Posted on 11/22/2005 7:40:36 AM PST by NormsRevenge
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 case last month, and the Bush administration was facing a deadline next Monday for filing its legal arguments.
"They're avoiding what the Supreme Court would say about American citizens. That's an issue the administration did not want to face," said Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor who specializes in national security. "There's no way that the Supreme Court would have ducked this issue."
The Bush administration has said Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States and planned an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device.
Padilla was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in 2002 after returning from Pakistan. The federal government has said he was trained in weapons and explosives by members of al-Qaida.
Although the Justice Department has said that Padilla was readying attacks in the United States, the charges against him and four others allege they were part of a conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim persons in a foreign country and provide material support to terrorists abroad.
Jose Padilla, also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, who was arrested in an alleged plot to spread radioactive material across parts of America, is shown in this undated file photo. Padilla has been indicted on criminal charges in Miami, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005. (AP Photo/NBC News, File)
bttt
I would prefer a charge of Treason and send a message to the Dems and any others who would help Al Queda. It would also put the Dems on the spot during the trial.
Good news PING
Bump
It is him. The FBI knew who he was and was watching for him.
Excellent.
Got rope?
Consirpacy weapons and other charges. I just heard fox say he is possibly tied to another case.....COULD IT BE????? Are they finally going to come clean about OKC?
gonzales on fox explaining indictment now.
OKC bomber, Terry Nichols, was married to a woman named Padilla. I wonder if a connection was ever made between Jose and her?
Ping
AP Update...
Dirty Bomb Suspect Jose Padilla Indicted
MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051122/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/enemy_combatant_indicted
WASHINGTON - Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held without charges for more than three years on suspicion of plotting a "dirty bomb" attack in this country, has been indicted on three counts alleging he conspired to "murder, maim and kidnap" people overseas.
The indictment naming Padilla and four others was unsealed Tuesday after being returned last week by a federal grand jury in Miami. While the charges allege Padilla was part of a U.S.-based terrorism conspiracy, they do not include the government's earlier allegations that he planned to carry out attacks in America.
"The indictment alleges that Padilla traveled overseas to train as a terrorist with the intention of fighting a violent jihad," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said at a news conference. Gonzales declined to comment on why none of the allegations involving attacks in America were included in the indictment.
Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert, had been held as an "enemy combatant" in Defense Department custody. The Bush administration had resisted calls to charge and try him in civilian courts.
With the indictment, Padilla will be transferred from military custody to the Justice Department. Gonzales said the case would go to trial in September of 2006. Padilla faces life in prison if convicted on the three charges — one count each of conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap people overseas, providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy.
The indictment avoids a Supreme Court showdown over how long the government may hold a U.S. citizen without charges.
"They're avoiding what the Supreme Court would say about American citizens. That's an issue the administration did not want to face," said Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor who specializes in national security. "There's no way that the Supreme Court would have ducked this issue."
Padilla's lawyers had asked justices to review his case last month, and the Bush administration was facing a deadline next Monday for filing its legal arguments.
"The 'evidence' the government has offered against Padilla over the past three years consists of double and triple hearsay from secret witnesses, along with information allegedly obtained from Padilla himself during his two years of incommunicado interrogation," his lawyers said in their earlier appeal.
The Bush administration earlier said Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States and planned an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device.
Gonzales sidestepped the question of why those allegations were not included in the indictment, saying he would only talk about the specific charges.
Padilla was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in 2002 after returning from Pakistan. The federal government has said he was trained in weapons and explosives by members of al-Qaida.
The charges against him and four others allege they were part of a North American support cell that sent money, assets and recruits overseas "for the purpose of fighting violent jihad."
The others indicted are: Adham Amin Hassoun a Lebanese-born Palestinian who lived in Broward County, Fla.;, Mohammed Hesham Youssef, an Egyptian who lived in Broward County; Kifah Wael Jayyousi, a Jordanian national and U.S. citizen who lived in San Diego; and Kassem Daher, a Lebanese citizen with Canadian residency status.
Hassoun also was indicted on eight additional charges, including perjury, obstruction of justice and illegal firearm possession.
Hassoun, a Palestinian computer programmer who moved to Florida in 1989, was arrested in June 2002 for allegedly overstaying his student visa. Prosecutors previously described him as a former associate of Padilla.
Padilla has been held at a Navy brig in South Carolina. Following the indictment, which was handed up last Thursday, President Bush sent a memo to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordering Padilla transferred to the federal detention facility in Miami.
___
On the Net:
Read the Padilla indictment:
http://wid.ap.org/documents/051122padilla_indictment.pdf
Captured enemy combatants out of uniform are espionage agents and during time of war should be shot. Doesn't make any damn differance if he (Padilla) was born in the US or not. This should be applied as well to the "knee jerk" leftist on capitol hill and in the MSM who have been shooting off their big mouths trying to damage the war effort and get our troops killed. We owe it to the troops on the ground to deal with those that give aid and comfort to the enemy. We should not be sending our troops in harms way and allow them to be stabbed in the back here at home by a bunch of "parlor pinks" and the islamic fifth column that resides here.
I have always been uncomfortable with the idea that the American Government could seize any citizen and hold them without charges.
I don't have much problem with American Citizens captured on foreign battlefields being considered as prisoners of war and not getting attorneys, but a citizen arrested inside the country being held without charges for 3 years chills me to the bone.
I would prefer a Supreme Court ruling saying ~absolutely~ that this cannot happen.
I would offer to you that padilla was arrested as he got off a plane from pakistan. Until you pass customs you are not yet in this country. I do not know which side of that line he was arrested on but I would argue it makes a difference.
Smart move. Wait for Alito and maybe one more SC conservative before you take this issue to the SC. In the meantime, Padilla's case will drag on for years and we may be able to send him back to a tribunal later. I don't think it will be a waiver for the miltary's right to try him if the DOJ does.
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