Padilla Jury Opens Pandora's Box
Paul Craig Roberts
Jose Padilla's conviction on terrorism charges on August 16 was a victory, not for justice, but for the US Justice (sic) Department's theory that a US citizen can be convicted, not because he committed a terrorist act but for allegedly harboring aspirations to commit such an act. By agreeing with the Justice (sic) Department's theory, the incompetent Padilla Jury delivered a deadly blow to the rule of law and opened Pandora's Box.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18215.htm
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The real lesson of the Padilla conviction
The Nation
by David Cole
08/18/07
Jose Padilla’s conviction by a federal jury in Miami has already become something of a Rorschach test. Critics of the Bush Administration have argued that the conviction proves that the ordinary criminal justice system works for trying terrorists, and that therefore President Bush did not need to assert the truly extraordinary power of detaining an American citizen arrested on US soil in military custody for more than three years. Meanwhile, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has hailed the conviction as ‘a significant victory in our efforts to fight the threat posed by terrorists and their supporters.’ Both sides are wrong. In fact, Padilla’s criminal conviction was a stroke of luck for the Administration...
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/cole
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Padilla
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gonzales
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detaining
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Craig+Roberts
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Cole
Jose Padilla's conviction on terrorism charges on August 16 was a victory, not for justice, but for the US Justice (sic) Department's theory that a US citizen can be convicted, not because he committed a terrorist act but for allegedly harboring aspirations to commit such an act. By agreeing with the Justice (sic) Department's theory, the incompetent Padilla Jury delivered a deadly blow to the rule of law and opened Pandora's Box.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18215.htm
--------
The real lesson of the Padilla conviction
The Nation
by David Cole
08/18/07
Jose Padilla’s conviction by a federal jury in Miami has already become something of a Rorschach test. Critics of the Bush Administration have argued that the conviction proves that the ordinary criminal justice system works for trying terrorists, and that therefore President Bush did not need to assert the truly extraordinary power of detaining an American citizen arrested on US soil in military custody for more than three years. Meanwhile, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has hailed the conviction as ‘a significant victory in our efforts to fight the threat posed by terrorists and their supporters.’ Both sides are wrong. In fact, Padilla’s criminal conviction was a stroke of luck for the Administration...
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/cole
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Padilla
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gonzales
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detaining
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Craig+Roberts
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Cole
rudkla - 21. Aug, 10:21
