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MIAMI, March 16 (Reuters) - Defense lawyers want the word "terrorist" banned as too inflammatory in the U.S. trial of Jose Padilla and two other men charged with conspiring to aid Islamist extremists overseas. The word conjures up visions of someone with a bomb belt blowing up himself and others in a crowded cafe, Jeanne Baker, an attorney representing co-defendant Adham Amin Hassoun, said during a hearing in the high-profile case on Friday. "The word terrorist has nothing to do with this case," Baker said. "The word terrorist is used to label an enemy." U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, who...

Many of you have been following The Power Liners and The Young Turks debate the Jose Padilla situation. Who's winning the debate? Who's winning the great Jose Padilla debate? 90% The Power Line guys 272 9% The Young Turks 28 0% It's a draw 1 Total votes: 301

MIAMI (Reuters) - Former "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla is mentally competent to stand trial on terrorism charges, a U.S. judge ruled on Wednesday. The 36-year-old American is scheduled to go to trial on April 16 on charges that he aided Islamist extremists and conspired with them to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas. His lawyers argued that years of secret detention and interrogation by the U.S. military left him mentally impaired. U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Cooke said Padilla had paid attention in court, had discussed some of the legal maneuvering with doctors who examined him and had been able...

MIAMI - A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a key terrorism charge, the only one carrying a potential life sentence, against alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with federal prosecutors in Miami that the charge that the U.S. citizen and his two co-defendants conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas did not duplicate other counts in the indictment. The Atlanta-based court reversed a decision last summer by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, who said the three charges in the indictment contained nearly identical elements and could subject...

MIAMI -- A federal judge Friday ordered a three-month delay for the trial of alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla and two others, in part to allow time for a full evaluation of Padilla's mental competency. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke set a new trial date of April 16. It was the third time the case had been postponed. Padilla, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen and former Chicago gang member, is charged with being part of a North American cell that provided cash, supplies and recruits to Islamic extremists. He was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and originally accused...

Wow. Some real original thought on the editorial page of today's Ithaca Journal : a former democratic party official wrote a long essay that was basically "Bush is a Nazi."Must be a slow news day in Ithaca, the City of Evil.

The mother of a homicide victim faulted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday for her son’s death, saying convicted triple murderer Miguel Padilla should have been deported years ago. Fox News Channel featured the story of Stephen Heiss, the 27-year-old prison guard who – along with Alfred Mignogna and Frederick Rickabaugh – was gunned down by Padilla in front of the UVA Club in Altoona in 2005. Heiss’ mother, Sandra Miller of Altoona, was interviewed by Bill O’Reilly from the studio of CBS affiliate WTAJ in Altoona. She was accompanied on “The O’Reilly Factor’’ by Shawn Cohen, the...

Federal prosecutors have asked an appeals court to reinstate a key terrorism charge against alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla, contending a judge erred in finding that it duplicated other counts in the same indictment. Padilla and two co-defendants are charged with being part of a North American support cell that provided money, supplies and recruits to Islamic extremists worldwide. Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was held for 3 1/2 years without charge as an "enemy combatant," originally accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a U.S. city. The pleading filed with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

The suspect in a terror case said charges against him should be dropped because, he said, he was tortured in U.S. custody while being detained as an `enemy combatant.' Padilla claims he was isolated in a tiny cell around the clock, deprived of sleep on a steel bunk with no mattress, shackled and manacled for hours on end, and threatened with being cut with a knife and having alcohol poured on the wounds. He also claims he was given drugs against his will -- believed to be LSD or PCP -- ``to act as a sort of truth serum during...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Criminal charges against accused al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla should be thrown out because of "outrageous government conduct" during his 3 1/2-year detention in a South Carolina Navy brig, Padilla's defense lawyers say. "The government's conduct vis-a-vis Mr. Padilla is a stain on this nation's character, and through its illegal conduct, the government has forfeited its right to prosecute Mr. Padilla," his lawyers said in a legal motion filed this week. In two additional motions, the lawyers argue the case should be dismissed because the government took too much time between arresting Padilla and charging him. They...

CIA operatives taking over the interrogation of captured top al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah [BBC News backgrounder] from FBI agents in 2002 had him stripped, exposed to extreme cold and subjected to loud rock music in an effort to extract sensitive information, the New York Times reported Sunday.

