I swear to you that the above photo from the Boston Globe is completely undoctored. Yes, that puppet looking fellow in the front is none other than Torture MasterTM Abu Gonzalez.
The occasion for the photo is that, after 3 years, they've finally charged poor old Jose Padilla with a crime. Look, for all I know, Jose Padilla has abducted children from orphanages and supped on their blood ok? But if someone commits a crime, charge him with a crime. And they've had Jose hidden away in some jail cell for 3 long years without being charged with anything.
The kicker of course is that the charges today have nothing to do
whatsoever with "dirty bombs" or that inane plot to blow up apartment buildings via rupturing natural gas lines. Looking in my own archives, I've written about this poor schlep about 20 times give or take. And it occurs to me now, with the word "torture" being bandied about on a daily basis, that for all we know Jose's been grilled and waterboarded and who knows what else for the past 3 years as well.
Don't think that evidence procured under torture is inadmissable. Just today a jury in Virginia convicted a man based on a confession given under torture. Yep. I wish I was making this up but I'm not.
By the way, if you're interested the WaPo has a timeline of the "known facts" concerning Padilla. All I can say is that the fact he arrived in the U.S. just 9 months after 9/11 with names and numbers of known Al-Qaeda operatives in his pocket is just plain ludicrous. Or stupid.
If the guy really is a terrorist, I hope he gets the maximum sentence. But waiting three years to charge the man? There's no excuse for that. That's an abridgement of people's rights, there's no other way to describe it.
Oh yeah, don't forget that the media did an OJ on Padilla's photograph. As usual...
Peace