Padilla's Hearing

In this editorial the Washington Post succinctly articulates why so many are troubled by the governments’s position on holding Jose Padilla, the alleged “dirty bomber.”

The concern is that the government is denying Padilla any process for examining the basis of the allegations against him. As the Post puts it:

Mr. Padilla is being imprisoned indefinitely on the basis of the president's say-so alone. But what if an enemy combatant designation were the product of some tragic mistake? What if it were made maliciously? No court could provide relief, because no court would even know whether Mr. Padilla admitted or contested the allegations against him.

An American citizen must be able to respond to the government's allegations and must have some access to counsel in order to do so.

As I explained here and here Padilla is suspected of involvement in a plot to obtain and detonate a radioactive weapon or "dirty bomb."

Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, allegedly met with high ranking al-Qaida members in 2001 and 2002, received explosives training in al-Qaeda camps inside Afghanistan and plotted with the group to bomb hotels and gas stations, and to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb," a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material, inside the United States.

Padilla was arrested in May 2002 after returning to Chicago from Pakistan. He was arrested as a material witness for the grand jury probe into the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Padilla was transferred to Department of Defense custody after President bush declared him to be an enemy combatant. Padilla, a U.S. citizen, has been held in a military prison, without access to lawyers since last year.

Padilla may in fact be the evil doer wannabe the government claims. If he is, I hope he is never again allowed to see the light of day. For precisely the reasons stated by the Washington Post there must be a procedure to give Padilla some due process while still protecting legitimate national security concerns.