International Law

April 17, 2009, New York ?The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which represents many of the men detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo, praised Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon?s decision to pursue a criminal investigation into the actions of six Bush administration lawyers for providing legal cover for torture at the base. His move comes the day after the Spanish attorney General overrode his prosecutors to recommend that the case not go forward. CCR attorneys hailed the decision as an important step in holding these officials and others accountable for their crimes. The case may well lead to investigations of top officials, including Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. 

...CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren said, ?It is gravely disappointing that we must rely on European countries like Spain to hold U.S. officials accountable for war crimes.  This is a golden moment for the current administration to appoint a special U.S. prosecutor and break with the illegalities of the past.? 

CCR Vice President Peter Weiss, an expert in international human rights law, said, ?It was the lawyers who flashed the green light for torture with their mendacious made-to-order opinions. They therefore bear the primal guilt for the torture which occurred.?

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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