A Travesty of Justice

August 16, 2007 at 1:57 pm | Posted in American politics, Bush Administration, corruption, Jose Padilla, secret combinations | Leave a comment

The jury found Jose Padilla guilty of “conspiracy to support Islamic terrorism overseas.” But as the article astutely points out:

Just as prosecutors did not present the “dirty bomb” plot to the jury, neither were jurors told that Padilla was held in a Navy brig for 3½ years without charges before his indictment in the Miami case.

So the government held an American citizen unconstitutionally for over three years on the charge that he was to plant a “dirty bomb.” The jurors were never presented with this evidence, because of course, if they actually heard or saw what the government did to him, they would never have believed the government’s story.

What this particular case also shows is that the government’s argument that these bad guys cannot be tried in regular civilian courts is well a very weak argument. This decision, while making the DOJ happy, also undermines the Bush administration’s push to create military tribunals for all those at Gitmo. What’s the point of those sham trials when the government can still get away with sham trials in more credible courts?