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He is being held as an enemy combatant, and could potentially pass information detrimental to the lives and safety of other American citizens through a legal conduit.

As far-fetched as it may sound, what is to keep a future government from doing the same to you someday? You might be a pro-lifer, rounded up after agents provocateur blow up a few butcheries (remember the Reichstag?). Or perhaps a future government will attempt a bold power grab, and you might belong to a group calling for the return to individual liberty and constitutional government.

Think for a minute. Must the government prove any case of wrongdoing against you -- a Citizen -- in a Constitutionally-prescribled court of law which presumes your innocence? Or might it simply declare your guilt by your mere association with an unpopular group, and then quietly dispose of you in a secret court martial with secret evidence and anonymous witnesses? Who will be empowered to make those determinations? And to whom will these dictators be accountable?

The answers can be found in the history of the French Revolution, where the accusation was tantamount to conviction. Imagine what mischief a future American government can do if allowed to lump you in with the hated group de jour, and simply ignore your rights as a Citizen.

You are exactly right. Our system is quite strong enough to try Padilla properly and by the rules. We don't need to cut any Constitutional corners. If Padilla is guilty, he'll get what he deserves. What concerns me is that the government might be using this tactic to punish or dispose of people who they know they CANNOT prove are guilty of any wrongdoing -- they just think that they are "bad people" who need to be gotten rid of.