A federal judge rejected an attempt by terror suspect Jose Padilla to keep a jury from hearing statements he made to the FBI shortly before his 2002 arrest. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Brown also denied an effort to suppress evidence based on allegations that one U.S. informant may have been tortured. The rulings against the man accused of being an al-Qaida operative marked a victory for federal prosecutors, who last month suffered a setback when another judge threw out one of the main terror charges against Padilla and his co-defendants. Brown found that Padilla, 35, had not been placed immediately...

June 24— The Qatari man designated an enemy combatant by the Bush administration was planning another Sept. 11 attack, sources told ABCNEWS. Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, 37, was deemed an enemy combatant by the Bush administration on Monday after officials said he was positively identified by an al Qaeda detainee as being part of a planned second wave of terror attacks on the United States. Government officials said they believed al Qaeda's top leadership sent Al-Marri to the United States to coordinate a new round of attacks. "Al-Marri was sent to the United States as a facilitator for other al...

Revelations in the Peoria Journal Star earlier this week that the Peoria/Champaign area is one of seven in the United States on a terrorist “circuit” were frightening. “Terrorists enter the United States in San Francisco and Los Angeles, then move to Phoenix, then Denver," reported Phil Luciano of the PJS. "From there some head to Peoria and Champaign. Some terrorists remain in those communities, while others head on to New York City" (emphasis added). Luciano was provided this information by Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy, who received it at a recent FBI conference held in Springfield. Names of larger cities...

The U.S. government's terrorism case against former 'enemy combatant' Jose Padilla and two other Muslim codefendants suffered a major setback in federal court in Miami. BY JAY WEAVER jweaver@MiamiHerald.com When Jose Padilla was charged in a South Florida terror-cell indictment in November, U.S. authorities boasted their case was rock solid. But in a stunning decision, a federal judge in Miami has lopped a big chunk off of the indictment, saying the government wrongly overcharged the notorious former ''enemy combatant'' and two other Muslim men. In a written order released Monday, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke threw out the first count...

Three defense attorneys in a Miami terrorism case who were trapped in war-torn Beirut while interviewing witnesses got tired of waiting for the U.S. Marines to evacuate them. So they hitched a ride on a Norwegian freighter. The attorneys -- Orlando do Campo of the federal public defender's office in Miami, Andrew Patel of New York City and William Swor of Detroit -- along with an Arabic-speaking interpreter they hired arrived in Cyprus on July 19 and caught flights home the next day. "I'm just glad we didn't wait for the Marines," Patel said in an interview from home Friday....

MIAMI - Amid tight security, alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla is being permitted to personally view U.S. government secrets in advance of his trial on charges of conspiring to wage and support international terrorism. ADVERTISEMENT Under a federal judge's order, Padilla is being allowed to examine classified documents and videotapes detailing his statements during 3 1/2 years in Defense Department custody as an unlawful "enemy combatant." That designation was dropped last fall when he was charged in a Miami terrorism case. Defense lawyers in terrorism cases are regularly permitted to examine such classified material if they obtain government security clearances.

(AP) MIAMI -- A federal judge ordered prosecutors to turn over more evidence to back up allegations that Jose Padilla and two co-defendants conspired to kill, injure or kidnap people overseas as part of a global Islamic terrorist network. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke said Tuesday she agreed with claims made by defense attorneys that the indictment against Padilla and the others accused of aiding al Qaeda is "very light on facts" that would link the defendants to specific acts of terrorism or victims. "We are so shooting in the dark," said Jeanne Baker, one of the attorneys representing defendant...

Feds say Padilla may have been higher in Al Qaeda WLS By Chuck Goudie May 25, 2006 (Last Updated: 8:23:47 PM) - Federal investigators say they have evidence that former Chicago street gang member Jose Padilla was a higher ranking member of Al Qaeda than first thought. Four years ago this month when Jose Padilla was arrested at O'Hare Airport, federal agents considered him a Chicago street gang member who had been recruited by Al Qaeda terrorists to scout potential American targets, but now U.S. prosecutors believe Padilla was operating at a much higher level than just an advance man...

