fishbob
1st October 2003, 01:23 PM
http://www.joebobbriggs.com/ (http://)
Joe Bob sez:Here's what we know about Jose Padilla (and it's precious little):
He is an American citizen.
He was arrested on American soil--namely, Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
He's been held in solitary confinement since May 8, 2002, with no access to a lawyer, with no idea that he even has a lawyer, with no contact with the outside world, with no knowledge of his situation except what he's told by his military handlers.
Besides the constitutional implications, there's even a specific federal law passed in the early seventies (Title 18, section 4001(a) of the U.S. Code) that states the issue unequivocally: "No citizen shall be imprisoned or otherwise detained by the United States except pursuant to an Act of Congress."
There has been no act of Congress.
And in the face of this, they still hold Padilla.
Assuming that Joe Bob has his facts down correctly, couldn't the government types holding Padilla be charged with kidnapping? Or is there some special provision somewhere that provides some exemption to prosecution of law enforcement types?
This is somewhat related to Tami0's thread "The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003" in that this story has not been discussed much lately. Also related to lamme's thread "On beach stroll; would you photograph nuclear plant?" in that some law enforcement types seem to be making up laws.
This just seems too similar to the fictional 1950's LA described in Walter Mosley's stories (Easy Rawlins, Fearless Jones), where the police get away with anything they like, as long as they do it to negros.
We are supposed to be beyond that these days.
Joe Bob sez:Here's what we know about Jose Padilla (and it's precious little):
He is an American citizen.
He was arrested on American soil--namely, Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
He's been held in solitary confinement since May 8, 2002, with no access to a lawyer, with no idea that he even has a lawyer, with no contact with the outside world, with no knowledge of his situation except what he's told by his military handlers.
Besides the constitutional implications, there's even a specific federal law passed in the early seventies (Title 18, section 4001(a) of the U.S. Code) that states the issue unequivocally: "No citizen shall be imprisoned or otherwise detained by the United States except pursuant to an Act of Congress."
There has been no act of Congress.
And in the face of this, they still hold Padilla.
Assuming that Joe Bob has his facts down correctly, couldn't the government types holding Padilla be charged with kidnapping? Or is there some special provision somewhere that provides some exemption to prosecution of law enforcement types?
This is somewhat related to Tami0's thread "The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003" in that this story has not been discussed much lately. Also related to lamme's thread "On beach stroll; would you photograph nuclear plant?" in that some law enforcement types seem to be making up laws.
This just seems too similar to the fictional 1950's LA described in Walter Mosley's stories (Easy Rawlins, Fearless Jones), where the police get away with anything they like, as long as they do it to negros.
We are supposed to be beyond that these days.