The announcement this week of the arrest of Jose Padilla, also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir, brings the number of American-born Taliban to three that we know of. The latest addition to the list was born in Brooklyn, raised in Chicago and has a history of violent crime dating back 15 years.
Mr. al-Muhajir was arrested last month in Chicago, as his flight arrived from Europe. Federal authorities say he was trained by Al Qaeda and was planning to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the U.S. Held as a material witness for a month, Mr. al-Muhajir has now been transferred to a Navy prison in South Carolina, where he will be considered an enemy combatant and held for trial by a military tribunal.
Mr. al-Muhajir’s attorney says her client is not a member of Al Qaeda; since his status changed from witness to combatant, she has been denied access to Mr. al-Muhajir. The accused has not, and in the foreseeable future will not have the opportunity to publicly answer the allegations made against him. He has disappeared into the black hole of national security. There are no charges against him. As an enemy combatant, no charges may be brought against him for some time; when they are, Mr. al-Muhajir will not be afforded all the rights bestowed on him by the Constitution.
At some point in the past week, Abdullah al-Muhajir ceased to be an American citizen and became an enemy combatant, a man without a country. How did that happen? The announcement of Mr. al-Muhajir’s detention and status reclassification was made by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Did Mr. Ashcroft revoke Mr. al-Muhajir’s citizenship with the stroke of a pen? Can he do that? A U.S. citizen has the right to due process, and it’s not clear how a citizen can be stripped of the right to due process, or any other right, without the benefit of due process.
The administration, by way of precedent, cites a 1942 case in which German saboteurs carrying bombs were captured and tried in military courts, even though one man claimed American citizenship. There are important differences in Mr. al-Muhajir’s case. He was not carrying a bomb when arrested. He is alleged to have plotted to build and deploy a bomb, but he had not done so, nor does he seem to have had access to radioactive material.
More important, if Mr. al-Muhajir is an “enemy combatant,” who is the enemy? Al Qaeda? We were at war with Germany in 1942, that is clear. Are we at war with Al Qaeda? Where, for the purposes of waging war and taking prisoners, does Al Qaeda begin and end? Who’s in and who’s out? Before Abdullah al-Muhajir is stripped of his citizenship, at least some of these questions should be addressed by a court of law. If Mr. al-Muhajir is indeed an enemy combatant, whose enemy is he? An enemy of the United States of America? What is that? I do not pose the question idly. The United States of America is a common people joined together by the Constitution, and the same Constitution which binds us as a people also grants certain rights to Abdullah al-Muhajir and Yaser Hamdi and John Walker Lindh. If we sweep the Constitution aside, there is no America, only a group of unrelated people occupying the same territory.
I received some e-mail in the last week to the effect that the world situation is too dangerous just now for America to live up to the rights promised by the Constitution. I could not disagree more. Yes, these are trying times, but it is for times such as these that the Constitution was written. We don’t need the guarantees endowed us by the Bill of Rights when every budget returns a surplus and peace is on every horizon. If there is anyone lacking in patriotism in Washington, it is John Ashcroft, because he lacks faith in an open government.
The police and courts of the United States, working within the parameters of the Constitution, have given us one of the highest rates of citizen incarceration and execution on the planet today, why doe we fear that system will suddenly turn lenient?
For 200 years, Americans have prided themselves on setting a democratic example for the rest of the world. What a pity that now, when we have an opportunity to rise above the cruel and bitter blows we have been dealt, our leaders choose instead to show themselves as small and timid men.
The Man Without a Country
The announcement this week of the arrest of Jose Padilla, also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir, brings the number of American-born Taliban to three that we know of. The latest addition to the list was born in Brooklyn, raised in Chicago and has a history of violent crime dating back 15 years.
Mr. al-Muhajir was arrested last month in Chicago, as his flight arrived from Europe. Federal authorities say he was trained by Al Qaeda and was planning to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the U.S. Held as a material witness for a month, Mr. al-Muhajir has now been transferred to a Navy prison in South Carolina, where he will be considered an enemy combatant and held for trial by a military tribunal.
Mr. al-Muhajir’s attorney says her client is not a member of Al Qaeda; since his status changed from witness to combatant, she has been denied access to Mr. al-Muhajir. The accused has not, and in the foreseeable future will not have the opportunity to publicly answer the allegations made against him. He has disappeared into the black hole of national security. There are no charges against him. As an enemy combatant, no charges may be brought against him for some time; when they are, Mr. al-Muhajir will not be afforded all the rights bestowed on him by the Constitution.
At some point in the past week, Abdullah al-Muhajir ceased to be an American citizen and became an enemy combatant, a man without a country. How did that happen? The announcement of Mr. al-Muhajir’s detention and status reclassification was made by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Did Mr. Ashcroft revoke Mr. al-Muhajir’s citizenship with the stroke of a pen? Can he do that? A U.S. citizen has the right to due process, and it’s not clear how a citizen can be stripped of the right to due process, or any other right, without the benefit of due process.
The administration, by way of precedent, cites a 1942 case in which German saboteurs carrying bombs were captured and tried in military courts, even though one man claimed American citizenship. There are important differences in Mr. al-Muhajir’s case. He was not carrying a bomb when arrested. He is alleged to have plotted to build and deploy a bomb, but he had not done so, nor does he seem to have had access to radioactive material.
More important, if Mr. al-Muhajir is an “enemy combatant,” who is the enemy? Al Qaeda? We were at war with Germany in 1942, that is clear. Are we at war with Al Qaeda? Where, for the purposes of waging war and taking prisoners, does Al Qaeda begin and end? Who’s in and who’s out? Before Abdullah al-Muhajir is stripped of his citizenship, at least some of these questions should be addressed by a court of law. If Mr. al-Muhajir is indeed an enemy combatant, whose enemy is he? An enemy of the United States of America? What is that? I do not pose the question idly. The United States of America is a common people joined together by the Constitution, and the same Constitution which binds us as a people also grants certain rights to Abdullah al-Muhajir and Yaser Hamdi and John Walker Lindh. If we sweep the Constitution aside, there is no America, only a group of unrelated people occupying the same territory.
I received some e-mail in the last week to the effect that the world situation is too dangerous just now for America to live up to the rights promised by the Constitution. I could not disagree more. Yes, these are trying times, but it is for times such as these that the Constitution was written. We don’t need the guarantees endowed us by the Bill of Rights when every budget returns a surplus and peace is on every horizon. If there is anyone lacking in patriotism in Washington, it is John Ashcroft, because he lacks faith in an open government.
The police and courts of the United States, working within the parameters of the Constitution, have given us one of the highest rates of citizen incarceration and execution on the planet today, why doe we fear that system will suddenly turn lenient?
For 200 years, Americans have prided themselves on setting a democratic example for the rest of the world. What a pity that now, when we have an opportunity to rise above the cruel and bitter blows we have been dealt, our leaders choose instead to show themselves as small and timid men.