padilla travesty multiplied

the US court of appeals has ruled that jose padilla -- who was tortured by the government, then railroaded on the word of the same government that he was a "star recruit" of al-qaeda -- was inadequately punished when a judge ordered him to serve 17 years. using the same irrational standard that has driven the entire war on terror to create a trillion-dollar state security establishment, padilla is just to be so horrible -- though he harmed no one -- that the government mandates penalties beyond what the legal establishment ordinarily deems sufficient:

Al-Qaeda Recruit Padilla’s Prison Term Ruled to Be Too Short - Businessweek: "Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Jose Padilla, called an al-Qaeda “star recruit” by U.S. prosecutors, should have received a longer sentence than the 17-year, four-month term he’s serving for his 2008 conviction, a federal appeals court said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta sent Padilla’s case back to the trial court for resentencing. The three-judge appeals panel voted 2-1 to reject the lower-court judge’s opinion that Padilla will be too old to pose a threat upon his release from prison.

“Padilla poses a heightened risk of future dangerousness due to his al-Qaeda training,” the appeals panel wrote. “He is far more sophisticated than an individual convicted of an ordinary street crime.”"

recall the circus that accompanied the arrest of padilla, how john ashcroft tried his case in the press and made multiple lurid allegations -- after which padilla was tried on NONE of the supposed terrorist plots the government had trumpted as it ginned up its anti-muslim crusade.

finally, when padilla's detention by the military was about to be appealed to a civil court, the bush administration railroaded the man with one of it's catch-all material support for terror charges, upon which almost anyone can be found guilty. it's these charges for which the appeals court has decided his previous sentence was not draconian enough.

who can say whether padilla is really a threat at all, or just a person who's religious beliefs led him to have contact with people later deemed enemies of the state -- and with them, padilla. the facts suggest a far less of a threat posed by this man, which in and of itself suggests the government must inflate it's case in order to maintain the facade of legitimacy under which it wages its war against dissent and critics of US policies in the muslim world.

the travesty of jose padilla continues...