Pawn in the game

Jose Padilla is a thug. A violent felon who’s done time for robbery, gun violations and aggravated assault, Padilla is an ex-gang member from Brooklyn with an arrest record stretching back to the time he was 14 years old. But he’s also something much more frightening than his violent career criminal record indicates: Padilla is living proof of the Bush administration’s lies and its willingness to trample the Constitution in its war on terror.

Padilla is the victim of one of the most high-profile, politically motivated arrests in American history, and his continued incarceration is in obvious violation of his right to due process. Arrested May 8 amid pronouncements by Attorney General John Ashcroft that he was “closely associated with al Qaeda” and planning to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the United States, Padilla is now being held indefinitely and without charges in a military prison.

At the time of Padilla’s arrest, Ashcroft crowed that federal authorities had “disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot.” That story simply has not held up. It always seemed unlikely that Padilla, a substance-abusing American ex-con who had only recently converted to Islam, would be accepted by the strict Muslim fundamentalists of Al Qaeda, especially since federal agents had frequently stated Al Qaeda was almost impossible to infiltrate. It wasn’t surprising, then, when defense department officials quietly admitted that there was no evidence of a terrorist plot, just some “loose talk” about a bombing.

It remains to be seen if, as alleged, Padilla was in fact scouting sites for a potential attack in the United States. But it’s reasonable to assume that if the government had evidence for those allegations, Padilla would be charged in federal court. Instead, President Bush has declared him an “enemy combatant,” a legal standing that allows Padilla to be held indefinitely without trial.

Why did the government lie about Padilla’s arrest? We can only guess, but there is a possibility that suggests itself with frightening ease: Padilla is being sacrificed as a pawn in the administration’s public relations game.

His arrest came as the Bush administration was reeling from revelations that it had specific warnings prior to September 11 yet did nothing to prevent the attacks. Bush desperately wanted something to distract the public’s attention and to show that future attacks were being thwarted. Padilla was arrested, statements were made about foiling a terrorist plot, and when it turned out there wasn’t enough evidence for a trial, Bush put Padilla in legal limbo.

This can’t be allowed to continue. As unsavory a character as Padilla may be, we all need to defend his right to due process as if defending the Constitution itself. Congress, the media and the public should demand that he receive either a fair trial or an immediate release.