5-25-07, 4:36 p.m.

Many of you are no-doubt aware of the current trial of Jose Padilla the American born Hispanic accused of terrorist activity in connection with al Qaeda. The simple fact of the matter is after three and a half years no charge has been filed until recently and dirt and bombs still have yet to be found on Padilla. On the other hand it is very evident that Padilla underwent lengthy torture while under US detention. Opening arguments began in Miami on Monday the 17th. Christian Science Monitor reporter Warren Richey writes that the absurd behavior of the Bush administration regarding Padilla extend well beyond his detention facilities, members of the media are not allowed to ask questions to defense lawyers or prosecutors at the trial or even in the lobby outside. Violating this rule means being asked to leave. This must be a litmus test of some sort. The President probably wishes he could do this to the press all the time. Why not actually? Bush has his great trophy, Padilla, he doesn't need Richey or anyone asking 'so what did he do? Really?' 'The secrecy is in accord with the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA)... media interviews conducted in the courtroom-even during recesses-are disruptive and distracting, they say. Interviews conducted in the lobby outside the courtroom might be overheard by jurors or witnesses and taint the trial,' said Richey. Yeah right, can't taint a trial of a suspect abused half to death while locked up for 3 years and 8 months, can't let that happen. Padilla and 2 codefendants are charged with forming and supporting a terror cell. So badly do they want Padilla that they accused him of attending the al Farooq camp-where Osama bin Laden has been known to visit, but can't locate anyone who was at the camp with him. I'm not an attorney but my own look into the CIPA (PL 96-456) finds it to be a very court-driven initiative; 'the court shall issue an order to protect against disclosure of classified information.' Richey cites court security as enforcing this without prior warning. This is not necessarily a rule specifically against journalist questions, but it evidently became such on that day and US District Judge Marcia Cooke had nothing to do with the ban but was said to support it nevertheless. Seems to me that all Padilla is guilty of is becoming a target of White Supremacist over-paranoia. While all of your tax dollars are being spent on the heavy security and manpower surrounding Padilla and his two codefendants a real terrorist roams free and guess what? President Bush knows about him, not only does he know about him, he's the one who cut the guy loose. Luis Clemente Faustino Posada Carriles (AKA 'Bambi') is a Cuban-born Venezuelan and ant-Castro militant. This guy didn't just go to a camp or marry an Arab Muslim, or have a photo of himself and an al Qaeda associate lurking around somewhere, no this individual actually planned and plotted the successful taking of lives on at least one occasion. But because he has a beef with Fidel Castro, he's been allowed to skip. Websites show Posada was also a former CIA operative, having trained for the Bay of Pigs at the agency's School of the Americas in '61. Though he specialized in sabotage and explosives he did not participate in that failed invasion. Posada actually met Castro while a student of medicine and chemistry but reportedly didn't like his '59 revolution. In '76 he is credited with having planned and organized the bombing of Cuban airliner Cubana Flight 455, killing 73. Other terrorist schemes would become linked to him including one on 11/17/00 where he was strongly suspected of plotting an assassination of Castro after being found and arrested with 200 lbs of explosives in Panama City. Castro was visiting that city at the time. Amazingly enough he was pardoned in 8/04 by outgoing President Mireya Moscoso who was known to be close to the Bush Administration. If any terrorist classifies as a no-brainer in this era where anyone can be labeled as such, its Posada. But Bush doesn't want him, in fact he seems to be on pretty friendly terms with him. No detention in a cramped cell, no sensory deprivation or interrogation and this is a guy with at least 73 bodies. It's pretty much safe to say they are protecting him. Posada sought US Asylum on April of '05 and on 9/26/05 a US Immigration judge refused to deport Posada because he 'faced the treat of torture.' Strange but true, the US has come to the aid of this vile man every time someone tried to bring him to justice. He was arrested in Texas in '05 on the charge of 'illegal presence on national territory.' The charges were dismissed recently on 5/8/07 (he was previously released n bail on 4/19/07). Of course the Cuban and Venezuelan governments were angry over this, even the Justice Department urged the court to keep Posada in jail because he was an admitted terrorist. Perhaps his beef with Castro doesn't motivate Bush to classify him an 'enemy combatant.' Speculations as to Posada Carriles' untouchable status apparently go back far and deep. I have already made reference to his connections to the CIA back in the early '60's, he also is said to have ties to the Mafia and there are those who place him in Dallas TX on 11/22/63. A book by David Talbot titled 'Brother: The hidden history of the Kennedy years' goes into a secret investigation by Robert F. Kennedy into all the players involved in his brother’s murder including American intelligence, organized crime and Cuban exiles. Posada is said to be mentioned in a congressional report of the investigation of RFK's murder. Bush family drama (dare I mention W's father as a high ranking CIA official back then) it's fantastic. Meanwhile back in the jungle, while Posada is somewhere living it up, Padilla sat in a 9x7 cell for almost 2 years, no window, no clock, no mattress. I am only attempting to paraphrase a report by author Glen Greenwald called ' Unclaimed Territory' that lays out in sad grisly detail the treatment of one man barely suspected of terror. He slept on a steel bunk until the tail end of his captivity, thus inducing sleep deprivation. He was forced to endure shackles and manacles, cell temperature manipulation and noxious fumes would be funneled into his cell. Often he went through long interrogation sessions without adequate sleep, be was hooded and forced to stand in stress positions and given drugs against his will (LSD & PCP). All of this of course was meant to break him. On Friday the 18th the government carted out a surprise witness that they were really hoping to draw a comparison to what they are trying to frame Padilla as being; a man who went to a terrorist training school only to return to his hometown in the states and await orders from bin Laden to blow something up. Yahya Goba of the Buffalo (Lackawanna ) Six who was arrested on 9/14/02 and was there on a plea agreement (to reduce his ten-year-sentence). His testimony backfired for the prosecution however as he stated that al Farooq was essentially only a religious camp. It's all just an insult really, that one man should endure such inhumane treatment from those trained to fight our enemies, made worse by horrific accusations of terrorist intent from the same man who pardoned a proven monster, Posada; our dirty President, George W. Bush. But it's not all his fault, nor that of Cheney or Condi or then-Secretary Rumsfeld who Bush ordered to detain Jose Padilla. It's the fault of those who went back on their promise to impeach Bush after they won the mid-term elections. It's our fault for not really taking them to task for it.

--Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Criterion, Contact him at