Whose life was saved by the torture of Jose Padilla?

Question

Jose Padilla, unfit for trial, was indicted for charges unrelated to his arrest. After 5 years of torture and extreme isolation, his psyche has been broken. His arrest, the torture, occurred in violation of US Law and the Geneva Agreements. Whose life was saved?

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/16/1416242
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/17/1323250

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Martin Luther King, jr.:

Answer 1

Was justice served in the conviction of Jose Padilla? I think not. If you look at the FACTS dispassionately, you will only see someone who conveniently served as a scapegoat to take the pressure off the Government for its mistakes in not reading the warning signs prior to 9/11. The charge of intending to set off a Dirty Bomb in a major city and for which Padilla was initially arrested at Chicago's O'hare airport and subsequntly thrown into a Military brig in South Carolina without benefit of a lawyer for three years was later dropped for lack of any real evidence. I am not going to get into every detail of the Bush government's machinations in this case -- if you really want to know, you can read all the sordid details in any major newspaper including the NYTimes, the Los Angeles Times, The christian Science Monitor and the Washington Post, MSNBC, etc. There was nothing specific in the crime for which he was charged and convicted in the end. Just a vaguely worded statement that he and two others had conspired to kidnap, threaten and maim people in a foreign country. No mention of any dirty bombs, no talk of blowing up any building, no material witnesses to being kidnapped or harmed in any way. Justice was not served in any way in that courtroom in Miami. For an excellent analysis of what really went down, I suggest you read Scott Horton's analysis in Harper's magazine: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/08/hbc-90000925. There are a few aspects of the article that I do not see eye to eye with the author but his conclusion of the dangers faced by this country not from terrorists by from governments who want to restore the tyrannical regimes of old really hit home. And I would strongly suggest to those peopole who delight in the conviction of Jose Padilla that they do some serious reading and take some serious thought as to where and what the Bush administration is doing to this country.

Answer 2

jose pedilla was jailed including 3 other men just so bush can show that hes moving in on terror i think that no1s lives were saved instead 3 innocent men we jailed and lots of other innocent ppl wheres the justice i am very ashamed that this is our government its a shame i mean jus read the case papers and reviews u will be ashamed 2 its horrible just look at it instead of lives being saved lives are being lost at the min andi dnt mean physically i mean emotionally

Answer 3

Nothing Jose Padilla did was covered by any part of the Geneva Convention. He was a traitor and a terrorist who returned to this country with the goal of committing a heinous act, yet you choose to defend his actions and try to evoke pity for him.

Forget it. He deserved everything that happened to him and should rot in jail for the rest of his (hopefully short) life.

Answer 4

Not sure...
http://www.wiggin.com/practices/areainfo.asp?groupid=5&areaID=231

Link leads to transcripts of apeal...


You quoted King? any idea what his views of our situation would be...

Answer 5

Try siting more than one source when making outrageous claims. All of our lives were saved by locking that monster up. That is who's life was saved!

Answer 6

None, no one, absolutely nothing is gained!