Terror suspect Jose Padilla has been indicted on terrorism charges and I couldn’t be happier. Padilla is a so-called “enemy combatant” in the eyes of the Bush administration, which has led to his incarceration for three years in a military prison without being charged with any crime.
“The issue before the Supreme Court is still alive and active — that the president signed an order to hold an American citizen for three years without criminal charges,” said Andy Patel, Padilla’s attorney. “The fact that they now decided to charge Mr. Padilla with a criminal offense doesn’t mean they couldn’t do this again to another person in the future.
It only took three years of Padilla’s life to bring charges against him. He’ll finally have his day in court. Padilla is a known gang member. He may be a terrorist. He may even be the John Doe 2 from the Oklahoma City Bombing. Regardless of all this, he is due his day in court. Now’ll he get it.
Let’s see if these charges stand.