Posted on 05/05/2009 6:32:09 AM PDT by kronos77
As Judge Fernando Andreu of Spain's National Court decided on Monday to push on with the inquiry into a 2002 IAF bombing in Gaza that killed Hamas terrorist Salah Shehadeh and 14 others, Almagor, the Terror Victims Association, was finalizing a lawsuit against NATO personnel who approved bombings in Yugoslavia in the 1990s that killed some 2,500 civilians.
In this July 23, 2002 photo, people sift through the rubble of a Gaza house destroyed in an IAF strike, in which Hamas military wing head Salah Shehadeh and 14 other people were killed. Photo: AP [file] SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World
Last month, Spanish prosecutors urged Andreu to suspend the inquiry on the grounds that Israel was still investigating the attack. However, Andreu said he was acting under Spain's observance of the principle of universal jurisdiction, which holds that for grave crimes such as genocide, terrorism or torture, suspects can be prosecuted in the country even if the alleged offenses were committed elsewhere.
Several top Spanish nationals - including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who served as NATO secretary-general from 1995-1999 - are named in Almagor's case, as are officials from all European NATO member countries and the United States.
Almagor head Meir Indor told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that it was a "fluke" that the organization was finalizing its lawsuit just as Andreu had decided to pick up the case. RELATED Universal jurisdiction has hounded Israel for 7 years
"We were preparing the case anyway, building on the success of the lawsuit against [former PLO leader Yasser] Arafat," he said, referring to a 2001 counter-suit in Belgium that the group brought after the Palestinians sued former prime minister Ariel Sharon.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
Ping!
Better late than never.
Wouldn’t it be delicious that after all the hemming and hawing on the left about indicting Bush for Iraq, that Clinton get indicted for Yugoslavia.
It will be especially interesting to see Herr err I mean Frau Clinton’s response to this.
I think this is a civil suit. Damages could be more than embarassing for Bill, who doesn't mind embarassment much. He'll have to be careful where he keeps his $$$.
Why Spain? There have been quite a few court cases filed recently in Spain. I thought their empire collapsed 200 yrs ago.
I do NOT believe in “universal jurisdiction”.
However, Spain was a participant in the 1999 “Kosovo War”. So the Spanish judiciary has definite jurisdiction over such clintonoid miscreants as the pipsqueak front-man Solana, and therefore arguably over all his coconspirators, especially clinton.
Solana has continued to do damage since 1999, so it would be good to take him down.
Your read my mind.
About time-—bring all of them up on charges: the Clinton -Gore brutes, Tony baloney Blair; Weasely Clark, and of coures Madame “bombs away” Albright -
Then arrest them and throw them to the hague.
What’s fair is fair...
Unfortunately, it is very very difficult to prove and decipher which of those "bombings" were deliberate and with the intenet of killing civilians.
I'm sorry, unless you pull My Lai massacre, you really don't have a case.
Hey, I'd like to see the case go forward, but if you do, then you will have laid credence for those who want to prosecute those of us in the OIF/OEF, including the policymakers all the way down to the fire team leader or rifleman.
This is not about "prinicple" this is about setting precedence and national interest/security over the long haul, not ego.
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