requests to the United States in April 2004 and June 2005 to have statements taken from the suspects or to obtain permission for a Spanish delegation to quiz them. Both went unanswered.

He said he issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial cooperation from the United States regarding the case.

The warrant "is the only effective measure to ensure the presence of the suspects in the case being handled by Spanish justice, given the lack of judicial cooperation by U.S. authorities," the judge said in the warrant.

The Pentagon had no immediate information and said it was looking into it.

U.S. officials have insisted that the soldiers believed they were being shot at when they opened fire.

Following the Palestine incident, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said a review of the incident found that the use of force was justified.

In late 2003, the National Court, acting on a request from Couso's family, agreed to consider filing criminal charges against three members of the tank crew.

Fort Stewart spokeswoman Jennifer Scales said the three no longer are assigned to Fort Stewart or the 3rd Infantry Division.

Pilar Hermoso, an attorney for Couso's family, welcomed the decision, although she recognized that it would be difficult to get the soldiers extradited to Spain, the state news agency Efe reported.

Small protests over the killing have been staged outside the U.S. Embassy in Madrid nearly every month since Couso's death.

Under Spanish law, a crime committed against a Spaniard abroad can be prosecuted here if it is not investigated in the country where it is committed.

Now I'm all for justice being done and an investigation being initiated. But it sounds like the US military already found that they were not at fault and thought it was an enemy military position.

I think there should be a hearing and if necessary, a trial in a US military Tribunal.

And am I the only one that is starting to think about Hague Invasion Act? Heh, it does require the US to take "any necessary action to free U.S. soldiers improperly handed over to that Court".

The Second Spanish American war is coming!

 

[eyrei]

Unfortunately, the US military always finds its soldiers were not at fault until someone smashes its face against the glass and makes it stare for awhile.

That said, unless they are somehow going to prove that this attack was intentionally targetted against a Spanish civilian, I don't see how anything will ever come of it. When reporters go to war zones, things like this are bound to happen. The soldiers were being fired on when the event occurred...

Apparently European courts have also indicted Gen. Wesley Clark and Donald Rumsfeld on charges of war crimes in the past, which I found mentioned in another article I read on this subject.

Here we go...a more detailed article on the subject: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/10/19/spain.us.soldiers/index.html

 

[GrandAdmiral]

You you go into a war zone you get shot, its common sense. I can see civilians complaining, but foreigners? I can even see people talking about war crimes but Spanish law in Iraq? Just like US soldiers she had no right to be there and no garauntee of safety.

 

[Elrohir]

They should come get General Clark and Secretary Rumsefeld. That's be pretty funny watching them try.

 

[wit>trope]

I believe spain is within her rights to prosecute people like this ... but they are wrong about the facts. Also America is within her rights to protect her people, especially her solidiers. Emotionally I want America to issue an arrest warrant for this stupid spanish judge. But what America should do is try to address this diplomatically but if that fails and if somehow the soldiers get arrested, the American military should rescue them (by going into Spanish territory if necessary).

 

[PriestOfDiscord]

I can't feel too bad for the Spanish here. He was in the middle of a warzone and it wasn't like the troops were deliberately targeting him. I'm not saying our troops hands are completely clean when it comes to that (see the Italian journalist who got shot at in the beginning of the year) but this charge seems silly to me.

Meanwhile, those servicemen can never go out of the country on vacation again for fear of extradition to Spain.

 

[Elrohir]

Meanwhile, those servicemen can never go out of the country on vacation again for fear of extradition to Spain.

While that would be a wise move, I doubt any country that wants to remain our close friend would do that. And the US is legally bound by law to rescue any US soldier handed over improperly to another country. (See opening post) Even if it actually means sending in the Marines.

 

[jameson]

And the US is legally bound by law to rescue any US soldier handed over improperly to another country. (See opening post) Even if it actually means sending in the Marines.

Not quite - the The Hague invasion law only requires the US to rescue soldiers 'improperly' handed over to the ICC. American soldiers have been prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned in Japan ( the 1995 case of 3 Marines who raped a 12-year old girl).

 

[greekguy]

oh crap...like we need any other reasons for Europe to hate us. :shakehead

 

[carlosMM]

He said he issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial cooperation from the United States regarding the case.

