No Torture Trial for 'Bush Six': Spain's Top Cop

Spanish prosecutors will recommend against opening an investigation into whether six Bush administration officials sanctioned torture against terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, the country’s attorney general said today. The case against former high-ranking figures like Alberto Gonzales was without merit, he said, because the men weren’t present when the alleged torture took place.

Such a trial would have turned Spain’s National Court “into a plaything” to be used for political ends, said Candido Conde-Pumpido—who, as the nation’s top law-enforcement official, makes the ultimate decision. The case was the first of several international efforts to indict former administration members. Human-rights groups have also tried to bring suit against Bush officials in a German court. (More Bush administration stories.)