Confront Our Own Torturers

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Let’s see, a U.S. court successfully convicted the son of the brutal former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, of torturing his father’s political opponents.

But we’re going to leave it to a Spanish judge to go after our own Torquemadas?

A Spanish court has targeted former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as well former Justice Department lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee — who is now a federal appellate judge — along with three other administration lawyers, in an investigation into the torture of five Spanish residents who were prisoners at Guantanamo.

But this is our job, not Spain’s. This is our unfinished business.

The Bush administration’s Torture Nation should not be shielded by President Obama’s desire to move forward. Our current president, who used as an applause line during his European tour how we’ve now "prohibited — without exception or equivocation — any use of torture," has some mopping up to do.

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