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What everyone should know about
Jose Padilla
By Mike Whitney
12/27/05 "ICH"
-- -- The constitution is the last flimsy obstacle between Bush
and absolute power. That is why the administration has persisted for
nearly 4 years in its case against Jose Padilla. The Padilla case
has nothing to do with Al Qaida, “dirty bombers” or terrorism. These
are simply the empty diversions that conceal the administration’s
real intention; to remove the final impediment to the supreme
authority of the executive.
The real issue in the Padilla case is whether or not the president
can repeal the central tenet of the Bill of Rights and jail an
American citizen without charges. The constitution states that a
man’s liberty cannot be taken away without due process of law.
Habeas corpus, the right to know why one is being imprisoned, is the
clearly delineated fault–line between freedom and tyranny. If the
administration succeeds in its efforts, Bush will have overturned
that fundamental principle and the inalienable rights of man will
become the provisional gifts of the president.
The importance of the Padilla case cannot be overstated. The final
verdict will determine whether we are still a nation of laws or if
we are simply governed by the arbitrary authority of one man, George
Walker Bush.
So far, the administration has succeeded in its main objective; to
keep Padilla behind bars for nearly 4 years while preventing him
from accessing the criminal justice system. The case has meandered
from court to court, giving the appearance that some form of legal
process is taking place but, in fact, Padilla has been consistently
denied all of his constitutional rights. (Note below) At no point in
time, has he ever been given the opportunity to challenge the terms
of his incarceration before a judge.
Bush’s actions have created a parallel justice system that exists
outside statutory law and is answerable to the president alone. For
Padilla, this means double jeopardy. First, he was held as an “enemy
combatant” for 3 and a half years and, now, the administration wants
to reverse itself and change that classification to “criminal
suspect”. If the court allows the government to proceed on this
track, Padilla’s years of solitary confinement will merely be
dismissed as (what the 4th Circuit called) “a mistake”.
The moniker “enemy combatant” is critical to understanding the
administration’s strategy. It is a label that was hatched in a
right-wing think tank to create a special category of criminal who
can be summarily stripped of all civil liberties and human rights
without legal recourse. The very term “enemy combatant” challenges
our traditional values vis-à-vis the rights of man. The fate of the
enemy combatant, whether an American citizen or not, depends
entirely on presidential discretion. It confers dictatorial and
“unreviewable” power on the executive. It is the end of any
meaningful notion of inalienable rights or of checks on presidential
power.
The government clearly has no interest in Padilla, a luckless gang
member whose connection to terrorism is sketchy at best. In fact,
the Justice Dept’s claims have changed so frequently that it is
impossible to know what they may be from one month to the next. It
is the precedent that matters to the Bush administration, not the
spurious allegations. They are seeking a judicial ruling that will
vindicate the cancelling out constitutionally-guaranteed civil
liberties. This will put the president squarely above the law.
The case has demonstrated the awesome power of the administration to
manipulate public perceptions through demagoguery and to destroy
Padilla’s chances for a fair trial. It has also exposed the
collaborative role of the media in promoting the government’s
position while obscuring the shocking violations to personal
freedom. And, although the administration has now completely changed
its position and wants to charge Padilla as a criminal, (a clear
admission that he was falsely accused to begin with) not one media
organization in the nation has called for Padilla to be released.
This week’s ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has
temporarily upset the administration’s plans. Although the court
endorsed the administration’s position that the president has the
right to indefinitely imprison enemy combatants in the war on
terror, it has rejected the government’s petition to vacate that
ruling to prevent the case from going to the Supreme Court.
The administration’s motives are clear. They do not believe that the
Supreme Court will rule in their favor and deny an American citizen
the right to due process. Now, the administration must figure out a
way to preserve the tenuous notion of “enemy combatant” which
guarantees the enhanced power of the president.
Would the Supreme Court really reject the arguments of the man they
helped to catapult into office by a 5 to 4 vote in the 2000
presidential election? Or will they find some way of defending these
unconstitutional powers by issuing a purposely ambiguous verdict
that will allow Bush to continue to act with impunity?
There’s no doubt that the administration believes in the supreme
power of the executive and is dragging the nation towards some form
of tyranny. The White House attorneys have worked tirelessly drawing
up the legal justifications for everything from massive domestic
spying operations to the cruel and inhuman treatment of foreign
nationals. The solitary function of the Bush legal team is the
dismantling of existing laws. Padilla’s case is no different.
Dick Cheney’s chief-of-staff David Addington, summarized it best
when he stated, “Congress may no more regulate the president’s
ability to detain and interrogate enemy combatants than it may
regulate his ability to direct troop movements on the battlefield.”
The president is answerable to no one. He stands above the law and
may do as he pleases. Padilla has no rights and, by extension,
neither does any other American citizen.
It is now up to the Supreme Court to decide whether the Constitution
has any meaning or if it just a “goddamned piece of paper” as Bush
claims.
(Note: In fact, Padilla has now been charged with 3
counts; conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to provide
material support to terrorists and providing material support to
terrorists in an 11 count indictment last month. The action of the
4th Circuit presents a challenge to the Bush administration and its
petition to vacate the ruling. The court has said that the case is
of such “national importance” that it should go to the Supreme
Court. In other words, the court is challenging the administration’s
choice to drop the “enemy combatant” argument and have Padilla
charged as a criminal.)
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