What puzzles me most about this is the timing. This concept of "enemy combatant" for a U.S. citizen wasn't formulated until Jose Padilla, the "dirty bomber" was arrested and promptly hidden away in a brig.
Meanwhile, Johnny Walker Jihad, a true enemy combatant, and a U.S. citizen, has an attorney and is getting a trial, as are two non-citizens, Moussaoui and Reid. All three of these have proven themselves dangerous creatures by acts, not intent. And yet Padilla is treated as a far worse villain.
I can't help but wonder what there is about Padilla that makes it mandatory that he be kept incommunicado forever. Could it be that he really is linked to the Oklahoma City bombing? The government's treatment of him defies logic in comparison to the other three, and opens the Justice Department to ridicule even by those who have no concerns about the Constitution.