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Jose' padilla

President Bush has lately been making some effort to lighten the damage done by public knowledge of "secret prisons", The Detention center at Guantannamo Bay, and the torture of detainees thought to be terrorists, having been taken into custody by American servicemen.
As I have said, we are fighting in America because "all men are endowed by their Creator with...inalienable rights", "all men are created equal", and on.
The geneva convention says ALL prisoners of war have rights under that convention. Bush fails to recognize these rights.
Today, let us look at the story of one detainee.

José Padilla (also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir) (born October 18, 1970) is an American citizen of Puerto Rican descent accused of being a terrorist by the United States government. He was arrested in Chicago on May 8, 2002, and remains in detention in a military prison. For the first three years of his detention he was held without charge; he is now charged with "conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim people overseas."

Padilla entered public life via an announcement from Moscow, by Attorney General John Ashcroft, that an al-Qaeda operative had been captured at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, en route to contaminate a U.S. city with a radiological bomb. There was some question as to why Mr. Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was being held in a Navy brig as an "enemy combatant," Within hours of Ashcroft's announcement, administration officials were pointing out that Padilla had no radioactive material or any other bomb-making equipment. Nor had he chosen a target, or formulated a plan.

Padilla's early life:
Padilla's parents moved to the United States from Puerto Rico. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and became a member of the Latin Kings street gang after moving to Chicago, Illinois, and being arrested several times. During his gang years, he maintained several aliases, such as José Rivera, José Alicea, José Hernandez, and José Ortiz. He was convicted of aggravated assault. After serving his last jail sentence, he converted to Islam and professed a nonviolent philosophy. He went to the Masjid Al-Iman mosque in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with Adham Amin Hassoun, who at that time was the registered agent for Benevolence International Foundation, a charitable trust which U.S. investigators have accused of funding terrorist activities. Padilla and Hassoun became friends. U.S. authorities accuse Hassoun of consorting with radical Islamic fundamentalists, including Al-Qaeda. Hassoun was arrested in 2002 for overstaying his visa.

Padilla's arrest:
Padilla traveled to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. On his return, he was arrested by federal agents at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on May 8, 2002, and held as a material witness on a warrant issued in the state of New York stemming from the September 11, 2001 attacks.
On June 9, 2002, two days before District Court Judge Michael Mukasey was to issue a ruling on the validity of continuing to hold Padilla under the material witness warrant, President Bush issued an order to Secretary Rumsfeld to detain Padilla as an "enemy combatant," and Padilla was transferred to a military brig in South Carolina without any notice to his attorney or family. The order legally justified the detention by leaning on the AUMF[2], which authorized the President to "use all necessary force against . . . such nations, organizations, or persons" and by opining that a U.S. citizen detained on U.S. soil can be classified an enemy combatant. (This opinion is based on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of ex parte Quirin, a case involving the detention of a group of German-Americans working for Nazi Germany).

According to the text of the ensuing decision from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, President Bush's order for Padilla's detention as an "enemy combatant" was for these reasons:
Padilla was "closely associated with al Qaeda, an international terrorist organization with which the United States is at war";
he had engaged in "war-like acts, including conduct in preparation for acts of international terrorism";
he had intelligence that could assist the United States in warding off future terrorist attacks; and
he was a continuing threat to American security.

March 2002: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, purported mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and al-Qaida's operational planner and organizer, allegedly suggests Jose Padilla target up to three high-rise buildings that use natural gas with a radiological "dirty bomb."
May 8, 2002: Padilla arrives at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after an overseas trip, carrying $10,526, a cell phone and e-mail addresses for al-Qaida operatives. He is arrested on a material witness warrant.
June 9, 2002: Padilla is listed as an "enemy combatant" and transferred to the Defense Department.
Dec. 18, 2003: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals orders Padilla to be released from military custody within 30 days and if the government chooses, tried in civilian courts.
Jan. 22, 2004: The 2nd Circuit suspends its ruling after the Bush administration appeals the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 3, 2004: Lawyers for Padilla meet with him for the first time since his incarceration at a naval brig in June 2002.
Sept. 9, 2005: A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the government can continue to hold Padilla indefinitely.

Following Padilla's arrest, speculation arose about the Oklahoma City Bombing.media outlets pointed to a resemblance between Padilla and police sketches of an Oklahoma City Bombing suspect known as "John Doe No. 2," although no investigation has connected him with that event. However, some commentators, such as talk radio host Glenn Beck, continue to subscribe to the theory Padilla was "John Doe No. 2" and that he was involved with the plot at Oklahoma City.
A related conspiracy theory claims he was likely a CIA agent and that the fact he is being held as an enemy combatant is part of a cover up of his involvement in the Oklahoma City bombings while a CIA agent.

Nov. 22, 2005: Padilla is indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on charges that he conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas. The charges do not include any allegations of a "dirty bomb" plot or other plans for U.S. attacks.
Dec. 21, 2005: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Michael Luttig chastises the administration for using one set of facts to justify holding Padilla without charges and another set to persuade a grand jury in Florida to indict him. Luttig said the administration has risked its "credibility before the courts."
Jan. 4, 2006: Supreme Court agrees to let the military transfer Padilla to Miami to face criminal charges, overruling the 4th Circuit.
Jan. 12, 2006: Padilla pleads not guilty to charges alleging he was part of a secret network that supported Muslim terrorists. The charges could bring a life in prison sentence.
April 3, 2006: Supreme Court rejects Padilla's appeal, although Chief Justice John Roberts and other key justices said that they would be watching to ensure Padilla receives the protections "guaranteed to all federal criminal defendants

At the present time Jose' Padilla is still being held as an "enemy combatant".
There is no evidence, of any kind, admissable or not, by any standards, that he did anything beyond arriveing at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after an overseas trip, carrying $10,526, a cell phone and e-mail addresses for al-Qaida operatives.

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