Ammar al-Baluchi, once considered a bit player, is alleged to have served as trainer and banker for several of the hijackers. Until recently, Ammar al-Baluchi was considered a peripheral player in Al Qaeda, a functionary who made travel arrangements and wired money for terrorists. But new government disclosures place Baluchi in a larger role in the Sept. 11 preparations and rank him No. 4 among the conspirators captured by U.S. forces after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Indeed, investigators say he was instrumental in acquiring a Boeing 747 flight simulator and a Boeing 767 flight-deck video for the hijackers to practice...

A divided Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a man held until recently as an enemy combatant without traditional legal rights, in effect sidestepping a challenge to Bush administration wartime detention powers.

Supreme Court won't review Bush's terrorism powers By James Vicini 1 minute ago A divided Supreme Court declined on Monday to decide whether President George W. Bush has the power in the war on terrorism to order American citizens captured in the United States held in military jails without any criminal charges or a trial. By a 6-3 vote, the court sided with the Bush administration and refused to hear an appeal by Jose Padilla, who was confined in a military brig in South Carolina for more than three years after Bush designated him an "enemy combatant." The court's action...

Supreme Court Rejects Jose Padilla Case By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer A divided Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Jose Padilla, held as an enemy combatant without traditional legal rights for more than three years, sidestepping a challenge to Bush administration wartime detention powers. Padilla was moved in January to Miami to face criminal charges, and the government argued that the appeal over his indefinite detention was now pointless. Three justices said the court should have agreed to take up the case anyway: Justices David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. And three other court...

MIAMI (AP) -- U.S. officials who want terror suspect Jose Padilla to wear handcuffs and ankle chains during open court appearances must first show he poses a direct safety threat, a federal judge said Friday. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke made the statement after Padilla appeared in the shackles for his first appearance before her since his transfer in January from military custody as an alleged al-Qaida "enemy combatant" to a criminal defendant. "At some point in time, people have to be able to write, take notes," Cooke said. "No handcuffs in court, please." Padilla and four others are charged...

After the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan to oust its Taliban rulers, authorities found a locker full of applications to join al Qaeda's holy war overseas. Among the alleged applicants: José Padilla, the former ''enemy combatant'' who once lived in Broward County [FLORIDA]. A prosecutor produced the alleged document for the first time Thursday in Miami federal court, where Padilla pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges that he was a recruit for a North American terrorist cell with South Florida links that aided Islamic jihad abroad.

Former 'Enemy Combatant' Padilla Pleads Not Guilty Thursday, January 12, 2006 MIAMI — Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who was held for more than three years as an "enemy combatant," pleaded not guilty Thursday to criminal charges alleging he was part of a secret network that supported Muslim terrorists. The plea, followed by a judge's refusal to set bail for Padilla, came one week after he was transferred from military to civilian custody. His trial was set for Sept. 9. "Absolutely not guilty," said Michael Caruso, one of Padilla's lawyers. Padilla did not speak during the hearing, other than to...

Jose Padilla Will Faces Charges In Civilian Court POSTED: 3:21 pm EST January 5, 2006 UPDATED: 6:16 pm EST January 5, 2006 MIAMI -- The man referred to as the "dirty bomb suspect" has been transferred from military to civilian custody and he is now in Miami. Jose Padilla, the alleged al-Qaida supporter, will face charges that he was part of a U.S. terror cell that recruited fighters and raised money for global Islamic holy war. Padilla was transferred from a military brig in South Carolina and will be held at the federal detention center in downtown Miami. Just before...

Jose Padilla, the alleged al-Qaida operative held as an "enemy combatant" for more than three years, was en route Thursday to Miami to face charges that he was part of a U.S. terror cell that recruited fighters and raised money for global Islamic holy war. Padilla was being transferred from a military brig in South Carolina to the federal detention center in downtown Miami, according to two federal law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not been made. Padilla was scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court later in the day, which...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Bush administration to transfer "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla from U.S. military custody to federal authorities in Florida, where he faces criminal charges. Solicitor General Paul Clement of the Justice Department last month asked for approval to transfer Padilla so he can stand trial on charges of being part of a support cell providing money and recruits for militants overseas. Padilla was indicted in November in Florida for conspiracy to murder and aiding terrorists abroad but the charges make no reference to accusations made by U.S. officials after his arrest...

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court orders transfer of Jose Padilla from military to civilian custody.

