Spanish Judicial Misconduct Thwarted
Spain’s National Court finds an investigative judge presented one-sided evidence in an effort to railroad three American soldiers, and tosses the murder case against Shawn Gibson, Philip Wolford and Philip deCamp in the April 8, 2003, killing of Spanish newsman Jose Couso in the Hotel Palestine. Again. Reuters:
MADRID (Reuters) – A Spanish court said on Tuesday it had dismissed a case against three U.S. soldiers charged with the death in Iraq of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso.
During the U.S. invasion, Sergeant Thomas Gibson, Captain Philip Wolford and Lieutenant Colonel Phil de Camp fired a shell at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on April 8, 2003, killing Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukranian.
The court said the investigating magistrate had presented one-sided evidence, such as witness accounts from Spanish journalists, and left out the soldiers’ claims they fired because they thought they saw a spotter who was guiding in hostile fire.
The previous criminal case against the soldiers for Couso’s death was dismissed in 2008 after the court ruled the cameraman was killed as a result of an act of war.
In December, the Supreme Court reopened the case following an appeal by the Spanish cameraman’s family. The prosecution in both cases was lead by investigating magistrate Santiago Pedraz.
Thanks, Barcepundit, for the heads up. My big question is, does Pedraz get hauled up on charges for judicial misconduct? He just attempted to stick three men with murder charges, apparently choosing to ignore well-established evidence previously accepted by Spanish courts that exonerates them. Sounds like the man is a menace. If not misconduct, how about gross incompetence?
The AP copy fails to mention the “one-sided” part and simply states the court ruled Pedraz, with testimony from three Spanish reporters who were in the hotel, had produced “no new evidence.” Not a big surprise, the latter point. We’ve already heard from plenty of reporters in the hotel, none of whom were in a position to know what Gibson, Wolford and deCamp were basing their decisions on. My favorite is the one who stated there was no way anyone could have thought fire was coming from the hotel, although also he admitted he was not at first aware that the building he was in had just been hit by a high-explosive 120 mm tank round. AP’s shoddy reporting in this matter is not terribly surprising either as we’ve repeatedly seen a willingness to assume the worst of American soldiers and slant toward opposing views, to the point of propagandizing for terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda and the Taliban.
This is getting a little ridiculous. Too bad that, in a matter involving two men’s deaths and the liberty of three others, this Spanish judge can’t manage to handle it in a responsible and professional manner. Given that we’ve been around this block a couple of times, I have to assume the Spanish courts aren’t done yet. The Palestine case has has a long history that has involved a great deal of distortion, thanks to the perceptions and assumptions of reporters in the hotel being accepted as fact, and dismissive treatment of the facts that Gibson, Wolford and deCamp were dealing with that day both by Spanish judges and media advocacy groups.
The facts Pedraz apparently is ignoring start with the fact that A Co. 4/64 Armor had been under fire for about eight hours, a good deal of that fire coming from tall buildings, much of it from across the Tigris, including mortars, RPGs and rifle fire from enemy teams running up and down the river bank and in tall buildings. The unit, having received intelligence of a forward artillery observer in a tall building across the river with eyes on our position, was actively looking for that person when Gibson spotted someone with binoculars talking into a telephone on the balcony of a tall, dust-covered building. Gibson, who has said he didn’t see cameras, requested and got permission to fire.
Complicating factor: combat units on the west side of the Tigris had not been informed that western press was operating out of the Hotel Palestine, or that such a hotel existed. They also had not been watching TV coverage that might have informed them of that. There was in fact a gross failure on the part of the Pentagon to ensure that combat units were aware of a known press site in close proximity to their area of operations.
Pedraz and the Couso family have shown little interest in those facts, or the basic fact that if you choose to go into the middle of a war zone, you have assumed a risk. That goes up with you expose yourself in the middle of ongoing combat operations, when it is unrealistic to assume that because you know who and what you are, everyone else will. Because accidents happen. It’s tragic. But it is not criminal. Four reporters attached to the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd ID, of which 4/64 was a part, died in the days leading up to the Palestine incident. Two were incinerated in an Iraqi missile attack, one drowned after his vehicle veered into a canal, and one of an embolism brought on by the cramped conditions in the tracks.
Full disclosure: I was embedded with A Co. 4/64 Armor, was within about 200 feet of Gibson’s tank when he fired and within maybe 50 feet of Wolford’s when he gave the order, and directly witnessed much of the incoming fire, radio chatter regarding the search for a forward observer and the search itself. I consider them friends and have a great deal of respect for their judgment, having had the opportunity to witness their actions before, during and after several combat operations. While Wolford was an aggressive leader in combat, he remained deliberate and thoughtful at all times, including occasions when we were under direct fire, and I repeatedly saw him order his men to withhold fire to avoid killing civilians. I also knew Gibson to be a very compassionate and thoughtful man, not given to careless or callous action.
Previously:
Again. Spanish judge reinstates charges against three American soldiers in the April 2003 Hotel Palestine incident.
Spanish judge to Spanish AG: “How dare you attempt to render me unstupid?”
OK, that’s not exactly how he said it. But investigative judge Baltasar Garzon insists he will press ahead with the persecution of Bush admin officials on torture charges, despite a lack of jurisdiction, and despite the lack of interest in the duly elected lefty anti-war administration that otherwise can’t seem to get enough Bush-bashing.
Spanish prosecutors attempt to unstupid a judge … again.
… righteous Spanish judges concerned about misdeeds outside their borders may want to consider indicting socialist PM Zapatero for cowardice for his decision to yank Spanish troops from Iraq in the wake of the 2004 al-Qaeda bombing campaign on the Madrid train system.
Eyeballs Bush admin lawyers for war crimes charges … Gutless as usual. If I were a Spanish taxpayer, I’d be getting annoyed with the waste of my money about now, but then, if I was a Spanish voter, odds are I’d be a socialist …
A Spanish court finally exercises some. Murder charges dropped against three American soldiers in the Hotel Palestine incident.
Al-Qaeda-Cowed Nations Indicts US Soldiers
It was only a matter of time. Charges of homicide and “crimes against the international community” from a Spanish court against LTC deCamp, Maj. Philip Wolford and Sgt. Shawn Gibson in the death of Jose Cuoso in the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad, April 8, 2003.
April 8, 2003 My own account of the day.
Centcom’s Hotel Palestine report
Committee for the Protection of Journalists’ “Permission to Fire”
Mudville Gazette’s Crittenden interviews and excerpts of David Zucchino’s Thunder Run.
Topics: Iraq, Spain, justice, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:35 pm Comments (2) on Tuesday, July 14, 2009
2 Responses to “Spanish Judicial Misconduct Thwarted”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Right on, Jules, and God bless soldiers Gibson, Wolford and deCamp.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Good news! Again. Unfortunately, answer shopping is a classic tactic by socialists. So we will likely see this so-called “case” crop up again in Spanish courts.