Appeals Court Orders Jose Padilla released in 30 Days!

FOXCNN

[Dog]

Breaking...

[B Knotts]

Who is Congress going to declare war on in order to enable the President to detain dirty bombers?

al-Qaeda.

[Kryptonite]

Right again. I am stunned by the impracticality of this decision.

[jwalsh07]

It's a distinction without a difference but tell me, how do you formally declare war against an entity that has no borders? I only ask becuase the case we are discussing today is predicated on a Joint Resolution against the terrorists who were responsible for 9/11/01 et al.

[freeeee]

We hung the rosenbergs for giving the enemy weapon plans during the undeclared "cold" war.

The Rosenburgs had a trial.

That's all I'm asking. I don't want him released, just charged. From the reaction of some here, you'd think he got off scot free and was given the key to the city.

A trial is merely a check and balance to ensure that the bad guys really are the people the government says they are. Otherwise government could go around pointing their fingers at anyone they don't like and call them a terrorist or a criminal. That's an absolute power that has no place in a free country. If he is what they say he is, they should have no trouble proving so.

[B Knotts]

You just state that you are declaring war against that entity, and lay out the basic reasons why.

To me, the weird thing is how these resolutions refuse to use the word "war."

[jwalsh07]

Be that as it may, that is the fiefdom of Congress, not the judiciary. The judiciary can no more tell Congress the method to declare war than they can make laws.

Uhoh, bad choice of words.

[MarkL]

As long as they file charges, keep him locked up. I find a big difference between keeping foreign combatants locked up as POW's, and holding american citizens without charges.

It is unamerican to hold somebody without being able to see a lawyer or hear the charges against him.

If they have the goods, charge him, otherwise he must be released. The court was right here.

I agree with you 100%... If they had caught him on the battlefield in Afgahnistan, that would be OK... But here's a guy who's a US citizen, who was captured on US soil, at an airport... I've got some serious problems with that.

Mark

[B Knotts]

You're right, but at some point, if Congress is not clear enough what its intention is, it will end up in court for interpretation.

So, all I'm saying, is they ought to be completely clear about it, and just use the words, "declaration of war."

[Kryptonite]

Al-Qeada isn't a nation, it has no borders, etc... And then what if Al-qeada didn't sponsor a guy like Padilla, but Hamas did? Can you imagine the whining from the left about detaining a guy knowing that he wasn't affiliated with the group we are at war with.

And what if this guy truly was connected to the OKC bombing, and our people are looking into intelligence on that side of the equation, which could prove that he not only planned the dirty bomb, but also was involved with foreign agents in the planning of the OKC bombing?

Sure this is speculation, but there has to be plenty of reasons for the administration's fight in this court battle. And the idea that all of this rests on whether Congress declares war on somebody is a procedural hook that sounds as if it came from 3rd grade recess.

[lugsoul]

We charged the Rosenbergs, and tried them. Why doesn't Padilla deserve the same consideration?

[MarkL]

You renounce your citizenship when you take up arms against soldiers from your own country. He is no longer an American all that is needed is that he be caught with the enemie and he was.

Huh??? Padilla was caught at a US airport, O'Hare I believe.

Mark

[Recovering_Democrat]

BULL***T!
He is being held as an enemy combatant. The Feds will appeal this and the scumball will be kept in the brig. These judges need to be tossed in with him, if you ask me.

[Peach]

Hopefully they'll charge him. Throw everything but the kitchen sink at him. Something is sure to stick.

[jwalsh07]

So, all I'm saying, is they ought to be completely clear about it, and just use the words, "declaration of war."

I've got no problem with that, in fact I wish they'd "declare war" on judicial tyranny.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Yeah, and what a mistake that was. The Rosenbergs, traitors in the extreme, have been made into huge heroes of the left...by the virtue of them having been put through a public spectacle of a trial.

There is a difference, too, between the Rosenbergs and Padilla: Padilla was planning an exact attack, the Rosenbergs were peddling information.

[Recovering_Democrat]

That "socalled" Patriot Act has kept you safe the past 2.5 years. A damn good piece of legislation being enforced, despite the handwringers on the right and the self appointed civil libertarians on the left, by a damn good administration.

[Protagoras]

This guy isn't going anywhere. He will not be released.

The difference is that he will now be treated differently. And this time correctly.

[lugsoul]

Hmmm. Maybe you are right. When the accusations of the Federal government automatically become fact, what is the point in even having a justice system?

[oceanview]

this will embolden the 100s of other Padilla's that are likely in the US, many of whom are citizens.

[Recovering_Democrat]

The court doesn't know how to read the law. They'll be corrected: Padilla is being held, under the law, as an ENEMY COMBATANT...not unlike those jokesters in Guantanamo. He's got the unique designation of being a citizen who trained and planned with Al Qaeda. Of course the courts want to protect such a man...fortunately, the administration wants to protect the citizenry.

The Department of Defense holds Padilla: NOT the Justice Department!