Debbie Schlussel: Padilla Walk Watch: USA Today's Giant Valentine to a Terrorist
Well, we can thank the Bush Administration for not fighting all the way to the Supreme Court on this issue and allowing terrorist Jose Padilla a/k/a Abdullah Al-Muhajir to be tried in a regular court. (And we can thank liberal Supes on the Court for causing the Bushies whimper away from the fight that never was.)
The front page cover story of today's USA Today is a giant Valentine to terrorist Padilla/Al-Muhajir. The gist of the story is that our interrogators "tortured" Jose Padilla, and therefore, he is too traumatized to ever be tried.
The torture? Well, he was forced to sleep on a cement slab for a bed. Hello . . .? I have had criminal clients in jail for drunk driving and minor assault, and that's where they all sleep. It ain't a night at the Ritz. There aren't any lush mattresses and 3,000-thread sheets. So sad, too bad.
Read the article and have a barf bag ready. That USA Today would devote an entire page-and-a-half to these absurd claims and lean so heavily in favor of this terrorist--who was in Qaeda leadership and wanted to destroy America--is nauseating. The New York Times covered this in January, but even that paper was far more balanced on this issue and didn't put it on the front page.
But not surprising. That USA Today is pushing this non-issue is a hint of what's to come during the Padilla trial. As I've noted, the judge-atrix, Miami Federal Judge Marcia Cooke, who is presiding ("presiding" is a generous term in her case and this trial) over the case, has already made rulings that aren't on America's side (fortunately, the Federal Court of Appeals overruled her on some of them).
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY AMERICA . . . FROM USA TODAY.
Posted by Debbie on February 14, 2007 03:53 PM to Debbie Schlussel