1-31-08, 10:26 am

Why federal Judge Marcia Cooke is trying to make President Bush’s baseless arrest, detention and charges of Jose Padilla look as if they are even remotely legitimate is beyond me. All she needs to do is check the rulings of other judges who don’t take the antics of Bush or his administration seriously and act accordingly. What Bush was trying to do is see how far his bogus anti-terrorism laws could go. Trust me on this one, the man is still a high school prankster (he tapped Cooke in 2004). So it stands as of 1/22 Padilla’s original sentence of life was reduced to 17 years, 4 months.


Of course Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi were initially sentenced last August by a jury of 12 with Padilla getting 30 to life and the other 2 receiving 15 years, 8 months and 12 years, 8 months respectively. What is not being highlighted is that the case against Padilla’s two associates, Hassoun and Jayyoussi, they seemed to be based on nothing more than some talk radio-style opinions and this latest sentencing proceeding didn’t do anything to disprove that.

According to the Herald: “They took a harsh view of Hassoun, a computer programmer from Lebanon, saying he was ‘arrogant’ in his radical Islamic advocacy.” Now I don’t know about you, but “arrogant” and “advocacy” does not equate to dead bodies you can connect this individual to or even terrorist plots, but Florida has been twisting reality since 2000. Jayyousi said to be a public school administrator with a doctorate in engineering was seen as 'crossing the line' in his support of Muslims. Again no explanation seems to have been required from any of the jurors as to their vague wording that will take away so many years of life from the 3 men.

Watching closely how confident others are in their know-how or beliefs is something whites did to blacks during the post-slavery era. Between this past August 16th and Cooke’s recent verdict, revelations about the CIA and some destroyed interrogation tapes have come up in the news, that scandal directly affects Padilla. On the 7th Cooke said it has no “exculpatory information” on him.

Where Padilla, Hassoun and Jayyousi’s attorneys went wrong is that they for some reason didn’t go for the gusto; they didn’t fight for their client’s complete exoneration in the face of such obviously kangaroo-court-like charges. They actually were pushing for 5-to-15 year terms. If they didn’t have complete faith in their client’s innocence, how could they expect a judge to do so?

According to the Miami Herald: “Prosecutors presented no direct evidence at trial that placed Padilla at the military-style camp at Afghanistan, but during the sentencing phase they unveiled an alleged al Qaeda list with his Muslim name (Abu Abdullah al Muhajir) on it.” Cooke had 2 weeks to correct any jury blunder. Jurors admitted after the hearings that they only really viewed Padilla as a “bit player in the scheme to aid Islamic extremists,” 17 years is more than a bit. The others were still sentenced simply due to opinions of their Muslim beliefs and perceived self assuredness.

--Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Criterion, email comments to him at