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03/16/10
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Republished
from June, 2002 Okay, so we've got this rather sinister-looking fellow by the name of Jose Padilla, who is an American citizen, and who has been locked up in a military brig instead of a jail or prison facility. No formal charges have been brought against him and no evidence produced. He was allegedly planning to build a "dirty" nuclear explosive device with help from his alleged Al Qaida buddies in Pakistan, but they didn't bust him with any materials in hand. Rather, he is alleged to have in his possession drawn plans for such a device when taken into custody. In order to paint Padilla with an even more sinister brush, he is alleged to have adopted the Muslim name, "Abdullah al Muhajir", and is further alleged to have been a street gang member. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced, "We have captured a known terrorist who was exploring a plan to build and explode a radiological dispersion device, or 'dirty bomb' in the United States," Well not quite, Johnny boy. How is Padilla a "known" terrorist if he hadn't committed a terrorist act yet? He was seen training with Al Qaida. Oh yeah? So where's the video? I suppose we must to take their word on that too. Padilla is being held as an "enemy combatant", the only problem being that the government didn't even allege he was ever engaged in combat with United States forces or our allies, and he didn't even have a weapon when arrested. Padilla's attorney, who has yet to meet with her client, is charging that Padilla's constitutional rights as a United States citizen are blatantly being violated. She gets an "A" for being cognizant of the obvious. Okay, now let's play a game. Replace the name Jose Padilla with Carl Worden. I get picked up and thrown into a military brig where I don't get my call or a visit with my attorney. I am being held without charges as an "enemy combatant", and the government does not have to appear in open court to present evidence at my arraignment, and they don't have to release me until hostilities have ended -- which in the case of the War On Terror, that would translate into a life sentence. In the meantime, they can say anything about me they want -- but they don't have to prove it. They will probably allege a conspiracy of some sort, which means they don't have to produce hard evidence like illegal weapons or explosives. They will throw in a couple of verifiable facts for credibility purposes, such as my membership in the Southern Oregon Militia and my outspoken, "Anti-Government" "Right Wing Extremist" rhetoric. They will display the weapons I own, including "ugly" military-style semi-automatics along with 30 round clips, and the find of the century, a fifty-caliber extreme long range "sniper" rifle. Further, they will claim I had bomb-making supplies and equipment in my garage when they searched my premises. That's right, they found my diabolical reloading bench. They will claim my "known" terrorist Militia nickname is "Wolfeyes", kinda like the Jackal. How am I doing so far? Now replace my name with yours and play the same game. This is a recipe for making certain American citizens shut up and disappear, and there is no public outcry because everybody already hates Jose Padilla. What's there to like?? Wait until you find out how much they like you too! This Padilla matter is a test run to see what the American people will tolerate. It is openly, shamelessly and transparently a gross violation of the most basic unalienable rights guaranteed every American citizen, and according to Supreme Court rulings, everybody else, for that matter, including illegal immigrants. If there is no public outcry and protest in the public arena, this ruthless administration will read that silence as the green light they were hoping for. You see, there is no good reason to stick Padilla in a military brig with a special, unheard-of-before designation as an enemy combatant. If he is guilty of conspiracy to commit treason, he should be formally charged and the government's evidence presented. What's the problem? If he's found guilty, he can be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, so how is that different from life in a military brig? The difference is that the way the feds are handling Padilla, they don't have to put their evidence to the test before a federal jury in a court of law. They either have a provable case or they don't, and they should never, under any circumstances, be allowed this option. This is just one of the ways the most ruthless dictators in the history of the world made their critics go away. Carl F. Worden
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