The Tragedy of Jose Padilla
By: Whitney Dibo, Michigan Daily (U. Michigan)
December 7, 2006 4:32 PM
(U-WIRE) ANN ARBOR, Mich. - At the naval brig in Charleston, S.C., he was referred to as "our enemy combatant." But to American activists enraged over President Bush's blatant disregard for due process, Jose Padilla became an icon for the deterioration of constitutional rights in the post-Sept. 11 era.
The argument over whether suspected "enemy combatants" are entitled to constitutional protections is a debate the incoming Democratic Congress should have. In the meantime, Padilla's trial is scheduled for Jan. 22 -- but his lawyers are saying he isn't mentally stable enough to go through with it.
Arrested at O'Hare International Airport in May 2002, Padilla was held in a military prison without charges for 21 months. Deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy and public trial and his Fifth Amendment right to due process of law, Padilla was kept in solitary confinement, sleeping on a steel platform and eating food passed to him through a metal slot. Although Padilla begged for legal help, his request was repeatedly denied.
Activists were placated last November when Padilla was finally indicted on charges of "providing material support to terrorists" and "conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim" individuals overseas. Curiously, the original reason given for Padilla's arrest -- that he planned to detonate radioactive "dirty bombs" in American apartment buildings -- appeared nowhere in last fall's indictment. In fact, the charge doesn't include anything about a planned terrorist attack on American soil. Apparently that accusation, which the U.S. government had a lengthy 21 months to substantiate, didn't pan out.
In a recently released video, Padilla is shown preparing for a rare trip to a prison dentist. He is wearing soundproof headphones and blackout goggles. His feet and hands are shackled and chained to a metal belt. The video is a startling glimpse into Padilla's extreme isolation.
Padilla has also told his lawyers that his prison interrogations included exposure to extreme hot and cold, sleep depravation, stress positions, hooding, harsh lights and threats of execution. He was also allegedly forced to swallow a drug, possibly LSD, as a "truth serum."
A forensic psychiatrist has confirmed after examining Padilla that due to the severity of his confinement, he now "lacks the capacity to assist in his own defense." Padilla is so paranoid that he suspects his own lawyers are part of a government interrogation scheme and desperately begs them not to speak about his incarceration.
Let's be clear about one thing. Padilla's case was not that of an innocent traveler randomly seized at the airport en route to his grandmother's funeral. Upon arrest, Padilla was actually deplaning from a tour around Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq carrying $10,526 and the e-mail addresses of al-Qaida operatives.
But despite Padilla's less-than-stellar track record, his defense's insanity plea is no ploy to dodge trial.
Padilla's lawyers have relentlessly fought for a fair and public trial for their client since they first met with Padilla in March of 2004. They clearly aren't afraid to bring their case to court, considering it has already been heard multiple times. The 2nd Circuit Court took it up first and ruled Padilla must be charged immediately or released from military custody.
But that decision was suspended after the Bush administration appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court -- which promptly punted the case back to the circuit courts, saying the case was "misfiled." After the 4th Circuit Court found that the Bush administration did in fact have the power to hold Padilla indefinitely without charges, his lawyers appealed once again to the Supreme Court -- which refused to hear the case. Talk about a holdup.
It's hard to believe that now, after literally years of delay, Padilla's lawyers would voluntarily throw away their long-awaited opportunity to defend their client in court.
Padilla's defense lawyers aren't avoiding trial; they are making sure their now mentally disturbed client, who is now suffering from post-traumatic stress after four years of solitary confinement and abuse, is finally given his due process.
It remains to be seen whether Padilla has the capacity to stand trial next month. But whatever the courts decide, it's a lose-lose situation for the American justice system.
If Padilla is found mentally unfit to stand trial, the U.S. government will have lost the chance to convict its enemy combatant. Nor will Padilla get the opportunity to detail the abuse he suffered at the hands of the U.S. government. And if Padilla does go to court in January, that too will be a sad day for the U.S. court system -- when a man who has been declared mentally unstable and incapable of assisting in his own defense is forced to stand trial.
The bottom line is that there are no shortcuts in the justice system. When the U.S. government tampers with the Constitution and revokes our most basic rights, something is bound to go awry. Unfortunately, in this case, it was Jose Padilla's personhood and sanity.
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