We've seen contempt and disdain over recent revelations about Bush adminstration counter-terrorism programs. The administration took another body blow today as a Court of Appeals featuring former Supreme Court top prospect Micheal Luttig ruled against Bush on the Jose Padilla case.
In short, the court said Padilla cannot be remanded from military custody to federal custody to expedite the government's terrorism case against him. Instead, the ruling forces the whole mess to the Supreme Court for review, unless of course the government wants to drop the charges.
Should the SCOTUS take the case and rule against Bush it could mean the government would be forced to choose between charging Padilla with the original enemy combatant crime, the dirty bomb, or outright release. Why? It all seems to hinge on the prosecution witnesses.
Charging Padilla with conspiracy in the dirty bomb plot would probably require the feds to produce their only prosecution witnesses, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah. For some reason the administration is loathe to drag these guys out of their secret CIA prison cells to an American court. Conspiracies start right here.
The alternative of releasing Padilla might be worse for Bush. Jose would fast become a poster child for the Bushitler left who would use his story to attack and further divide republicans going into the upcoming 2006 elections. If the democrats win back Congress he might even be a fantasy witness against Bush in their impeachment case.
Let's see what happens if the High Court rules against Bush. If the government turns Padilla loose it might be a signal that some of the WTC I+II theories have legs.
No comments:
Post a Comment