Jose Padilla Convicted

Well, here’s the verdict at last:

MIAMI – Jose Padilla was convicted of federal terrorism support charges Thursday after being held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant in a case that came to symbolize the Bush administration’s zeal to stop homegrown terror.

Padilla, a U.S. citizen from Chicago, was once accused of being part of an al-Qaida plot to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the U.S., but those allegations were not part of his trial.

Padilla, 36, and his foreign-born co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, were convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas, which carries a penalty of life in prison. All three were also convicted of two terrorism material support counts, which carry potential 15-year sentences each.

Jurors deliberated a day and a half after a three-month trial. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke set a Dec. 5 sentencing date.

I’ve mixed feelings about this. While on the one hand I’m glad to see that the charges of conspiracy and material support stuck, I’m still pretty angry about the initial accusation falling through, and the way Padilla was treated while in custody.

That no doubt comes as a shock to some of you, especially my email correspondents who count me in the “pro-torture” camp, whatever that is, and those who recall my scorn at the manufactured Newsweek Gitmo Koran incident(s). Nevertheless it’s true…I think the treatment of Padilla at the hands of the U.S. government has been despicable. My issue with Andrew Sullivan and others who have used this case as a brickbat against the Bush administration (and the War on Terror in general) is that they tend to lump it in with other incidents they (and sometimes I) disapprove of in order to make some insane case that THE CONSTITUTION IS IN DANGER AND WE MUST ELECT ONLY DEMOCRATS FOR THE NEXT FORTY YEARS TO SAVE IT.