Spanish Judge Gives Go-Ahead on Torture Investigation

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This just came over the AP wire:

Spain’s top investigative magistrate has opened an investigation into the Bush administration over alleged torture of terror suspects at the Guantanamo prison.

The new investigation by Judge Baltasar Garzon (whom Mother Jones profiled in 2004 and discussed again this January) comes after he was instructed earlier not to open an inquiry into six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Garzon’s latest ruling does not name specific individuals, but will “investigate both those who carried out torture and those who ordered or cooperated with it,” according to Reuters. When David Corn, Mother Jones’ Washington bureau chief, asked White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about Garzon’s plans two weeks ago, Gibbs joked about it. David pointed out that “If an investigation proceeds, Obama could well have to decide whether or not to comply with Spanish requests for US government documents–that is, to help or hinder the investigation.” Now that Garzon is going forward with an investigation—this time without the names—will the Obama administration take it seriously, or keep kidding around?

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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