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Why did the Bush Administration Hold Jose Padilla for 3 Years
as an Enemy Combatant? No Mention of al Qaeda or Plot to Attack
U.S. in Indictment
Al Jazeera London Bureau Chief Responds to Report of British
Memo Alleging Bush Wanted to Bomb Network HQ in Doha
Congressmember Waters Contradicts Col. Wilkerson on U.S.
Role in Haiti: "It Was a Coup D'Etat, it Was a Forceful
Removal of Aristide"
Why did the Bush Administration Hold Jose Padilla
for 3 Years as an Enemy Combatant? No Mention of al Qaeda
or Plot to Attack U.S. in Indictment
The Justice Department announced Tuesday criminal charges
have been filed against Jose Padilla - the U.S. citizen who
had been held for over three years in solitary confinement
on a military brig in South Carolina. We speak with one of
Padilla's attorneys and the legal director of the Center for
Constitutional Rights. [includes rush
transcript]
The Justice Department announced Tuesday criminal charges
have been filed against Jose Padilla - the U.S. citizen who
had been held for over three years in solitary confinement
on a military brig in South Carolina.
Padilla was first detained in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare Airport
after he returned from a trip to Pakistan. At the time Attorney
General John Ashcroft warned the government had "disrupted
an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by
exploding a radioactive "dirty bomb." President
Bush declared he was an enemy combatant who could be jailed
in solitary confinement indefinitely without charges - even
though he was a U.S. citizen.
The Bush administration didn't even let Padilla meet with
an attorney for two years.
On Tuesday Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced Padilla
is being removed from military custody and charged with a
series of crimes.
- Alberto Gonzales, U.S. Attorney General, November 22,
2005:
"Earlier today, a superseding indictment was unsealed
in federal court in the Southern District of Florida charging
Jose Padilla with providing - and conspiring to provide
- material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder
individuals who are overseas." [Full
transcript of statement]
But the indictment raises questions over why the Bush administration
held Padilla as an enemy combatant for over three years.
There is no mention in the indictment of Padilla's alleged
plot to use a dirty bomb in the United States. There is also
no mention that Padilla ever planned to stage any attacks
inside the country. And there is no direct mention of Al Qaeda.
Instead the indictment lays out a case involving five men
who helped raise money and recruit volunteers in the 1990s
to go overseas to countries including Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia
and Kosovo. Padilla, in fact, appears to play a minor role
in the conspiracy. He is accused of going to a jihad training
camp in Afghanistan but the indictment offers no evidence
he ever engaged in terrorist activity.
This is Padilla's attorney Donna Newman.
- Donna Newman, attorney for Jose Padilla, November 22,
2005:
"We were anxious for an indictment because we knew
that we could demonstrate that the government has exaggerated
Mr. Padilla's involvement in any activity, that he was innocent
of the charges."
The Washington Post reports Padilla's indictment came days
before the Bush administration was due to respond to his appeal
to the Supreme Court over his lengthy detention. Legal experts
have said the government is trying to avoid another potentially
losing confrontation in the high court over its detention
policies. Attorneys with the Justice Department have already
filed paperwork arguing that Padilla's Supreme Court challenge
is now moot.
- Andrew Patel, one of Jose Padilla's attorneys.
Al Jazeera London Bureau Chief Responds to Report
of British Memo Alleging Bush Wanted to Bomb Network HQ in
Doha
The British government has threatened to use the Official
Secrets Act to sue newspapers that publish contents of a leaked
memo in which President Bush allegedly discusses bombing the
Arabic satellite network Al Jazeera. The British newspaper,
the Daily Mirror disclosed the memo Tuesday. We speak with
the head of Al Jazeera's London bureau, Yousri Fouda as well
as British journalist and filmmaker, John Pilger. [includes
rush
transcript]
The British government has threatened to use the Official
Secrets Act to sue newspapers that publish contents of a leaked
memo in which President Bush allegedly discusses bombing the
Arabic satellite network Al Jazeera. The British newspaper
the Daily Mirror disclosed the memo Tuesday. The paper based
its report on a confidential Downing Street memo that said
Bush told British Prime Minister Tony Blair in April 2004
that he wanted to attack Al Jazeera's headquarters in Doha,
the capital of Qatar. Blair allegedly talked Bush out of the
strike, fearing revenge attacks.
The Daily Mirror says it will comply with the government
and not publish the memo. But Daily Mirror editor Richard
Wallace said: "We made [the government] fully aware of
the intention to publish and were given "no comment"
officially or unofficially. Suddenly 24 hours later we are
threatened under section 5 [of the secrets act]." Under
section 5, it is illegal come into the possession of government
information if it is disclosed without lawful authority. Two
British civil servants have been charged in connection to
the disclosure of the memo. Asked to comment on the memo,
White House spokesperson Scott McClellan told the Associated
Press: "We are not interested in dignifying something
so outlandish and inconceivable with a response."
Al Jazeera bureaus were hit by U.S. warplanes in April 2003
in Baghdad and November 2001 in Kabul. Al Jazeera correspondent
Tareq Ayoub was killed in the Baghdad incident. The U.S. called
both incidents accidental. Meanwhile the Washington Post is
reporting a former senior U.S. intelligence official said
the Bush administration saw Al Jazeera as such a problem that
the CIA formulated plans to plant covert agents on its staff.
The official said the plan was never approved.
In a statement, Al Jazeera said: "If the report is correct,
then this would be both shocking and worrisome not only to
al-Jazeera but to media organizations across the world. It
would cast serious doubts in regard to the U.S. administration's
version of previous incidents involving Al Jazeera"s
journalists and offices."
- Yousri Fouda, senior investigative reporter at al Jazeera
and host of "Top Secret," one of al Jazeera's
most popular shows. He the network's London bureau chief
where he is based. He is co-author of the book "Masterminds
of Terror: The Truth Behind the Most Devastating Attack
the World Has Ever Seen."
- Extended
Democracy Now! interview with Yousri Fouda.
Congressmember Waters Contradicts Col. Wilkerson
on U.S. Role in Haiti: "It Was a Coup D'Etat, it Was
a Forceful Removal of Aristide"
On Tuesday's Democracy Now!, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
- Colin Powell's chief of staff from 2002 to 2005 - defended
the US role in Haiti during the overthrow of democratically-elected
President Jean Bertrand Aristide. We speak with Rep. Maxine
Waters (D-CA) and Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice
and Democracy in Haiti. [includes rush transcript]
Tuesday on Democracy Now! we interviewed Colonel Lawrence
Wilkerson, he served as chief of staff to then-Secretary of
State Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005. In an hour-long conversation
we discussed the invasion of Iraq, pre-war intelligence and
much more. We also talked about Haiti.
During his time as Powell's Number Two man in the State Department,
the democratically elected president of Haiti, Jean Bertrand
Aristide was ousted. On February 29, 2004, Aristide was flown
out of Haiti on a US government plane to the Central African
Republic.
I asked Colonel Wilkerson to describe what happened the day
Aristide was forced out of the country.
- Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, interviewed on Democracy Now!,
November 22, 2005.
In the interview, Wilkerson defends the U.S. role in Haiti
during Aristide's overthrow and says Aristide's "will
to power is excessive, even obsessive." We speak with
two guests:
- Rep. Maxine Waters, Democratic Congresswoman from California.
She was part of the delegation of US and Jamaican lawmakers
that flew to the Central African Republican in March 2004
to return President Aristide to the Carribbean.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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