The Curious Case of Jose Padilla

Jose Padilla was arrested in the Spring of 2002 at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. He was subsequently transferred to military control on June 9, 2002 and has since been held at an undisclosed location. No charges have been filed and he has not seen a lawyer.

Padilla was held incommunicado and not charged due to the fact that President Bush designated him as an "enemy combatant". But Jose Padilla is an American Citizen. Today, the Justice Department held a news conference to reveal some of the details of his case...

At the news conference today, Deputy Attorney General James Comey revealed that Padilla was involved in plots intended to kill many Americans. Mr. Comey revealed that Padilla planned on detonating a "dirty bomb" designed to spread radiation and kill hundreds of people. Padilla was also reportedly planning on blowing up as many as 20 apartment buildings by renting the buildings and detonating natural gas inside of them. The news conference goes into great detail about all the unsavory people Padilla met and his intended actions against the USA.

Mr. Comey also defends the designation of Padilla as an enemy combatant with the following,

But Jose Padilla was more than a criminal defendant with a broad menu of rights that we offer in our great criminal justice system. On May the 8th of 2002, a soldier of our enemy, a trained, funded and equipped terrorist, stepped off that plane at Chicago's O'Hare: a highly trained al Qaeda soldier who had accepted an assignment to kill hundreds of innocent men, women and children by destroying apartment buildings; an al Qaeda soldier who still hoped and planned to do even more by detonating a radiological device, a dirty bomb, in this country; an al Qaeda soldier who was trusted enough to spend hour after hour with the leaders of al Qaeda, Mohammed Atef, Abu Zubaida, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed; an al Qaeda soldier who had vital information about our enemy and its plans; and lastly an al Qaeda soldier who, as an American citizen, was free to move in, within and out of this country. [Source]

Although the DOJ denies it, it seems like the purpose of this news conference was to point out what a very bad man Padilla is and how detaining him managed to save American lives. I don't deny that he's probably a very bad person. I'm glad he was detained, however, I'm a little uneasy about his treatment by our government.

I think it is a mistake to deny Padilla his constitutional rights not because I have any particular affinity for him, but because maybe next year, or ten, twenty years from now someone else could be in the same situation. As unlikely as it is, it could even be me in that situation. Maybe me or whoever is in the same situation down the road won't be involved in terrorism. Maybe they'll be a political opponent of the current administration or maybe they'll take an extremely unpopular position on some high profile issue. If the precedent set in the Padilla case holds, it leaves all Americans vulnerable.

I trust President Bush, but maybe I won't trust the next President or the person who is President 20 years from now. I wouldn't want to be imprisoned and held without a lawyer or not even charged with any crime. Sure, the things that Mr. Comey has to say about Jose Padilla sound pretty damning, but isn't that what you'd expect the government to say? Especially after they've been holding the person for the past two years.

I can understand the point of view of the Justice Department. They want the maximum ability to hold this person and question him. I imagine they have our best interests in mind and I appreciate that. But if they're going to hold an American Citizen in this way they need to figure out a way to do it legally.

Just in case you're one of those people who likes to point to the PATRIOT Act as being the cause of our liberties being taken away, this would be a bad example to use in your argument,

Congress enacted the PATRIOT Act, which says that non-citizens suspected of terrorism can be detained, but only for seven days. After that, they have to be released or charged, unless the attorney general certifies every six months that they present a security risk. [Source]

Transcript of News Conference about Jose Padilla

Some excellent commentary from The Cato Institute