Any tactic to get out of facing the music on their tactics:
“Dirty Bomb” suspect Jose Padilla, held by the U.S. as an enemy combatant for more than three years, has been indicted on federal charges in Miami, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was expected to discuss the indictment at a news conference in Washington.
Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert, has been held as an “enemy combatant” in Defense Department custody for more than three years. The Bush administration had resisted calls to charge and try him in civilian courts.
The indictment avoids a Supreme Court showdown. Padilla’s lawyers had asked justices to review his case last month, and the Bush administration was facing a deadline next Monday for filing its legal arguments.
“They’re avoiding what the Supreme Court would say about American citizens. That’s an issue the administration did not want to face,” said Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor who specializes in national security. “There’s no way that the Supreme Court would have ducked this issue.”
This is one of those clear cut issues where the true spirit of the bush admin would be on display without any spin.
“hey folks, this is how we would treat you if we could.” You could not hide it, spin it or rationalize it. People would finally see in stark terms that they would not have any rights or recourse if the government thinks that you are an enemy of the state. I would like to hear how this protects the rights of the individual, how holding an American citizen, no matter what his combatant status, could be held without due process.
Yes some would say that he is a criminal, a terrorist, he would reveal secrets on intelligence gathering, etc, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Even murderers, child molesters and rapists have rights (even if you think they do not deserve them).
And the Bolsheviks must be busting a gut laughing at the cartoon the US has become.
And they did not have to fire a shot.
Are there any Bolsheviks still left?
Where?
Yea, in the metaphysical sense, they gotta be looking down and shaking their heads.
Just a stick in the eye of the fundies who think God looks out for them alone.
The Bush Administration is in full retreat. This reminds me of when the Nazis began digging up the mass graves of their victims, in Poland and the USSR, just ahead of the advancing Red Army.
They are cleaning up the incriminating details… because their sense of immortality has been shattered and they sense that their end is near.
I wonder how long till full melt-down. Will we have a new leadership in the spring or will this just go on and on.
Bladerunner, “new leadership in the spring “? You make me yearn for Chauncy Gardner…