June 08, 2005

Spanish Judge Wants to Question US Soldiers

Why does the US not want to have anything to do with international tribunals? Namely, because anti-Americanism in the world leads to acts of judicial tyrrany, such as this. Spain seems to be the worst of the lot these days. Make sure you check out the military reaction to the Spanish inquiry. Kind of makes you proud to be an American.

Swiss Info:

A Spanish judge wants to question three American 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 American soldiers would be questioned as suspects for murder and crimes against the international community, which carry sentences of 15 to 20 years in jail and 10 to 15 years respectively.

Pedraz is prepared to send a request for U.S. cooperation in the investigation, but is still in the initial stages of the investigation and is several steps away from bringing charges.

Here is the money quote, though:
"It would be a very, very cold day in hell before that would ever happen," said a State Department official, who asked not to be named. "I just cannot imagine how any U.S. soldier can be subject to some kind of foreign proceeding for criminal liability when he is in a tank in a war zone as part of an international coalition."
Cases like this are also why many conservatives in America worry about recent Supreme Court cases in which the rulings of international courts were used as precedent.

UPDATE: I just found this post at The White Peril which has a pretty cogent analysis.

Mark Noonan over at BFB also has some interesting thoughts. Sir George's thoughts, over at AIR, are more along the lines of kick-ass than interesting.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 03:00 PM | |