Wed Dec 28, 5:35 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to transfer American "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla from U.S. military custody to federal authorities in Florida -- one week after an appeals court refused a similar request. In a filing to the high court, Solicitor General Paul Clement asked for Padilla's release so he can stand trial on charges of being part of a support cell providing money and recruits for militants overseas. Padilla was indicted last month in Florida for conspiracy to murder and aiding terrorists abroad but the charges make...

Padilla Lawyers Link Case to Wiretapping Probe Arguments Part of Supreme Court Filing Dec. 28, 2005 — - Lawyers for "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla have filed a brief with the Supreme Court urging it to take Padilla's case, linking it to the National Security Agency wiretapping controversy. The brief, filed yesterday, uses strong language against the government for its treatment of Padilla, who was arrested as an "enemy combatant" in June 2002 and indicted by a federal grand jury last month. "The government continues to defend this sweeping view of the president's power to substitute military rule for the...

WASHINGTON - In a sharp rebuke, a federal appeals court denied Wednesday a Bush administration request to transfer terrorism suspect Jose Padilla from military to civilian law enforcement custody. The three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused the administration's request to vacate a September ruling that gave President Bush wide authority to detain "enemy combatants" indefinitely without charges on U.S. soil. The decision, written by Judge Michael Luttig, questioned why the administration used one set of facts before the court for 3 1/2 years to justify holding Padilla without charges but used another set...

US court delays transfer of Padilla to civilian jail WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US appeals court delayed the transfer of American terror suspect Jose Padilla to a civilian jail, demanding the government explain why it was no longer treating the detainee as an "enemy combatant". The court ordered the federal government to account for why it used different facts to hold Padilla for three years without charges in a military jail before it reversed course and issued a civilian indictment last week. Federal officials had originally alleged that Padilla had plotted to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" on US soil....

White House Releases Information On Al-Qaida Plots 3 Foiled Attacks Aimed At Targets Inside U.S. POSTED: 9:00 am EDT October 6, 2005 UPDATED: 11:22 pm EDT October 6, 2005 WHITE HOUSE -- The White House has released information about 10 al-Qaida plots that President George W. Bush says the U.S. and its allies have foiled in the last four years. Three plots cited were in the United States. They included plans to use hijacked airplanes to attack both the West and the East coasts. The third involved plans to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a U.S. city. Also, the...

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department's decision to indict Jose Padilla is the latest example of how the Bush administration short-circuits any legal review of the expansive powers it has claimed in the war on terror, legal experts said Tuesday. In the Padilla case, the administration wanted to prevent a showdown in the Supreme Court over whether the president legally can hold a U.S. citizen indefinitely without criminal charges by declaring him an enemy combatant. The Justice Department faced a Monday deadline for filing an argument urging the Supreme Court not to review the Padilla case. Many legal experts expected the...

WASHINGTON - "Dirty Bomb" suspect Jose Padilla, held by the U.S. as an enemy combatant for more than three years, has been indicted on federal charges in Miami, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was expected to discuss the indictment at a news conference in Washington. Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert, has been held as an "enemy combatant" in Defense Department custody for more than three years. The Bush administration had resisted calls to charge and try him in civilian courts. The indictment avoids a Supreme Court showdown. Padilla's lawyers had asked justices to review his...

WASHINGTON - "Dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla has asked the Supreme Court to limit the government's power to hold him and other U.S. terror suspects indefinitely and without charges.The case of Padilla, who has been in custody more than three years, presents a major test of the Bush administration's wartime authority. The former gang member is accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive device. Justices refused on a 5-4 vote last year to resolve Padilla's rights, ruling that he contested his detention in the wrong court. Donna Newman of New York, one of Padilla's attorneys, said the new case, which...

...[A] panel for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously last Friday that the President "unquestionably" has the power to detain an American citizen who has taken up arms against his country. But wait. Didn't the Supreme Court say precisely that in its Hamdi decision last year? So it did, as Judge Michael Luttig notes repeatedly in his 25-page opinion penned for the court. That wasn't enough for José Padilla's attorneys, who argued that Hamdi, which concerned an American picked up on a battlefield in Afghanistan, didn't apply to their client, who was arrested domestically, at O'Hare Airport. Padilla,...

