WASHINGTON - A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Monday to either charge terrorism suspect Jose Padilla with a crime or release him after more than 2 1/2 years in custody.Proud? Proud?
U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd in Spartanburg, S.C., said the government can not hold Padilla indefinitely as an "enemy combatant," a designation President Bush gave him in 2002.
"The court finds that the president has no power, neither express nor implied, neither constitutional nor statutory, to hold petitioner as an enemy combatant," Floyd wrote in a 23-page opinion that was a stern rebuke to the government. He gave the administration 45 days to take action.
"We think that this is a wonderful decision," said Padilla's attorney, Andy Patel, as Padilla waited on another line. "It is one of those moments that all Americans should be proud of."
Bite me.
"If everything you say about Jose Padilla is true, prove it," said Denyse Williams, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) in South Carolina, which has filed a brief in support of Padilla's attorneys. "Everybody says the war on terror could last a lifetime. If they can do it to him, they can do it to others."That's right -- they CAN, and they SHOULD!
Look, let's come back to Planet Sanity, shall we? Consider regular, garden-variety LEGAL combatants (they shouldn't call Padilla an "enemy combatant", he's properly an "illegal combatant).
Tell me, when, in the history of the world, have ordinary prisoners of war EVER had access to lawyers and the legal system?
When? NEVER!
The notion is absurd, as they are not under the jurisdiction of civilian law.
Nor should they be!
And tell me, when, in the history of the world, did people fret over how long a war might last, because it might mean keeping the POWs detained past their bed times?
When? NEVER!
So surely, illegal combatants aren't to be treated more leniently? How could that make sense? Where did this idea that prisoners of war of any kind must be charged with crimes? Just because the war might be indefinite? No war was ever held on a definite timetable, people!!!
David Salmons from the U.S. Solicitor General's Office countered at the time that the president has the right to detain any enemy combatant while the United States is fighting al-Qaida. But he added there's no risk that the president may round up citizens and detain them.Duh.
That's the fantasy: evil Bushitler is going to start putting away people he dislikes forever, if he can do it to Padilla... So they imagine they're on the front lines of some important civil rights battle, which is more important for them to win than the real battle against the actual people trying to slaughter us by the millions.
Well suppose the power to detain IS abused. Then guess what, the President will be impeached and the problem solved. That's how it's meant to happen.
Those who plead Constitutional Rights are being violated should go read it, and find out the Constitution explicitly allows for the suspension of the Writ of Habeus Corpus when the public safety requires it, such as in the case of insurrection, invasion, or rebellion. Which means, in layspeak, they can lock you up and throw away the key and forget about you forever: because the Founders knew that sometimes that's necessary to preserve the Constitution for everyone else, and checks are put in to stop an overzealous President, which DON'T however include the ACLU eviscerating the power of the President!
So before I hear a peep from anyone, I want to know if they think every war we ever fought was violating the "Constitutional Rights" of ORDINARY combatants that were held indefinitely, and without access to lawyers, and without being charged with any crime.
See, holding POWs is not a criminal matter! They're being detained for our safety, not because they committed a crime!
In Padilla's case, and those like him, the "crimes" of being an illegal combatant are ON TOP of that, and it would be perverse in the extreme to have privileges descent upon them that they otherwise would never have had they been ordinary combatants!
His citizenship status and location of capture should be completely irrelevant.
