Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe
A WikiLeaks cable shows that when Spain considered a criminal case against ex-Bush officials, the Obama White House and Republicans got really bipartisan. By David Corn Wed Dec. 1, 2010 2:47 PM PST
In its first months in office, the Obama administration sought to protect Bush administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies the that governed interrogations of detained terrorist suspects. A "confidential" April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department—one of the 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks—details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.
The previous month, a Spanish human rights group called the Association for the Dignity of Spanish Prisoners had requested that Spain's National Court indict six former Bush officials for, as the cable describes it, "creating a legal framework that allegedly permitted torture." The six were former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; David Addington, former chief of staff and legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney; William Haynes, the Pentagon's former general counsel; Douglas Feith, former undersecretary of defense for policy; Jay Bybee, former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel; and John Yoo, a former official in the Office of Legal Counsel. The human rights group contended that Spain had a duty to open an investigation under the nation's "universal jurisdiction" law, which permits its legal system to prosecute overseas human rights crimes involving Spanish citizens and residents. Five Guantanamo detainees, the group maintained, fit that criteria.
Soon after the request was made, the US embassy in Madrid began tracking the matter. On April 1, embassy officials spoke with chief prosecutor Javier Zaragoza, who indicated that he was not pleased to have been handed this case, but he believed that the complaint appeared to be well-documented and he'd have to pursue it. Around that time, the acting deputy chief of the US embassy talked to the chief of staff for Spain's foreign minister and a senior official in the Spanish Ministry of Justice to convey, as the cable says, "that this was a very serious matter for the USG." The two Spaniards "expressed their concern at the case but stressed the independence of the Spanish judiciary."....
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/12/wikileaks-cable-obama-quashed-torture-investigation
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
ritual abuse newsletter, child prostitution ring, child pornography network
The latest issue of the SMART newsletter #95 is now available.
This issue contains information on Casa Pia Portugal child abuse case, pedophile rings, human trafficking, Pentagon employees child porn purchases, clergy abuse, Pope visits UK, Vatican accountability, Boy Scout cases, Craigslist adult ads, Pedophile allegations - Facebook, Village Voice, prostitution rings, Wikipedia allegations of pedophilia - pornography, West Memphis 3, human experimentation, US Guatemala STD experiments, recovered memory
http://ritualabuse.us/2010/10/issue-95-november-2010/
‘People need to know what these guys have done’- Federal prosecutors cracked the child prostitution ring, opening a window onto a sordid underworld. They couldn’t have done it without one brave woman By Jenifer B. McKim - Globe Staff - October 10, 2010 It was one of the biggest child prostitution cases in state history, culminating last year in the conviction of six Boston pimps involved in a violent prostitution ring that enslaved girls from local neighborhoods....The case covered incidents that happened between 2001 and 2005, but the sexual exploitation of children for commercial gain remains a pervasive problem. In fact, advocates and authorities say it has grown more insidious in recent years. Street corners and alleys have been largely replaced by smartphones and websites, making it easier for solicitations and payments to take place out of police view.
“It’s a modern form of slavery,’’ said Susan Goldfarb, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County, a program run in partnership with the district attorney’s office. At least once a week, the center receives a referral about a local child being used sexually to make someone else money. “This is a huge industry,’’ Goldfarb said....Nationwide, there are at least 100,000 children being exploited for paid sex, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“A lot of Americans don’t think it is a problem here,’’ said John Shehan, executive director of the exploited child division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “It is happening in mainstream America. The only way not to find it is simply not to look for it.’’
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/10/10/a_former_teenage_prostitute_struggles_to_move_on/
Spain 'busts child pornography network' 8 October 2010 - Police have arrested 57 people over child pornography allegations in Spain, including business owners and local police officers, the authorities say. Those detained in recent days include a gardener who had filmed relatives aged seven and 14 in sexual poses.
