Feeling Frustrated

I'm in a frustrated mood, so after quite a few days of relatively few postings, I think tonight this may be the second of several.

Right now, I'm thinking about Jose Padilla, whom I've mentioned before. Why aren't more Americans up in arms about the way this American citizen is being treated?

I'll say right up front, I have no illusions that Jose Padilla is necessarily a good guy. I have no idea whether he is now or has ever been associated with al Qaeda or other terrorist groups. I have no more information than anyone else on whether he was planning on engaging in terrorist activity.

But he deserves his day in court, as do we ALL as citizens of this great nation. And for three years, Padilla has been held without charge, representation or trial, because the President declared him an "enemy combatant" and claimed that under such designation, he was not due any of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to US citizens. This is patently absurd and insane. This is a level of power we CAN NOT let the President have. Because the power to incarcerate merely on personal assertion is too dangerous to remain uncorrupted.

Perhaps in this case, it may turn out to be warranted. It might be that, had Padilla not been imprisoned these last three years, he would have carried out several major attacks, detonated several dirty bombs, and killed thousands of people. Perhaps in this case, President Bush is honestly behaving in the best interests of the United States.

But what about next time? Once a power exists it will be used, and there are no checks and balances on this one.

What about if the next person declared an enemy combatant isn’t? What if a mistake is made and Bush or some successor President declares an innocent citizen an enemy combatant? Or worse, what if Mr. Bush decides that someone like me, a very vocal critic of his policies, is enough of a thorn in his side as to need dealing with, and decides to declare me an enemy combatant, either based on trumped up charges of non-existent evidence of my terrorist involvement, or simply based on the charge that by speaking out against Presidential actions and policies, I’m “giving aid and comfort” to the enemy?

Should anyone in our country really have the power to make his or her opponents and enemies go away without so much as a trial or even any contact with the outside world? Is this really any different from the old Soviet Union, shipping dissidents to Siberia or committing them on spurious mental health diagnoses?

Sure, I’ve written about Padilla before. But he’s still in prison, and after three years, he’s only just had charges filed against him (and that, largely, so that the Administration could avoid the otherwise upcoming Supreme Court hearing on Padilla’s case that might have stripped the “enemy combatant declaration” power from the Administration).

For another excellent take on this case, read this post over at Huffington Post.

Liam.