Posted on 06/12/2002 4:21:35 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
WASHINGTON - Two top Republic senators are questioning why terrorist suspect Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen, is being detained outside the criminal justice system without charges.
''There is going to be a lot of public concern about how you treat a United States citizen,'' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., a former prosecutor and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. ``I think that guy's got to be kept in detention, but I think the definition is a congressional matter.''
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., added that ``the attorney general has to come up with a rationale for why they're doing this. They've got to make their case.''
Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said during a visit to Qatar Tuesday that the administration is in no hurry to bring Padilla -- accused of helping to plan a ''dirty bomb'' attack in the United States -- to justice.
''Our interest, really, in this case, is not law enforcement. It is not punishment,'' Rumsfeld said. ``Because he was a terrorist, or working with terrorists, our interest at the moment is to try to find out everything he knows so hopefully we can stop other terrorist acts.''
Padilla, 31, is confined indefinitely in a military brig in Charleston, S.C., as a ''military combatant,'' which means he can be detained for an unspecified period without facing trial.
Padilla's attorney complained on Tuesday that detention is punitive by its nature and said the military was holding him unconstitutionally.
''My client is a citizen,'' Donna R. Newman said outside federal court in New York where she had filed a writ of habeas corpus, which would require Padilla to be brought to court.
''He still has constitutional rights -- the right to counsel, the right to be charged by a grand jury. They have not charged him,'' Newman said.
Sen. Specter called Tuesday for congressional hearings, arguing that the right to set up military tribunals rests with Congress.
Other lawmakers, including liberal Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, sided with the administration.
''If you aid and abet the enemy, whether you are a citizen or not, you're not entitled to the right of due process,'' Schumer said.
Padilla's military custody stands in sharp contrast to the manner in which the administration handled terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen, and John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban apprehended in Afghanistan.
Both now face criminal charges in federal court. Padilla, arrested in Chicago on May 8, was detained as a material witness for a grand jury investigation until he was handed over to the Pentagon.
''Lindh has been charged under criminal provisions,'' Specter said. ``So you really wonder what the differences are between Lindh and this guy.''
Senior government officials have said that Padilla discussed the bomb plot with al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan, among them Abu Zubaydah, the aide to Osama bin Laden who was captured in Pakistan in March, and who later told U.S. officials about the bomb plan. It is believed that Padilla met with Zubaydah as recently as March, just before Zubaydah was captured.
U.S. officials said another al Qaeda associate involved in the alleged plan is being held by Pakistani authorities.
They said the man, who has not been publicly identified but is from an Arab country in the Middle East, is being interrogated by U.S. authorities at an undisclosed location. There were conflicting reports as to whether Pakistan had handed the suspect over to U.S. authorities.
The second suspect traveled with Padilla to eastern Afghanistan last fall to meet Zubaydah and later accompanied Padilla to secret meetings with other senior al Qaeda leaders inside Pakistan to discuss the ''dirty bomb'' proposal as well as potential attacks against hotels, gas stations and other targets, the official said.
One of the most urgent aspects of the investigation is whether Padilla had other accomplices, particularly in the United States.
''He clearly had associates, and one of the things we want to ask him about is who those associates were and how we can track them down,'' Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on CBS's Early Show.
One law-enforcement official Tuesday cautioned that no specific target city or mode of carrying out the bombing had been determined. The official said it was not clear whether al Qaeda's leaders had fully embraced Padilla or the plan, which he had proposed to them.
''There is no indication he had the means to do it or was given the authority to do it,'' the official said.
Neither a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office nor Newman would comment on the grand jury investigation of Padilla.
But officials said he had not offered any information of value.
''He was not forthcoming,'' one official said.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said in the Padilla case that authorities were acting under a 1942 Supreme Court precedent ``which establishes that the military may detain a United States citizen who has joined the enemy or has entered our country to carry out hostile acts.''
Drew Brown of The Herald's Washington Bureau contributed to this report, which was supplemented with information from Herald wire services.
Mike
SCOTUS ruled in Ex Parte Quirin in 1942 that the detaining of saboteurs, modern day terrorists, or what they called unlawful combatants is indeed constitutional. The Geneva Convention also recognises the right of nations to hold scumbags incommunicado for obvious reasons. Why the far, far right and the left along with these two whackjobs want to give terrorists one free whack before we put them on ice is beyond me.
FYI, a judge in New York just ordered a terrorist, a guy who met with Atta 40 times, released because the DOJ did not have sufficient evidence to hold him over. He is now walking the streets and maybe even in a neighborhood by you.
My big concern is that there does need to be some provision to bring him to justice. Stipping him of his rights in such an arbitrary way goes beyond justice. At least have a hearing to do this and not just the word of the DOJ. It is very frightening that the government can label someone a terrorist, then hold him indefinitely without any form of appeal. In the future this can lead to all kinds of abuse by less scrupulous administrations. I'm sure Bill and Hitlary would love to have done this to some of their opposition.
I think this guy should be held incommunicato in order to extract whatever information can be gained, but after that, he needs to be put on trial like Johnny Taliban. Otherwise, why should we even bother to defend our constitution if the government can, at their own questionable judgement and without appeal, suspend it? WHat if the government wants to go after someone here on FreeRepublic. What would you do if you were in that situation?
This "military combatant" crap is fodder for the Big Brother crowd.
Last time I was a combatant in the military, I wore a uniform and was physically in combat.
This Padilla dork is a street gang-banger with dreams of selling out to the high bidder. If he broke a law, book him and get him to court. That's what our Constitution is about. Innocent until proven guilty.
That's why two hundred years ago we trashed a guy named King George.
Hillary must be salivating.
Yeah, here's at least one. Sometimes I can't believe how many so called conservatives and lovers of the Constitution can be so quick to ignore it when it conflicts with the emotions of the moment. They're doing the same thing they accuse the libs of doing.
Good question, my friend. Give me an hour, I'll think of a name.../sarcasm.
Funny imagine! hehehe
Yeah, here's at least one. Sometimes I can't believe how many so called conservatives and lovers of the Constitution can be so quick to ignore it when it conflicts with the emotions of the moment. They're doing the same thing they accuse the libs of doing.
Here is another vote.
Income Tax was a "temporary" fix to pay for WWII. Last I checked it has not gone away.
No Knock warrants were a temporary fix that would wipe out any advantage the drug dealers had. It has not gone away nor have drugs.
Noone on this board will live to see all the rights taken away in the patriot act restored. Plus we now have a new 30,000 plus army of federal employees harrasing citizens at the airports. Do not expect these folks to get a real job in your life time either.
This entire terrorism thing is a test of what we the people have as values as opposed to what we say we have as values. I am a bit underwhelmed at this point.
Made Barry Goldwater look better and better. He's dead, but still better.
I am SO SICK of John McVain and Arlen Spector ALWAYS second guessing our President. Questioning is a good thing, but THESE two are taking it too far..........I suspect it is the attention that they are seeking, not what is GOOD for our nation. I am sick of both of them.
The numbers I am currently using are 1-888-242-0100, which I just used yesterday to call once again and reaffirm my disgust with the hate crimes bill.
Other numbers to call the capital switchboard are : 1-877-762-8762 and 1-800-648-3516.
All one has to do is request the operator put one thru to whatever senator's or rep's office one desires.
Guess he thinks the republicans will again have a one vote lead in the Senate and he will betray us once again.
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