uuummmmmm... NO!!!
Posted on 06/07/2005 8:30:18 AM PDT by Born Conservative
MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge wants to question three U.S. soldiers as suspects in the death of a Spanish cameraman who was killed when a U.S. tank fired on a hotel housing foreign journalists during the 2003 assault on Baghdad.
The Pentagon has found no fault with the soldiers, but High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz wants to question the three men who were in the tank, a court official said on Tuesday.
Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsiuk died and several other people were injured by a shell fired on the Palestine Hotel in the Iraqi capital on April 8, 2003, in the U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein.
The Spanish court would only have jurisdiction in the death of the Spanish citizen.
The soldiers would be questioned as suspects for murder and for crimes against the international community, which carry sentences of 15 to years in jail and 10 to 15 years respectively.
Pedraz on Tuesday agreed to send a request for U.S. cooperation in the investigation, but he is still only in the initial stages of the criminal investigation and several steps away from bringing charges.
Pedraz's investigation stems from a complaint brought by the Couso family.
Legal sources say the U.S. Army is unlikely to grant access to the soldiers, and if the case ever got far enough to warrant arrests the soldiers could only be arrested in Spain.
The judge is willing to travel to the United States to take their statements, the court official said.
A Pentagon report on the incident concluded U.S.-led forces bore "no fault or negligence."
The Pentagon released a brief summary of the report in August 2003, which ruled that American forces acted "in an appropriate manner" when they fired into the hotel, but the full report was classified.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists obtained the 52-page report under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and said it strengthened its own finding that the hotel shelling could have been avoided.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman had no immediate comment.
"Where the sun don't shine", comes to mind.
uuummmmmm... NO!!!
Tell Spain to shove it, they are an embarrassment to humanity.
Thank God that Kerry isn't President, else I could definitely see this happening.
I wonder if Arlen Spector would be in favor of Scottish judges taking a statement?
What is wrong with these people? It was an f'n war zone!
Besides, had anyone forced the journalists to be in Baghdad? A bit tough on my part, I guess, but war is a pretty serious business. If you don't want to take the risk, don't volunteer to cover a war.
Geez.
I think Congress should pass a simple law. Any person that tries to assertjurisdiction over U.S. armed forces personnel (where not otherwise autorized by treaty to do so) or holds, detains or attempts to arrest such personnel, is guilty of a crime punishable by life in prison. In other words, go ahead and charge or arrest our guys, but we are coming after you for doing it.
Their government will break out the white flags and surrender.
FU Judge.
This idiot judge is the best argument yet on why we nixed membership in the World Court.
Naw, I'd say they would have to spend a year listening to Hillary Clinton speeches and watching Michael Moore movies. Of course, you might get into trouble with the ACLU for torture...
Another reason why the Demagogues must not be allowed to govern here - they'd be selling these soldiers down the river (or across the Atlantic!) in a heartbeat, to please their socialist pals in the media and the EU.....
"The Pentagon has found no fault with the soldiers, but High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz wants to question the three men who were in the tank, a court official said on Tuesday."
I have their names: Privates Heywood Jablowme, Deeyend Amaddick, and Ben Dover.
"I think Congress should pass a simple law. Any person that tries to assertjurisdiction over U.S. armed forces personnel (where not otherwise autorized by treaty to do so) or holds, detains or attempts to arrest such personnel, is guilty of a crime punishable by life in prison."
Make it execution and I'll support it.
I'm sorry the guys died, but filming in a war zone is dangerous. Filming in the middle of a pitched battle is really dangerous.
Several cameramen have died, simply because at a distance the camera looks like a bazooka. When soldiers are in the fight of their lives you don't want to look like you are pointing a bazooka at them.
The "fact" that the Palestine Hotel was "well-known" to be a hang-out for journalists is meaningless. The soldiers didn't know that, they wouldn't have known the Palestine from any other building. When they are taking fire, and they see what look like spotters up on the side of a building, they are going to take action.
The fact that journalists used the building would not preclude Iraqi spotters from using the building, in fact there were reports that Iraqis did use the building.
There were a lot of civilians that died that day, civilian death is a tragic inevitability in a shooting war. The soldier who is fighting for his life is not liable for what can not be helped.
I am sorry for the friends and family of the reporters who were killed. But their lives and deaths were not more important than the lives and deaths of the Americans or the innocent civilians in the streets below them.
Note to Spanish court official...A foreign judge on U.S. soil is nothing more then a tourist.
"Note to Spanish court official...A foreign judge on U.S. soil is nothing more then a tourist."
What do you shoot in deer season? Deer.
What do you shoot in duck season? Ducks.
What do you shoot in tourist season?
Easy pushovers for the Moors when they come back to Spain.
Well, then, here's what you do, Pedro: Go to Iraq (wear your robe and wrap a towel around your head, 'cause it's kinda' hot and dusty there). Run up to the tank. State your demands forcefully. Make sure you yell and waive your arms frantically and jump around to get their attention.
I'm sure you'll get what you ask for that way.
Rummy will tell him where to get off.
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