Spain opens case against US soldiers

Mr. Torres takes it a step further: "This was a deliberate attack against civilians like journalists who are specially protected by the 4th Geneva Convention, without any provocation on their part."

Rafael Jiménez, secretary general of the Spanish branch of Reporters Without Borders, says that on the day US forces took the Baghdad airport, journalists on the scene reported that it wasn't an easy fight. "The Army wasn't going to let that kind of 'propaganda' continue," says Mr. Jiménez. "So the day after, they attacked Al Jazeera's office, and two days later they attacked the Hotel Palestine. It was a clear act to intimidate the press that wasn't embedded and that [therefore] couldn't be controlled."

It is that contention that would qualify the killing of Couso and Mr. Protsyuk as a war crime and not simply murder under international law.

"Attacking a civilian building or worse, civilians themselves, is about as clear a definition of a war crime as you can get," says Roger O'Keefe, Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at Cambridge University.

The Couso family first filed a legal complaint in May 2003, but the National Court dismissed the case, citing a lack of jurisdiction. They appealed, and in December 2006, the Supreme Court overturned the earlier ruling.

The National Court must now begin again the investigatory phase of the trial, and has called the three soldiers to testify. If they do not appear, under Spanish and international law, they can still be tried in absentia.

Professor O'Keefe questions, however, whether there will be enough evidence for the case to stand up in court. "It's highly unlikely that the United States or the Iraqi government will wish to hand over information to the Spanish Court," he says.

It is even more unlikely that the three accused would be extradited. "At this juncture, I'm not aware of a scenario in which the servicemen would appear in a Spanish court," says Lt. Commander Carpenter.

But that doesn't mean the case is without impact. Besides the symbolic importance it may carry, the search and capture warrant, submitted to Interpol, will effectively keep the three soldiers accused from leaving the United States. Should they travel to a country with an extradition agreement with Spain, they would be immediately subject to arrest.

Jiménez suggests the case may have another effect. "When word got out about Abu Ghraib, it was the Americans who conducted the first investigation," he says. "We hope this case will do the same thing, that it will prick Americans' conscience, and that they'll call for their own investigation."

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