A verdict on Padilla – and the US

[Miss Chybil]

Source: Christian Science Monitor

A critical legal case shedding light on President Bush's antiterror tactics will soon come to a head. A jury will decide in coming days if an American citizen, Jose Padilla, is guilty of aiding Al Qaeda. The verdict will signal whether US civic values must be bent to win a war.

A three-part Monitor series reveals the troubling ways in which the administration shifted charges against Mr. Padilla, tried to avoid judicial review of his case, and likely damaged his mental health by using extreme isolation to extract information from him.

The ordeal of this former gang member and Taco Bell worker born in Brooklyn, who allegedly met with Al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan to plot a radiological "dirty bomb" attack on a US city, has taken on implications that will shape the American campaign against Islamic terrorists for years to come.

At its root, US treatment of Padilla shows the inclination to do anything to break the silence of a suspected terrorist, even it means violating such basic citizen rights as protection against self-incrimination and harsh interrogation, as well as the right to a trial.

much more...

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0815/p08s02-comv.html

[Solly Mack]

1. Oh, I think Selection 2000 exposed just how bent our civic values

already are...

they ain't just bent - they're broken

[MadMaddie]

2. How many of these terrorist that they have been holding

indefinitely have been found guilty?

I don't think even 1....America is the laughing stock of the world. Thanks to Rove and *...

[razors edge]

3. Sucks to be him...

Or so the majority of this country will think as they load the family in the SUV to head to Wallymart.

He is the canary in the coal mine, and Chaney loves to kill the birdies.

[babylonsister]

4. They ruined this man. For what? And how many more has this been done to?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1583255&mesg_id=1583255

[Supersedeas]

7. we may never know -- the lives ruined and other taken

[CoffeeCat]

5. This guy is a trial balloon...

These evil scum want to see if anyone in America is paying attention.

They're trying to ascertain how much they can violate a person's rights, without
drawing attention and outrage from the American people. They thought they'd
start with a guy who they said was a terrorist suspect...and see what happened.

After all, who--after Sept 11--would stand up for a terrorist and argue their
Constitutional rights? They were counting on our silence and our fear.

I wouldn't be one bit surprised if these charges are fabrications.

[Oilwellian]

6. I can't think of one truth told by the Busheviks

If they get away with what they've done to Padilla, they can do the same to any American with legal precedent. Bye Bye habeus corpus.

My favorite line in the CSM piece:

"Victory in war is sometimes a victory simply for the rule of law."

If the American government can't (or won't) maintain equal justice under the law for its own citizens, what exactly are we fighting and dying for in Iraq?


And then there's this from CSM:

"Guilty or not, Padilla deserves the same rule of law that any US citizen can expect. America can't win a global war to defend its values by stepping on them. As Army Capt. Ian Fishback wrote to Sen. John McCain after witnessing US military abuses in Afghanistan: "I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is America."