Bush can detain 'shoe bomber', says appeals court Agencies Richmond, Virginia: In a victory for the Bush administration, a federal appeals court ruled that the government can continue to hold indefinitely an American accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb." In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel threw out a US district court's finding that the detention of Jose Padilla, a US citizen, as an enemy combatant on Bush's orders was unconstitutional. Padilla has been in custody for more than three years. "The exceedingly important question before us is whether the President of the United States possesses the...

A federal appeals court panel yesterday ruled that the president has the authority to indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen as an enemy combatant, reversing a lower court order that the government either charge or release suspected would-be "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla.

Court Rules U.S. Can Indefinitely Detain Citizens Ruling Comes in the Case of 'Enemy Combatant' Jose Padilla By Jerry Markon Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, September 9, 2005; 10:39 AM A federal appeals court ruled today that the president can indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil in the absence of criminal charges, holding that such authority is vital to protect the nation from terrorist attacks. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit came in the case of Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who was arrested in Chicago in 2002 and...

RICHMOND, Va. - A federal appeals court Friday sided with the Bush administration and reversed a judge's order that the government either charge or free “dirty bomb” suspect Jose Padilla. The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the president has the authority to detain a U.S. citizen closely associated with al-Qaida. “The exceedingly important question before us is whether the President of the United States possesses the authority to detain militarily a citizen of this country who is closely associated with al Qaeda, an entity with which the United States is at war,”...

President Bush has the power to detain Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who has been held in a South Carolina military brig for more than three years as a suspected enemy combatant without any charges, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. "The exceedingly important question before us is whether the president of the United States possesses the authority to detain militarily a citizen of this country who is closely associated with al Qaeda,"... A major victory for the Bush administration, but the decision can be appealed to the full appeals court or to the U.S. Supreme Court. Padilla, a...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday sided with the Bush administration and reversed a judge’s order that the government charge or free “dirty bomb” suspect Jose Padilla. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the president has the authority to detain a U.S. citizen closely associated with al Qaeda. U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd in Spartanburg, S.C., ruled in March that the government cannot hold Padilla indefinitely as an “enemy combatant,” a designation President Bush gave him in 2002. The government views Padilla as a militant who planned attacks on...

America's real 'most wanted' Adnan el-Shukrijumah: The man commissioned to nuke U.S. Posted: September 6, 20051:00 a.m. Eastern Paul Williams, author of the new book, "The Al Qaeda Connection," has stirred a national controversy with his reporting on the imminent nuclear terror threat posed by Osama bin Laden. In this exclusive dispatch, the second of a two-part series first published in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, he details how some of the nuclear devices intended to create an American Hiroshima got here. Paul L. Williams © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Forget the FBI's "America's Most Wanted" list. The most dangerous fugitive in the U.S. is...

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — A man was charged with shooting and killing the owner, a bouncer and a patron of an after-hours club where he was denied admission early Sunday. Miguel Padilla was being held without bond in the Blair County Jail after his arraignment on three counts of criminal homicide in the shootings at the United Veterans Association Club, authorities said. All three men were pronounced dead at the scene and Padilla, described by police as an illegal immigrant, was arrested there shortly after the shooting, police said.

Recent arrests have focused attention on a potential terrorism danger that federal officials have been warning about - that inmates in state prison systems are particularly susceptible to radical Islamist ideology. But prison officials across the nation say they so far have seen more potential for recruitment than real threats. Federal officials have arrested three men in Southern California since early July in a plot that allegedly targeted National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles and several synagogues. Authorities said they believe the plan originated among a shadowy group known as Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Saheeh inside California...

RICHMOND, Va. - The lawyer for an American citizen accused of being involved in a "dirty bomb" plot told appeals court judges Tuesday that his client shouldn't be held indefinitely without charges. But a government attorney said the president must have the authority to protect U.S. citizens. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case of Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in May 2002. Accused of being an al-Qaida operative, he was designated an "enemy combatant" by President Bush one month later. "I may be...

Jose Padilla's Oklahoma City Connection   Was Jose Padilla, the American citizen suspected of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S., connected to the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in April of 1995? Christopher BradyPosted: Thursday June 13, 2002 06:13AM ET Glenn Beck Program Exclusive Jose Padilla is the focus of great speculation by Americans today. How can the U.S intelligence agencies have known that Padilla was plotting to detonate one of the most sinister types of weapons of mass destruction? Is it because these agencies had received reports, as John Ashcroft claims, that Padilla and...