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Obama Must Oppose Spain's Bush Lawyer Probe: Bolton

Only our Constitution should judge policy decisions

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted May 6, 2009 8:19 AM CDT

(Newser) – President Obama’s "John Ehrlichman approach" to Spain’s investigation of Bush officials may be “smart politics,” but it’s dangerous for the country, writes John Bolton in the Washington Post. If the administration doesn’t speak out against the probe, it allows an “unaccountable foreign court” judge US policy actions, but “our Constitution alone” should assess such matters, the former UN ambassador argues.

The issue “is not abstract,” Bolton writes. It has real consequences for the six lawyers in question and their families. But it also sets a dangerous precedent: What if, after Obama leaves office, a foreign body decides drone attacks in Pakistan are war crimes? Then Obama could be “hauled before the bar of some mini-state.” The administration should “think carefully about that scenario—now.”

Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton.
Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton.   (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who's investigating Bush officials.
Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who's investigating Bush officials.   (AP Photo/Manu Mielniezuk, file)
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The critical question is who judges the official actions that US personnel took while holding government office. - John Bolton

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 10 comments
northeast
May 6, 2009 6:19 AM CDT
....that's correct, the ones that are now "law of the land" that explicitly state that we should take action against torture, then the U.N., THEN Spain.
Mad
May 6, 2009 4:57 AM CDT
The shame is that Spain has more balls seeking the truth than America does. Justice delayed is justice denied
Doctor-Zaius
May 6, 2009 4:14 AM CDT
You mean the part in the constitution that says that international treaties like the ones we signed against torture become the law of the land?

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