Suspect Is Declared an Enemy Combatant: The Bush administration on Monday dropped criminal charges against a Qatari man who was in the United States on a student visa and instead declared him an "enemy combatant" who allegedly led an effort to settle Al Qaeda "sleeper" operatives in this country. President Bush signed the order switching control of Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, 37, from the Justice Department to the Pentagon — the first time such a transfer has occurred. The change in Al-Marri's status denies him nearly all of the rights afforded criminal suspects in civilian court, including access to a lawyer and a show-cause hearing before a judge, senior administration officials said. As an enemy combatant, he could eventually be tried before a military tribunal. In a one-page letter to Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Bush said he made the decision "based on evidence available from all sources."
I'm guessing -- just guessing -- that the evidence available from all sources would be ... well, exactly. None whatsoever. Frankly, there's no ostensible reason whatsoever to do this except that they don't want to admit that they likely made a mistake. Either the guy never did anything suspicious in the first place, or they picked him up before he could really do anything, but thereby compromised their ability to prove that he was ever going to do anything. Either way, the evidence of his guilt most likely doesn't exist.
"Mr. Al-Marri represents a continuing present and grave danger to the national security of the United States, and the detention of Mr. Al-Marri is necessary to prevent him from aiding Al Qaeda in its efforts to attack the United States," Bush wrote. [...] The Pentagon confirmed Monday that the Department of Defense had transported Al-Marri from Illinois to the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C., the same place where Padilla is being held. Hamdi is in a Navy brig in Norfolk, Va. Al-Marri, also known as Abdullakareem A. Almuslam, has been in federal custody since December 2001....
Excuse me ... the man has been in a federal jail for nearly two years. What could he POSSIBLY know at this point? Do they imagine that everything and everyone in the terrorist organization to which he allegedly belongs is just standing still, waiting for his return, holding the materials to prove his and their guilt?
Of course, the fun part of this is that not only does this theoretically remove him from the normal judicial system, but it also means that he has no right to an attorney, nor does he get to see the evidence of the charges against him. Not that there are any.
Court to hear 'enemy combatant' appeal: NEW YORK (CNN) -- A year after Jose Padilla was tossed into a Navy brig as an "enemy combatant," a federal appeals court has agreed to speed up a decision on whether the alleged "dirty bomber" should be allowed to meet with lawyers trying to challenge his detention. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York has granted motions to hear an appeal in the case on an "expedited" basis, as both the Justice Department and Padilla's lawyers requested in April. The appellate court will schedule oral arguments after October 13, the court's order said, and the case is expected to be heard by the end of the year. [...] The Justice Department has been fighting attempts by lawyers representing Padilla to meet with him to discuss his case, arguing that could jeopardize national security.
It will be interesting to see what comes of this. The question is, can the government arrest an American citizen on American soil for conducting entirely legal -- if possibly reprehensible -- activities, and completely get away with it? After all, essentially what Padilla was arrested for was a conspiracy that went nowhere, that was going nowhere at the time. And there's this: as long as it's nothing more than talk, it's entirely legal to talk about blowing up a bridge, or overthrowing the government. The CIA itself has said that Padilla's group did nothing more than that.
There is also this: we know about these people because the government has deigned to let us know about them. How many are there that we don't know about? The enemy combattant rules dictate that the government may now, at its whim, arrest and hold incommunicado any American citizen for any reason whatsoever. They do not need to show proof of criminal activity, and to date have not. They do not need to charge these people with actual crimes, and to date have not. They do not need to allow these people to meet with lawyers, and to date will not. The prospect of being declared an enemy combattant is so dire that the government uses it as a threat to gain cooperation. None of this is constitutional. All of this is happening today. And the government is right proud that they're doing it!
Posted by iain at June 24, 2003 01:53 PM