I think all those saying dumb things like 'you go to a war and get shot' are off track here - the problem is not that accidents will happen, but that the US military - as ususal - refuses to bring light into whether it was an accident or not. Conceivably, the soliders were fooling around, or whatever - don't you think that should be cleared up?

 

[MarineCorps]

While that would be a wise move, I doubt any country that wants to remain our close friend would do that. And the US is legally bound by law to rescue any US soldier handed over improperly to another country. (See opening post) Even if it actually means sending in the Marines.

Rangers, SEALS, or Delta would be the ones to conduct the rescue.

 

[Elrohir]

Not quite - the The Hague invasion law only requires the US to rescue soldiers 'improperly' handed over to the ICC. American soldiers have been prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned in Japan ( the 1995 case of 3 Marines who raped a 12-year old girl).

And in the situation I was referring to, of them getting snatched while on vacation, then they would have been "improperly" handed over to the Spanish authorities, and we would have to act.

 

[carlosMM]

While that would be a wise move, I doubt any country that wants to remain our close friend would do that. And the US is legally bound by law to rescue any US soldier handed over improperly to another country. (See opening post) Even if it actually means sending in the Marines.

going abroad into a country with a different jurisdiction has nothing to do with 'improperly handing over'.

 

[eyrei]

I think all those saying dumb things like 'you go to a war and get shot' are off track here - the problem is not that accidents will happen, but that the US military - as ususal - refuses to bring light into whether it was an accident or not. Conceivably, the soliders were fooling around, or whatever - don't you think that should be cleared up?

Fooling around while they were being shot at? I kind of doubt it...

Does the prosecutor have a video of the incident or something? Barring some very concrete evidence the only thing to come of these men being brought to court would be accusations and counter-accusations. I just don't see the point.

The whole thing seems to me to be an attempt to get some revenge against the US military for the Bush administration pissing off the world and getting a lot of people killed. I can understand the sentiment, but that doesn't make it just.

 

[SuperSloth]

maybe the tank was trying shoot the terrorists in the room next door?

this is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard. but they can have rumsfeld if they really want him.

 

[Kyriakos]

While that would be a wise move, I doubt any country that wants to remain our close friend would do that. And the US is legally bound by law to rescue any US soldier handed over improperly to another country. (See opening post) Even if it actually means sending in the Marines.

While i am not sure how much the soldiers were to blaim, you seem to take very lightly the fact that they caused the death of a non-compatant. And then you go on to write that Spain should act out of fear of the US ("i doubt any country that wants to remain our close friend") and add the strange word "improperly" which has no place there. Then you go on to support actually taking military action against Spain, albeit in the form of a special mission. Do all these seem logical to you? I do not see why an us citizent has, or should have, special status in the world; and a us citizent is more special than other people only in your imagination.

 

[jameson]

And in the situation I was referring to, of them getting snatched while on vacation, then they would have been "improperly" handed over to the Spanish authorities, and we would have to act.

Actually, the reference to the ICC is equally operative as the reference to the propriety of the handover. The ASPA only applies to the ICC. You can confirm this by reading the link you yourself so kindly provided .

 

[carlosMM]

Fooling around while they were being shot at? I kind of doubt it...

indeed, but how is the Spanish judge able to develop doubts of his own if he can't investigate the matter? Anyone can tell the press 'oh, these guys were shooting at us' to cover up a murder or an accident.

Does the prosecutor have a video of the incident or something? Barring some very concrete evidence the only thing to come of these men being brought to court would be accusations and counter-accusations. I just don't see the point.

erhm, the prosecutor has the dead bodies of non-combatants who were, a the time of their deaths, in an obviosuly civilian structure. That's more than enough to open an investigation.

The whole thing seems to me to be an attempt to get some revenge against the US military for the Bush administration pissing off the world and getting a lot of people killed. I can understand the sentiment, but that doesn't make it just.

The whole thing seems to me to be an attempt of a proper civilized judicial system to teacht he US military that outside the US, the US military is not above the law and its appropriate procedure!

 

[Che Guava]

<sigh> Reminds me of the war in Afghanistan when 4 Canadian soldiers were bombed and killed by a US pilot. We settled for a 30 day suspension of the pilot and a slightly belated appology to the Canadian military.

 

[bathsheba666]

I remember this incident at the time it happened.
Got a lot of coverage then.
The line about a hotel full of foreign journalists suddenly opening fire on an american tank was regarded with the appropriate degree of respect.