Are some folks wary of speaking their minds on DU because...

The Padilla doctrine
Moreover, those who are tempted to think, “Oh, well, it’s only happening to foreigners,” should think again, because it’s also happening to Americans. For almost three years, the Pentagon has held an American, Jose Padilla, in a military brig in South Carolina. They’re accusing Padilla of conspiracy to commit terrorism but they have never formally charged him with a crime. They arrested him in Chicago but there has never been a grand jury indictment. During most of the time that Padilla has been held in military custody, he has been denied the right to speak with his family or with an attorney.

Now you might be tempted to think, “Hey, Padilla is just some poor Hispanic guy who got himself into trouble. So what? Why should I care?”

You should care because the Padilla doctrine constitutes a watershed event in American constitutional history and arguably the gravest threat to our way of life in the history of our nation. It effectively washes away centuries of constitutional protections with respect to the administration of criminal justice, including the presumption of innocence, habeas corpus, right to bail, right to counsel, and right to trial by jury.

What everyone also needs to recognize is that the Pentagon’s position is that it has the legitimate power to do this not only to Jose Padilla but also to every single American.

If the Padilla doctrine is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, military officials will then possess the power to arrest any American, including newspaper editors, dissidents, and any critics of the government, and jail them indefinitely or, even worse, transport them to Cuba or elsewhere for torture or killing.

Equally important, no one should operate under the misconception that the torture, sex abuse, rape, and murder of prisoners which have been committed by both the military and the CIA, have been committed by a few “bad apples.” As the evidence has surfaced, the “environment” and “culture” permitting and encouraging torture and sex abuse stretch all the way up to the highest reaches of executive power.