[Thud]

Padilla was not charged with any criminal offense. He was simply being held as an enemy combatant aka POW, albeit an unlawful combatant. He has no more rights than a Confederate POW, or filibusterer coming over from Canada, had during the Civil War.

Vermont was "outside a zone of actual combat" in 1864 when the St. Albans raiders came over from Canada. The federal government then could not have held those guys under military jurisdiction under the 2nd Circuit decision had it caught them crossing the border before they acquired weapons in Vermont to attack the town with. See this URL:

http://www.vermontcivilwar.org/staraid/index.shtml

The 2nd Circuit's ruling ignores 9/11. References to "a zone of actual combat" are inane in this conflict. This seems to be a paradigm shift issue - those on the wrong side will never understand.

[Frank_Discussion]

I understand and agree, and hope the 9th Circus someday climbs into their little clown car to drive away.

[Dog Gone]

References to "a zone of actual combat" are inane in this conflict.

I agree 100%. Terrorists don't confine themselves to traditional battle lines.

In fact, they rely on making every place a potential zone of actual combat, and you don't know where that zone is until it's too late.

[NonValueAdded]

Vermont civil war??? Where was Dean and when did he know about it?

Seriously, you can learn something new on FR every day!