Word: padilla
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...This sort of deceptive behavior seems a recurring flaw in the Administration's anti-terrorism efforts. The current prosecution of suspected terrorist and U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, for example, almost collapsed because of Padilla's claim that his guards' abuse made him incompetent to stand trial; as with al-Marri, the government has changed its legal approach against Padilla, initially branding him an enemy combatant and then, when it seemed that it might lose its case before the Supreme Court, deciding to charge him criminally. Lederman says the improper reason for declaring al-Marri an enemy combatant will probably doom...
...hate Mexicans? -Ubaldo Padilla, OROVILLE, CALIF.Ah, jeez. You know, even responding to that question gives it some credibility. I don't hate anyone because of their ethnicity. Nothing I've ever said, nothing I've ever done, I believe, could ever be construed in that...
...trial motions, Padilla's attorneys have consistently tried to steer attention to what happened to Padilla during his three years and eight months in military detention - and to some degree Cooke has allowed them to do that. They contend that Padilla was tortured: fed LSD and other drugs, exposed to extreme temperatures, shackled in "stress positions" and deprived of sleep. The torture, they argue, made Padilla mentally unfit to stand trial and so undermined his constitutional right to a fair process that the whole case should be thrown...
...lawyers to take testimony from guards at the brig. The government denies that any torture took place, and the guards didn't give up much detail, but prosecutors fought intensely to block such testimony or let any information seep into the public record about what might have happened during Padilla's detention. And if it ever existed, the evidence of a dirty bomb and attacks on apartment buildings is not expected to appear in the trial - possibly because it was obtained through improper interrogation of witnesses like Zubaydah (who says he was tortured) or even of Padilla...
...What prosecutors are left with, then, is an underwhelming case involving cryptic evidence of a murder and terrorist conspiracy that lacks names, places or pretty much any other specifics. Even if they manage to pull off a conviction, we still won't know whether Padilla really was the Dirty Bomber. And if they don't? The government has the option of reclassifying him as an enemy combatant, which, believe it or not, could start the process all over again...