Another 47 people have been placed under investigation as part of the same inquiry. The police said they carried out almost 100 raids across Spain after uncovering a file-sharing network. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11503645
This issue contains information on Casa Pia Portugal child abuse case, pedophile rings, human trafficking, Pentagon employees child porn purchases, clergy abuse, Pope visits UK, Vatican accountability, Boy Scout cases, Craigslist adult ads, Pedophile allegations - Facebook, Village Voice, prostitution rings, Wikipedia allegations of pedophilia - pornography, West Memphis 3, human experimentation, US Guatemala STD experiments, recovered memory
http://ritualabuse.us/2010/10/issue-95-november-2010/
‘People need to know what these guys have done’- Federal prosecutors cracked the child prostitution ring, opening a window onto a sordid underworld. They couldn’t have done it without one brave woman By Jenifer B. McKim - Globe Staff - October 10, 2010 It was one of the biggest child prostitution cases in state history, culminating last year in the conviction of six Boston pimps involved in a violent prostitution ring that enslaved girls from local neighborhoods....The case covered incidents that happened between 2001 and 2005, but the sexual exploitation of children for commercial gain remains a pervasive problem. In fact, advocates and authorities say it has grown more insidious in recent years. Street corners and alleys have been largely replaced by smartphones and websites, making it easier for solicitations and payments to take place out of police view.
“It’s a modern form of slavery,’’ said Susan Goldfarb, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County, a program run in partnership with the district attorney’s office. At least once a week, the center receives a referral about a local child being used sexually to make someone else money. “This is a huge industry,’’ Goldfarb said....Nationwide, there are at least 100,000 children being exploited for paid sex, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“A lot of Americans don’t think it is a problem here,’’ said John Shehan, executive director of the exploited child division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “It is happening in mainstream America. The only way not to find it is simply not to look for it.’’
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/10/10/a_former_teenage_prostitute_struggles_to_move_on/
Spain 'busts child pornography network' 8 October 2010 - Police have arrested 57 people over child pornography allegations in Spain, including business owners and local police officers, the authorities say. Those detained in recent days include a gardener who had filmed relatives aged seven and 14 in sexual poses.
Another 47 people have been placed under investigation as part of the same inquiry. The police said they carried out almost 100 raids across Spain after uncovering a file-sharing network. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11503645
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Cardinal Sean Brady refuses to quit, Spain Catholic sex abuse claims
Abuse victims' fury as Cardinal Sean Brady refuses to quit From Times Online
May 18, 2010 Survivors of clerical child sexual abuse called on Irish Roman Catholics to make their voices heard today after Cardinal Sean Brady ended months of speculation about his future by saying he would not resign. The cardinal, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, is under pressure to stand down after it emerged that he took part in a secret canonical tribunal in 1975 at which two minors were made to swear oaths of silence about their allegations against the paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth. Smyth went on to rape hundreds more children across Ireland, the UK and the United States before he died in prison in 1997.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7129779.ece
Spain struggles with new Catholic sex abuse claims
18 May 2010 By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Cordoba
For almost 50 years, the Franciscan Brothers of the White Cross have run care homes across Spain, looking after the sick and the needy. Now the Catholic order and its centre in Cordoba are the focus of allegations of sex abuse that have shocked the city....Since 2001, Spain has reported 14 confirmed cases of clerical sex abuse to the Vatican. But this month brought two fresh accusations: one against a Carmelite monk in eastern Spain, the other against Franciscan brothers in the south.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10122305.stm
May 18, 2010 Survivors of clerical child sexual abuse called on Irish Roman Catholics to make their voices heard today after Cardinal Sean Brady ended months of speculation about his future by saying he would not resign. The cardinal, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, is under pressure to stand down after it emerged that he took part in a secret canonical tribunal in 1975 at which two minors were made to swear oaths of silence about their allegations against the paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth. Smyth went on to rape hundreds more children across Ireland, the UK and the United States before he died in prison in 1997.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7129779.ece
Spain struggles with new Catholic sex abuse claims
18 May 2010 By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Cordoba
For almost 50 years, the Franciscan Brothers of the White Cross have run care homes across Spain, looking after the sick and the needy. Now the Catholic order and its centre in Cordoba are the focus of allegations of sex abuse that have shocked the city....Since 2001, Spain has reported 14 confirmed cases of clerical sex abuse to the Vatican. But this month brought two fresh accusations: one against a Carmelite monk in eastern Spain, the other against Franciscan brothers in the south.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10122305.stm
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