¡qué pena!

Spanish prosecutors will seek criminal charges against Alberto Gonzales and five high-ranking Bush administration officials for sanctioning torture at Guantánamo

Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, several reliable sources close to the investigation have told The Daily Beast. Their decision is expected to be announced on Tuesday before the Spanish central criminal court, the Audencia Nacional, in Madrid. But the decision is likely to raise concerns with the human-rights community on other points: They will seek to have the case referred to a different judge.

The six defendants—in addition to Gonzales, Jay Bybee, John Yoo, William J. Haynes II, David Addington, and Douglas J. Feith—are accused of having given the green light to the torture and mistreatment of prisoners held in U.S. detention in “the war on terror.” The case arises in the context of a pending proceeding before the court involving terrorism charges against five Spaniards formerly held at Guantánamo. A group of human-rights lawyers originally filed a criminal complaint asking the court to look at the possibility of charges against the six American lawyers. Baltasar Garzón Real, the investigating judge, accepted the complaint and referred it to Spanish prosecutors for a view as to whether they would accept the case and press it forward. “The evidence provided was more than sufficient to justify a more comprehensive investigation,” one of the lawyers associated with the prosecution stated.

Awwwww. Looks like the gamble that no country would decide to enforce their own torture laws and treaty requirements seriously didn't exactly pay off, Bush Six. There is one adult country left on earth, even if it is the one that had all its athletes make slanty eyes for pictures promoting the Beijing Olympics.

Don't think that changing judges meant you're cut any slack either. It's procedural, having to do with the fact that the judge presiding over the prosecution of the Bush Six for torturing five Spanish citizens is also the one presiding over the trial of the five citizens on terrorism charges. See, Spain can walk an chew gum at the same time: press charges on terrorists and prosecute men who authorized the torture of them. But that judge switch may not even happen, and if it does all you get to do is move from the guy know for taking on terrorism and Pinochet, Judge Baltasar Garzón Real, and get a guy who is currently running a trial against the use of CIA rendition and black sites against Spanish citizens, Judge Ismail Moreno. It think they have a saying for that: out of the frying pan and into another frying pan.

Anyone in the Obama Justice Department getting any ideas? Maybe we should run our own trials to prosecute men who illegally authorized torture. No? Just gonna pretend it didn't happen? Fine. Thanks again Spain. Want to get a trial started on illegal wiretapping? I'm sure at least one Spaniard got illegally recorded.