• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!
  • Welcome to our archives. No new posts are allowed here.

Spain Issues Arrest Warrants For 3 US Troops

TimmyBoy

Banned
Joined
Sep 23, 2005
Messages
1,466
Reaction score
0
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Undisclosed
Spanish judge issues arrest warrants for 3 U.S. soldiers By Drew Brown, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Wed Oct 19, 5:52 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants Wednesday for three U.S. soldiers for an incident in which a U.S. tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and killed two journalists.

High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrants for Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip deCamp, charging them with murder and violating the Geneva Conventions in the death of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso. He requested that they be extradited to Spain for interrogation.

Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish network Telecino, and Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian cameraman for Reuters, were killed April 8, 2003, after a U.S. M-1 Abrams tank from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division fired a high-explosive shell at the Palestine Hotel, where many foreign journalists were covering the battle.

Pedraz said he issued the warrants because he hasn't received U.S. authorities' cooperation in his investigation, which he opened in 2003 over the objections of Spain's attorney general, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

A military investigation in August 2003 cleared the three soldiers of any wrongdoing, saying that they acted properly because they believed they were firing on enemy troops. While the Pentagon declined to comment on any legal issues surrounding the case, officials again stood by the findings, saying that the three soldiers had acted "in accordance with the rules of engagement."

"The United States has the deepest sympathies for those who were killed," said Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman. But "the investigation of the incident ... was complete and thorough. The investigation found that the tank ... properly fired on suspected enemy hunter-killer team in a proportionate and justifiably measured response."

None of the three soldiers could be located for comment, and it's highly unlikely that they would be extradited to Spain to answer the charges. Jennifer Scales, a spokeswoman for Fort Stewart, Ga., where the 3rd Infantry Division is based, said they were no longer assigned to the post.

In Spain, there are weekly demonstrations over Couso's death outside the U.S. Embassy in Madrid.

Bryan Sierra, a spokesman for the Justice Department, which handles requests for overseas extradition, said it would be "completely premature" to say how the United States would respond to the warrants. He said the Justice Department hadn't received a request for extradition.

The Spanish judge's actions are part of a broad effort by some European legal authorities to pursue what they call universal jurisdiction or universal justice. The theory holds that countries have the right to bring to justice anyone, regardless of nationality, accused of carrying out crimes of international concern - genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In June, for example, Italian authorities issued arrest warrants for 13 people they claimed were agents "linked to the CIA." They're accused of abducting an Islamic cleric in Milan in 2003 and flying him to Egypt for interrogation.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, which investigated the killing of the two journalists in Baghdad, found that the attack wasn't deliberate but could have been avoided. Spokeswoman Judy Blanks said the group wanted to know why U.S. soldiers weren't aware that the Palestine Hotel was full of journalists during the invasion.

According to the organization, 56 journalists have been killed in the Iraq war, at least 13 of them by U.S. fire.

The Washington Office on Latin America, a rights group that tries to seek justice over murders and disappearances across Latin America, was uneasy with Pedraz's ruling. While not endorsing the actions of U.S. soldiers, rights expert Gaston Chiller said the killing of the journalists didn't appear to be systematic and orchestrated like the political murders of right-wing dictatorships.

"I have a concern that it (the ruling) ... undermines the concept of universal jurisdiction," Chiller said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/20051019/ts_krwashbureau/_usiraq_1
 
I worry alot about what Spain wants. :rofl GOd help them if they try to take action against those servicemen
 
TurtleDude said:
I worry alot about what Spain wants. :rofl GOd help them if they try to take action against those servicemen

I don't think these service members are murderers they are just doing what was necessary to survive. Crap happens in a war zone.
 
TimmyBoy said:
I don't think these service members are murderers they are just doing what was necessary to survive. Crap happens in a war zone.


well on this you and I are in total agreement
 
Guess what? You go wandering into a war zone, for either the purpose of fighting or taking pictures, you just might get killed. Funny thing about those war zones...bullets do hurt, and tank rounds hurt more! For the Spanish to act as if this is some kind of preventable action in which negligence was embraced is just pure Euro grandstanding.

They've been attacked by terrorists and have chosen to turn a blind eye. In the Euro / liberal mind they believe if you ignore the threat the threat diminishes. Contrary to this approach it's the equivalent of throwing blood in the water. Though, I'm sure in their little pacifist minds they believe that this action of attempting to prosecute American soldiers will show the terrorists that they (Spanish) are no threat to them, and that they (terrorists) are free to move onto another nation who is more of a threat to their goal of defeating the infidel.
 
Back
Top Bottom