After suffering three years of isolation, alleged torture and constitutionally suspect detainment, Jose Padilla has been convicted of terrorism conspiracy charges. The government’s key piece of evidence was an al-Qaida application, which Padilla was accused of filling out in Arabic, using an alias.
The Founding Fathers won a war, but their true contribution to human history was to tackle head-on the reality that humans and their institutions can so easily become that which they despise.
Recently released video footage of Jose Padilla for the first time reveals life as an “enemy combatant” in U.S. custody. The footage shows Padilla, manacled and deprived of vision and hearing, en route to a dental appointment. Padilla was denied access to a lawyer for 21 months, testing the extent of the Bush administration’s executive power.