Posted on: Friday, June 14, 2002

Handling of dirty bomb case leaves sour taste

Our new war on terrorism has put the United States in uncharted legal, political and military waters, both abroad and at home.

Clearly, the Bush administration and the American people are feeling their way forward in all this. So it isn't surprising that policy is being invented on the fly and that mistakes of judgment will be made.

And that brings us to the case of Jose Padilla, the American citizen arrested on suspicion of plotting with al-Qaida to set off a so-called "dirty bomb" somewhere in the United States.

Padilla has been held incommunicado and without access to legal counsel or the courts.

"We are not interested in trying him at the moment or punishing him at the moment, " said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "We are interested in finding out what he knows."

Well, of course. But Padilla is an American citizen and unless demonstrated otherwise is entitled to certain due-process rights.

The issue, as The Washington Post recently pointed out, is not whether the government can detain an enemy combatant but whether it can designate anyone it chooses as such a person without meaningful legal review.

What's needed here is a court hearing into Padilla's status and whether the government is holding him properly. But to date, the Bush administration has opposed such a review.

The way this case has been handled probably works in the interest of effective and unrestrained investigation, but it undermines public confidence and support for the larger effort to protect America from terrorists at home and abroad.

That's not a price we should be willing to pay.