While I'm happy to see him called to account, I'd sure like to see Yoo's superiors get the credit for demanding the torture rationale:

A federal judge has ruled that John Yoo, a former Bush administration lawyer who wrote crucial memorandums justifying harsh interrogation techniques, will have to answer in court to accusations that his work led to a prisoner’s being tortured and deprived of his constitutional rights.

The government had asked Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco to dismiss the case filed by Jose Padilla, an American citizen who spent more than three years in a military brig as an enemy combatant. Judge White denied most elements of Mr. Yoo’s motion and quoted a passage from the Federalist Papers that in times of war, nations, to be more safe, “at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”

I can't say that justice has been served for anyone involved.

NY Times (reg. req'd)

Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive ''dirty bomb,'' was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months on terrorism conspiracy charges that don't mention those initial allegations.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke marks another step in the extraordinary personal and legal odyssey for the 37-year-old Muslim convert, a U.S. citizen who was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest amid the ''dirty bomb'' allegations.

Prosecutors had sought life in prison, but Cook said she arrived at the 17-year sentence after taking into consideration the ''harsh conditions'' during Padilla's lengthy military detention at a Navy brig in South Carolina.

''I do find that the conditions were so harsh for Mr. Padilla ... they warrant consideration in the sentencing in this case,'' the judge said.

Cooke also imposed prison terms on two other men of Middle Eastern origin who were convicted of conspiracy and material support charges along with Padilla in August. The three were part of a North American support cell for al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists around the world, prosecutors said.

The jury in his trial was told that Padilla was recruited by Islamic extremists in the U.S. and filled out an application to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan.

Cooke said that as serious as the conspiracy was, there was no evidence linking the men to specific acts of terrorism anywhere.

And yet it merits 17 more years after four years of torture and mental debilitation? Lewis Koch looks at Citizen Padilla

Jose Padilla has been convicted of federal terrorism support charges...

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks has been having an ongoing debate with John Hinderaker of Powerline on the subject of Jose Padilla. It's been a fascinating exercise in realizing how little one can debate with the classic conservative authoritarian mindset. Especially one that doesn't require facts to assert his side of the debate. The back and forth has left Cenk with just one question: Is John Hinderaker Ignorant or Purposefully Misleading?

I know which side I fall on, but I'm interested in hearing your take.

The justifications that come out of the right wing blogsphere keep getting sillier by the second. via Whiskey Fire:

The pictures of Jose Padilla being led to the dentist in leg shackles and blackout goggles have provoked outrage and disgust and bafflement. Why the goggles? What's the point?

Althouse has an answer:

Perhaps there is a fear that he will communicate in code by blinking.

Will Bunch:

Look, on one hand, the government's more dramatic claims about Padilla and dirty bombs have never panned out. That said, he stands accused of plotting terroristic acts against the United States, and so if that's true, he should be tried as a criminal, and if convicted, he should serve a long time in prison.

But seriously, what is accomplished by this kind of crap? It doesn't make America any safer -- in fact, it does just the opposite, by needlessly dropping respect for the U.S. even lower in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of Muslims. More importantly, it's just flat out immoral and wrong -- regardless of what anyone else thinks.

We should be ashamed.

Talk Left describes the torment of a US citizen named Jose Padilla in her post.

Here's how he got taken to the dentist for a root canal:

Continue reading »

WaPo:

After he was arrested in 2002, Jose Padilla was considered so dangerous that he was held without charges in a military prison for more than three years -- accused first of plotting a radiological "dirty bomb" attack and later of conspiring with al-Qaeda to blow up apartment buildings with natural gas.

But now, nearly a year after his abrupt transfer into a regular criminal court, the Justice Department's prosecution of the former Chicago gang member is running into trouble.

Republican-appointed federal judge in Miami has already dumped the most serious conspiracy count against Padilla, removing for now the possibility of a life sentence. The same judge has also disparaged the government's case as "light on facts," while defense lawyers have made detailed allegations that Padilla was illegally tortured, threatened and perhaps even drugged during his detention at a Navy brig in South Carolina. Read on...