JOSE PADILLA: Charge him or release him?

[mburbank]

Jose Padilla has been held 2 1/2 years without charges. He's an American citizen, taken on American soil in a non combat situation. A federal judge says that's unconstitutional and they must charge him or release him. The Justice department is appealling, saying he's an 'enemey combatant' and a grave danger to the US which means they can keep him locked up without presenting evidence or charging him for the rest of his life if they want.

Here's what I see this case as being about. Does the executive branch have the right to make an American Citizen disapear on their say so alone without oversight from any other branch of government?

For all I know, Jose Padillia is a very, very dangerous man. I think, though, that he cannot be more scary than setting legal precident for the chief executive to make people vanish forever.

[Cosmo Electrolux]

How did they classify him as an enemy combatant?

[Anonymous]

he wasn't wearing a dress and inconveniently leaping out from behind exploding barrels.

[AChimp]

His name don't sound white.

[Cosmo Electrolux]

I didn't know Messicans were terrorists too.....I though they was all Iraqnoids and Iraniacs....

[mburbank]

He's the alleged dirty bomber, and how they classified him as an 'enemy combatant' is exactly the problem. First of all, 'enemy combatant' is, I think, an invention of the administration, and has no legally recognized precident. The justice department references laws regarding pirates, but most of this stuff relies on the participants being stateless.

His status as enemy combatant (and I think this applies to all enemy combatants) has simply been declared by the executive branch. I'm not aware any evidence had to be presented to any other branch of government, so what it comes down to is you are an enemy combatant if the executive branch says you are, an folks should believe the executive branch would not abuse this power because they say they wouldn't.

To my mind, this is a power decent folks who understood what America and Democracy are wouldn't be asking for in the first place. It's a power usually reserved for dictators.

[Cosmo Electrolux]

I hate to seem paranoid, but it seems that is exactly what we're headed for. The nation is falling apart, and the administration's only concern seems to be keeping gay people form marrying and killing brown people. Scary thing is, there's a large group of people who think that's okay.

[davinxtk]

*cough cough* mccarthy era *cough cough*

[Sergeant_Tibbs]

1984?

[FS]

Roswell. Roswell!

[kellychaos]

Gay people can't even GET married so how can they be killing brown people?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by mburbank

Here's what I see this case as being about. Does the executive branch have the right to make an American Citizen disapear on their say so alone without oversight from any other branch of government?

It seems to work in South America.