As prosecution and defense witnesses spar over whether Jose Padilla is competent to stand trial, I think it's interesting to compare our treatment of Padilla (and the political reaction to it) with the fate of the Egyptian blogger found guilty of criticizing Islam and Hosni Mubarak.

Many of the same people who support holding Padilla manage to (rightly) oppose the treatment of the blogger. But who got treated better? At least the blogger was charged, tried and convicted in open court. He had a chance to challenge the evidence against him. And his lawyers are appealing the sentence. He wasn't simply picked up by security agents and thrown into solitary confinement for three years based solely on the government's say-so.

Padilla's alleged crime (not the long-dropped "dirty bomb" accusation, but the ones he is facing trial for) is more serious than simply posting opinions to a blog, of course. But the key word there is "alleged." The fact remains that Egypt -- a country known for repression, torture and other heavy-handed tactics -- treated their suspect far more in accord with American standards than we did Padilla. And that's a sad commentary on how badly the president's overreach on security matters has tarnished the proud legacy of freedom here.

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Man up.

That attitude is so 1999, Raytri. Get with the program. It takes far too much time to gather evidence and try people. Time we could be spending covering everyone's house in radiation proof bubble wrap.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

How has he been mistreated? If you're referring to his claims of "abuse" while incarcerated----that is part of his al Qaeda training; to claim such abuse.

And why do you care so much about a man who has provided recruits and money to al Qaeda as well as to have trained with them to KILL Americans? Would you prefer he be allowed to finish what he started first?

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Throwing someone in jail without due process is mistreatment.

If he did those things, then by all means try him and convict him.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Exactly. The "but he's a terrorist" excuse is making special circumstances based on the charge, not on the evidence. We can apply the same logic to "but he's a murderer/thief/rapist" and never have to worry about procedure again! How about we just don't use evidence anymore? It's such a pre-9/11 thing.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

Besides, if he was really training Al Qaeda operatives to kill 'mercans, then we should be able to prove it.

It seems odd to get up and speak about the "rule of law" while at the same time ignoring it.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Interesting take on things...One has to wonder what happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Freedom exited stage right when the Bushies and the GOP decided that they could do as they pleased with US citizens and others held in capitivity.

Bravery seems to be sorely lacking in that the fear tactics of "Terrorists are just waiting around the corner if you do not give up your freedoms" have led us to a point where fear has stripped citizens of rights and America of her moral compass.

We can only be glad that the Dems took over congress as that will at least reign in the exec branch and bring some much needed sanity to an argumnet to often laced with fear mongering then reality.


BTW terrorists were around pre 9/11.....enough whing about it already my rightwing freinds. THey wanted us dead before 9/11 and under your watch they succeeded but that does not mean that we need to fear them anymore now then we should have then.

JP5 is on the ground bleeding and unconscious after that one... Ouch.

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

Not when, like most Neocons, you come from the camp of "we had to destroy the village in order to save it"...

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

The government has every right to grab someone, throw them in solitary confinement with no clocks, no calendar, no visiters, no daylight light cycles, engage in sensory deprevation and then sensory overload which is well know to cause insanity. The government can do this to whomever they want, without any recourse, any legal rights, any lawyers or any rights, heck without any formal charges.

That is the american way, right JP5. That is the America you stand for. That is your vision of American greatness, right.