Good for Spain! Bad for us...

I just wanted to do a quick post on Spain’s pursuance of a criminal investigation of six of the Bush Administration’s key personnel regarding their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens.

Good for them! Bad for us. We should be the ones aggressively investigating these men. From what I’ve gathered, if the country perpetrating these tortures does not investigate their own countrymen’s violation of international laws against torture, the other countries which signed the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture agreements are obligated to investigate.

My take? How sad that the once greatest country in the world refuses to even acknowledge that the torture of human beings is not a prosecutable offense. The Obama administration is even fighting to quash three documents regarding torture which are apparently so outrageous that the administration is afraid to release them. Perhaps they are so bad, it would force the Obama administration to open meaningful investigations into the violations. It makes one wonder exactly why the administration is resistant to the public exposure of these documents. Interestingly, according to the above accords, if we as a nation do pursue these alleged offenders within our country, Spain will drop their investigation.

I’ve been hearing a lot lately the phrases “Rule of Law” versus the “Rule of Men.” Tragically, our great country has slid down the slippery slope toward the “Rule of Men.” The American people need to be enlightened to what exactly is going on and they must realize that should we become a bona fide country embracing totally the “Rule of Men,” our nation is deep, deep trouble.

We must return to the “Rule of Law,” and break up this two-tiered system within our society where the elite are bound by one set of rules heavily slanted in their favor, and the rest of the country by another set of rules heavily slanted against. All men and women, no matter how powerful, must be held accountable both domestically and internationally by the “Rule of Law” if they have committed crimes.

I sincerely hope that the Obama administration will do the right thing, but I’m not holding my breath. Hopefully, this international pressure will force the administration into acting. But how sad, that this country’s power brokers would have to be forced to do the right thing and not do it from the outset just because it would be the decent thing.