Bend over, put your head between your legs, and kiss your Constitution goodbye

[jhetley]

Well, apparently Joseph Padilla has been convicted.  After being held for years without charge or legal representation.  American citizen arrested and detained as an "enemy combatant" on US soil, without struggle and unarmed.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070816/D8R2A3P00.html

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Pretty damn sickening.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Totally tangential, but you might be amused by a little bit that Denny Wheeler just posted over at AC. Marine history, as it were...

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Thanks. He e-mailed it to me.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Are you really surprised? If they hadn't convicted him, it would have meant admitting they'd made a mistake -- and that's the one thing no one in this administration is willing to do under any circumstances.

Not to mention the CYA factor. If he's convicted, after all, then nothing they did to him was wrong, and there's no option for a wrongful arrest lawsuit. They couldn't afford NOT to convict him. So it was just a matter of buying the right people until they got one.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Whatever happened to "Shot while attempting to escape"?

[wolfette]

Like Brazilians in London?

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised at the governments actions - sickened in some cases, but not surprised. But I'm worried about the jury's verdict, and *really* worried about the response. "See, he *was* a terrorist, they were *right* to treat him like one!"

Plus, I'm now appalled that the judge found him fit to stand trial. The man is brainwashed! He was angry at intense cross-examination of an FBI agent; his lawyer was "undermining the authority of the commander-in-chief". This not a man competent to assist in his own defense.