The Legal Pain Remains In Spain

While the Spanish federal courts are expected to announce indictments against Bush-era torture officials, it turns out that the Spanish Attorney General is now recommending that Spain drop the proceedings entirely.

Spanish prosecutors will recommend against opening an investigation into whether six Bush administration officials sanctioned torture against terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, the country's attorney-general said Thursday.

Candido Conde-Pumpido said the case against the high-ranking U.S. officials — including former U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales — was without merit because the men were not present when the alleged torture took place.

"If one is dealing with a crime of mistreatment of prisoners of war, the complaint should go against those who physically carried it out," Conde-Pumpido said in a breakfast meeting with journalists. He said a trial of the men would have turned Spain's National Court "into a plaything" to be used for political ends.

Prosecutors at Spain's National Court have not formally announced their decision in the case, but Conde-Pumpido is the country's top law-enforcement official and has the ultimate say.

Personally, I can't wait until Double G gets a hold of this guy, but the bottom line is because Gonzo and his buddies didn't actually torture the guy, Spain has no case. The Spanish AG wants the US to deal with the issue (where I agree with him totally.)

Naturally, the wingers are calling for the US to take strict diplomatic sanctions against Spain should the investigative procedures continue.

But let's not kid ourselves: It appears the Obama administration has directed Spain to kill this thing dead. Too many secrets, after all. And some of them point back to Obama and the Democrats. This Pandora's Box can't be opened without mutually assured destruction on both sides.

And so, the crusade to bury the torture regime and the involvement of people on both sides of the aisle continues.