SOME SANITY AT LAST (which I doubt would have happened if Bush was still in the White House...)

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 Thursday.

Candido Conde-Pumpido said the case against the high-ranking U.S. officials — including former U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales — was without merit because the men were not present when the alleged torture took place.

"If one is dealing with a crime of mistreatment of prisoners of war, the complaint should go against those who physically carried it out," Conde-Pumpido said in a breakfast meeting with journalists. He said a trial of the men would have turned Spain's National Court "into a plaything" to be used for political ends.

Prosecutors at Spain's National Court have not formally announced their decision in the case, but Conde-Pumpido is the country's top law-enforcement official and has the ultimate say.

While an investigative judge is not bound by the prosecutors' decision, it would be highly unusual for a case to proceed without their support.

Well, when the investigative judge is Baltasar Garzón -- as is now the case -- you can expect just about anything, no matter how unlikely. It wouldn't be the first time the crusading judge doesn't follow the prosecutor's decision; precisely there's a well-publicized case of alleged corruption in the conservative Popular Party that he's pressing on despite the state's attorney saying once and again that there is no substantive evidence (it'll help you understand why if you're aware that Garzón was once No 2 candidate for the Socialist party in a general election during Felipe González times)

UPDATE. More by Jules Crittenden.