The mainstream media, which, as we all know, is totally dedicated to bringing down Our Maximum Leader, George CG (Commander Guy) Bush, generally called it a "significant victory" for the Bush administration. A red, white and blue jury, not wanting to give ground to the terrorists in the Bush World War to "rid the word of evildoers," returned a guilty verdict in the case of Jos Padilla and two other alleged conspirators. The trio was accused of attempting to join the al-Qaeda network in its terrorist campaign. May God deliver the United States of America from any further "victories" over the Constitution of the United States and the due process of law.
It is remarkable that any portion of the public is willing to swallow this hogwash. The Bush regime, under the supreme command of our born-again Benito, seized Padilla, an American citizen, at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport in May of 2002 and initially said it was holding him as a "material witness." Then he became an "unlawful enemy combatant." The story put out was that he and others were conspiring to detonate a "dirty bomb" in one of our major U.S. cities, though I don’t believe we were ever told which one.
For more than three years, Padilla was held in solitary confinement in a military prison, with no charge filed against him. The Bush administration claimed it could hold him that way indefinitely, meaning forever, as a prisoner in the war on terror. He was denied the benefit of counsel. He was allowed no communication with the world outside his prison cell. We the people were told we had neither need nor right to know what was happening to him at the hands of our government. He was reportedly subject to sleep deprivation and other means of psychological torture. As the case moved through the judicial system at a glacial pace and the Supreme Court finally appeared on the verge of requiring the government to either charge the prisoner or turn him loose, the prosecutors came up with a confession from Padilla and brought the case to court.
Nearly two years later, the case came to trial and Padilla and his alleged co-conspirators were found guilty. According to the New York Times, the most substantial evidence against Padilla was an application form, with his fingerprints on it, for training at an al-Qaeda camp in the year 2000. I’m not sure what law that broke, since, whatever al-Qaeda may have declared about the United States by then, the United States was not at war with al-Qaeda in 2000. To the best of my knowledge, the Congress of the United States still has not formally declared war against al-Qaeda or anyone else. Congress merely "authorized" the president to do whatever seemeth good to Our Maximum Leader to do. That’s our Congress. Best damn rubber stamp a warlord with a bully pulpit could want.
By the time he came to trial, Padilla’s lawyer (Yes, they finally let him have one) tried to have him declared incompetent to stand trial. Yeah, I’m sure that was just a dodge. Years of solitary confinement with sleep deprivation, interrogation without counsel and no apparent hope for release shouldn’t damage a man’s mind any. This is New World Order his Daddy promised, pal. Get used to it.
In all likelihood, we have not heard the end of this case. Counsel for the other two defendants promised an appeal and it seems all but certain Padilla’s conviction will also be challenged in appeals court. But what appeal do we the people have?
Do we ever learn? One commentator wrote that in a little more than a year, we will have a new president in the White House who will be guided by "loyalty to the Constitution, rather than pernicious self-interest." As Archie Bunker used to say when Edith was in the middle of one of her endless stories, "Help me, Lord!"
First of all, who says Bush, our Boy Benito, has been acting on "pernicious self interest"? Hey, our New Messiah has a nation to defend, an entire world to liberate and free from sin. He is acting from the noblest of motives, which are often the most dangerous.
Secondly, it is remarkable that anyone beyond the age of 12 would assume that the next president will give us an administration notable for its "loyalty to the Constitution." Why would the next president cede any of the powers added to the office of chief executive by Our Supreme Commander? The only reason this president will not likely be succeeded by another George Almighty is that no one named George is currently running for president.
So it will be a Hillary Almighty or a Barak Almighty or Mitt Almighty, John Almighty or, God help us, Rudolph Almighty, Benito III. Funny how the various rulers of the Almighty dynasty look the same.
Family resemblance, I guess.
Manchester, NH, resident Jack Kenny [send him mail] is a freelance writer.
