court approves holding an American citizen without charges.

[jbfam4]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdpadillasep18,0,5577967.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial
Due Process

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
Posted September 18 2005


ISSUE: An appellate court approves holding an American citizen without charges.

Two courts have considered whether Padilla, who once lived in Lauderhill, can continue to be held without charges -- without due process. After a trial court said no, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said yes. The latter decision should be appealed to and reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Not only has the government not proved anything against Padilla, or even tried to, but it can't even seem to make up its mind about what he's supposedly guilty of. The military says, without proof, that he fought in Afghanistan as an al-Qaida operative and was plotting terrorism inside the United States.


Padilla is an American citizen. He has been detained for more than three years. If he is an enemy combatant bent on causing mayhem and destruction in the United States, he should be punished to the full extent of the law. But first he should be charged and convicted. That's the American way.

National security is vital, of course, but do any of us want to live in a country where all it takes is an accusation from the government to lock someone up and throw away the key?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

1. "...do any of us want...

...to live in a country where all it takes is an accusation from the government to lock someone up and throw away the key?"

Read Patriot Act II---we're already there.

[benburch]

2. Time for a Revolution here.

A Constitutional one is what I would prefer, but I am now quite willing to entertain the alternative.

[acmavm]

3. This is a violation of everything that this country stands for. This is

why people got into rickety ships and crossed oceans, a very very dangerous thing to do, to get away from their native countries. This is why people fought a way for independence. This is against every intention of the men, much smarter men of far more integrity that we have now running things, who set down the rules and laws and rights of this country.

That this is even an issue amazes me. It is basic human rights. It is basic civil rights. It is basic humanity and morality and decency.

[indepat]

4. We are living in such a country for the proof is in the Padilla pudding

[yella_dawg]

5. "If he is an enemy combatant bent on causing mayhem and destruction"

Even if he wasn't before, he probably is now. I sure as hell would be.

[bemildred]

6. "National security is vital, of course"

Bullshit, the USA is a big country and it can take a lot,
the notion that we need to throw all our freedoms away to buy
some sort of fictitious "security" is a crock of shit. The free
citizens of a free country can protect themselves well enough
without all the self-serving blowhards in the national security
apparatus; lets face it, the "security" whores have done a truly
shitty job of protecting us anyway.

[OneBlueSky]

7. this is a very small step away from declaring that . . .

since the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are matters of national security, any individual in the region who does something that the government doesn't like -- returns to their home without approval, provides "undocumented" assistance, organizes a rally against FEMA and the federal government, etc. -- is a threat to national security and therefore subject to detainment and denial of due process . . . slippery, slippery slope here . . .