La orden de búsqueda y captura internacional que el juez de la Audiencia Nacional española, Santiago Pedraz, ha dictado hoy contra tres militares estadounidenses involucrados en el ataque del 8 de abril de 2003 al «hotel Palestina» (recordar que en el ataque al citado hotel de Bagdad murieron los periodistas José Couso y Taras Protsyuk) ha levantado una considerable interés en los medios internacionales y gran revuelo en muchos blogs americanos.
No creo que vaya a tener ningún éxito legal, pero ciertamente está teniendo mucho éxito subiendo el colesterol de los americanos más conservadores.
Ver:
– BBCNews: «Spain orders arrest of US troops»:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4357684.stm
– CNN: «Spain seeks arrest of U.S. soldiers»:http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/19/spain.warrant/
– International Extradition Blog: «Extradition to Spain—US Soldiers»:http://www.internationalextraditionblog.com/2005/10/extradition-to-spainus-soldiers.html
– Mark in Mexico Blog: «Becoming weary of the Spanish, too»:http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/2005/10/becoming-weary-of-spanish-too.html
An obviously machoed-out Spanish judge who has been attending too many bullfights and watching too many Zorro movies has issued «international» arrest warrants for three American soldiers, Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, U.S. 3rd Infantry, whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel, killing a Spanish journalist and another person. The testosterone laden judge says that American judicial lack of cooperation forced his hand. Oh, really? Judge Santiago Pedraz fails to see the big picture here. It is not a lack of cooperation from U.S. judicial authorities. It’s a «Who the hell are you?» reaction to a, well, «Who the hell is he and why do we care what the Spanish want?» scenario. The very term, «lack of cooperation» intimates that the U.S. should, in fact, be cooperating. Why, pray tell, should that be?
One of these days some nitwit in Spain or Belgium or France or Germany is going to arrest an American war veteran or politician in one of their countries while on holiday with his or her family and all hell is going to break loose. These cowardly people seem to think that they can act with impunity against America and her citizens who, after all, have protected Europe and its incompetent and irrelevant countries for almost a century, first from one another and then from the Soviet slimeballs.
– The Indepundit: «GIs Wanted in Spain»:http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/2005/10/gis_wanted_in_s_1.html
The U.S. military does not intentionally target journalists. But there is no guarantee that they won’t get caught in a crossfire, or that a camera crew won’t be mistaken for a forward artillery spotter.
When this happens, it is a tragedy — but it is not a crime.
These soldiers will never appear in your courtroom. Issuing arrest warrants will not relieve the pain of the victim’s family. To the contrary, the only thing you will accomplish is to chill relations between Spain and the United States of America.
We remain hopeful that this is not your objective.
– The Jawa Report: «Spanish Judge Has a Don Quixote Moment»:http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/127397.php
Any doubt why President Bush has-quite rightfully-rejected the International Criminal Court?