Spanish Court Weighing Indictments of Bush-era War Criminals

For a long stretch of the late Bush years I wondered if Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón, famous for his prosecution of Pinochet and other efforts to assert universal jurisdiction over international human rights law, would put the Bush administration in his sights. And now it seems he has: “The officials include former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, former undersecretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith, former Cheney chief of staff David Addington, Justice Department officials John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee, and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.”

The New York Times reports that “Spain can claim jurisdiction in the case because five citizens or residents of Spain who were prisoners at Guantánamo Bay have said they were tortured there.” They also observe that “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.”

I do think that symbolism is important in situations like these, so I wouldn’t dismiss the importance of symbolism. And while fear of traveling abroad isn’t the gravest punishment in the world, it’s not nothing. One also has to consider the element of time here. John Yoo will probably still be with us in thirty years, at which point the circumstances may have changed. And I think it’s important not to normalize these kind of crimes as the precise time and place of their commission fades into the background. Legal rulings help with that, even if they don’t lead to trials in the short-term.