SomaliNet Forums

Source: BBC
January 16, 2007 Author: BBC


Spain has issued an international arrest warrant for three US soldiers accused of causing the death of a TV cameraman during the Iraq war.
Jose Couso, 37, died in April 2003 after a US tank fired on a hotel used by foreign journalists in Baghdad.

The US has admitted its tank crew fired at the Palestine Hotel but has cleared Sgt Thomas Gibson, Cpt Philip Wolford and Lt-Col Philip De Camp of blame.

The soldiers say they thought they were being shot at when they opened fire.

Caught on film

The Palestine Hotel was the base for almost all the foreign media crews in Baghdad during the US-led invasion of Iraq. Mr Couso was working for Spain's Telecinco television station at the time.

Reuters cameraman Taras Portsyuk, a Ukrainian, was also killed in the blast and three other Reuters staff injured.

Footage of the incident on the day before the fall of the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - which did not record any fire from the hotel - was witnessed around the world.

A US review of the incident ruled that the use of force by the tank was justified, but the family of Mr Couso decided to press criminal charges through the Spanish courts.

Freeze on assets

Spain's Supreme Court re-opened a murder investigation into Mr Couso's death in December 2006, overturning a previous ruling that the Spanish legal system was competent to judge the three US soldiers.

As he issued the international search-and-capture order for the three tank crew members, Judge Santiago Pedraz demanded that prosecutors also investigate whether it was possible to freeze the soldiers' US assets in case of future compensation claims.

The BBC's Danny Wood in Madrid says Spain's justice system is accustomed to taking on controversial international cases.

In 1998, Spain attempted to extradite Chile's former leader, Augusto Pinochet, while he was in London.

The British government turned down that request, and the US authorities are very unlikely to co-operate with this latest international arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge, our correspondent says.

But four years after the death of Mr Couso, his family have achieved a symbolic victory, he says.

There isn't the slightest chance that the US is going to allow these soldiers to be detained or assets frozen. This is a dangerous precedent given the NATO alliance.

Mac: The killers of José Couse are safe while they're in the United States. But they have an arrest order if they leave the country. They won't be able to visit none of the European countries.

I think that's good. They deliberately shooted at the hotel where the journalists were and radio communication record prove that an order in the kind "Kill those f-king journalists" was given.

Kamal
The only people who have the right to try soldiers are soldiers.

According to the STATUS OF FORCES AGREEMENT (SOFA) these soldiers CAN NOT be tried in a Spanish Court unless the US government agrees. I assume you support your country honoring it's treaties.

As for the incident itself, these soldiers were in combat. The incident was investigated by US officers. They were not found liable. Battlefields are messy, dangerous places. Innocent people get killed in war. That's an unfortunate but unavoidable part of warfare.

TTT

Sorry, I didn't see you had replied. I've been follow the case of José Couse for a long time. Here, nobody expects that the soldiers involved in the incident to suffer some kind of punishment. But, according to the Spanish laws, once the arrest order is issued, the Spanish Police will act. The Spanish Government (with Zapatero) tried to not make a move about this case because of its bad relationship with Bush, but the Spanish Government can't avoid or interfere on courts decisions. If the soldiers are caught in any European country, they will be bring to a Spanish court and judged according to the civilian laws.

Don't forget judge Garzón and his order to catch August Pinochet. Pinochet was really about to be brought to Spain. It was an international incident but, believe me, if Pinochet were handed to the Spanish authorities, all the trial and consequent decission would have take place here.

What Spanish Government has adviced to the American Administration is that those soldiers are not 'safe' in case they decide to abandon USA land or visit Europe.

That sounds like a kind of victory for the family of José Couso.

Once said this, you're alright: wars are wars and all journalists know that if you are in a war, you can be killed. No fuss about it. A lot of Spanish journalists have been killed in different wars. But what makes the present case different is that the family has proofs or something that his death was deliberated.

up

"If the soldiers are caught in any European country, they will be bring to a Spanish court and judged according to the civilian laws."

Kamal
Any European country that arrests these soldiers (including Spain) and hands them over to a Spanish Court would be violating the status of forces agreement (SOFA). The US has such an agreement with Spain, as well as England, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. So if those soldiers got assigned to a European duty assignment and were arrested, the US would immediately and harshly retaliate and probably terminate all military cooperation with the offending countries, as well as terminate all support for operations in Bosnia and Kosovo and any future military peace keeping cooperation. The US is very serious about any attempt by any foreign country trying to try its soldiers overseas. You are guaranteed to suffer severe political fallout from such action.

I do not believe that Spain would violate it's treaty agreements nor do I believe a Spanish Court has the legal authority to violate it's treaty agreements.

Mad Mac: Believe me. Civilian courts here have nothing to do with Government treats or Government decisions, nor SOFA. Spain had really good diplomatic relationships with Chile, for example, but couldn't do anything (legally) against the decision of judge Baltasar Garzón of extraditing August Pinochet. Same here. Spain has the best relationships now with France, for example, but if a French soldier commits a crime against a Spanish citizen, he will be down by the Spanish laws.

The case of the American soldiers and José Couso is no the case of Spanish-American friendship or Spanish-American relationships, treats or agreements. It's the case that there's a suspicion of deliberate murder that has to be judged, and the court machine has started its job.

We all know that nothing will happen at the end of the day. But the family of José Couso wants a moral victory over the USA Army and wants it to be found guilty of that death.

FVCK SPAIN