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Jose Padilla and Gratuitous Cruelty

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Trials
Posted on Wed Jan 17, 2007 at 08:36:23 PM EST
Tags: Jose Padilla (all tags)
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Fred Grimm at the Miami Herald has a column on detained "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla.

In describing his trip to the jail dentist, Grimm writes:

Padilla's dental visit -- photos of the exercise are in the federal court files -- reach beyond the legal questions. It has the look of gratuitous cruelty.

The treatment of an American citizen in pretrial detention seemed to be taken from the imaginings of Kafka. It appeared to be sensory deprivation just for the hell of it.

Grimm recaps Padilla's treatment:

The accused was held in extreme isolation for 1,307 days. Held in a nine-by-seven-foot cell. The only window blacked out. He was the lone prisoner on the two-tier cellblock. He was given food through a slot in the door. He slept on a steel mattress. No reading material. No calendar. No clock. Nothing to connect him to the outside world.

But it was the short trip down the hallway for a dental examination that captured the utter isolation and sensory deprivation inflicted on Jose Padilla during his 3 ½ years in the Navy brig at Charleston, S.C.

Helmeted guards, their faces obscured behind dark plastic visors, manacled his hands and feet through slots in his cell door. They covered his ears with sound-canceling headphones, covered his eyes with blacked-out goggles.

Padilla, mind you, has been described by his jailers as docile ``as a piece of furniture.''

Now that the Judge has continued Padilla's trial so he can receive a full mental evaluation, Grimm writes:

In light of the Padilla case, the rest of us might take the extra time to ponder our own post-9/11 psychological state.

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    Jose Padilla and Gratuitous Cruelty | 22 comments (22 topical)

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    Padilla (none / 0) (#1)
    by Fredo on Wed Jan 17, 2007 at 09:07:43 PM EST
    Fredo is extremely pleased that this scumbag was treated in this way.  As for the dentist, he is a slacker compared to Fredo's own when it comes to gratuitous cruelty.

    When will we be treated to a feature concerning the cruelty inflicted daily on those who presume to act on behalf of Western civilization?  Fredo is not sure when it will occur, but is very confident that it won't be on this site, which seems devoted entirely to scolding our own.  Nice going.

    Fredo (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by Skyho on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 08:10:11 AM EST
    ...this scumbag was treated...

    May I ask what information Fredo has that allows him to call Mr. Padilla a "scumbag"?

    Does he know him personally?  Has someone of knowledge released information that would allow Fredo the exercise of calling Mr. Padilla names?

    Does Fredo even know what Mr. Padilla was charged with?

    Parent

    I was wondering that myself (none / 0) (#9)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 10:11:00 AM EST
    They've released no evidence to warrant his imprisonment and torture, so clearly Fredo is in possession of classified information that compromises national security. I'm sure the indictment will be served shortly.

    Seriously, though. Does anyone else suspect that Padilla simply knows something that the Administration doesn't want getting out?

    Parent

    the Administration doesn't want getting out? (none / 0) (#10)
    by Edger on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 10:28:32 AM EST
    Aside from detailed knowledge of the torture techniques used in Gitmo, you mean Scar?

    Parent
    Yes (none / 0) (#11)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 11:33:29 AM EST
    He's definitely getting the Special Treatment. And they've openly admitted that the only reason they're doing this is to incapacitate him. It's almost as if they simply don't want him talking to anyone and will go to any lengths to ensure it. I wouldn't be surprised if he "commits suicide" the day Bush leaves office.

    Parent
    Now that you mention it... (none / 0) (#12)
    by Edger on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 11:38:31 AM EST
    ... neither would I.

    Parent
    Shorter Fredo (none / 0) (#2)
    by scarshapedstar on Wed Jan 17, 2007 at 09:50:17 PM EST
    I'm sick of merely staring into the abyss. Let's jump right in.

    Parent
    Fredo is a totalitarian thug (none / 0) (#4)
    by Al on Wed Jan 17, 2007 at 11:40:06 PM EST
    Fredo does get one thing right, though: Fredo does presume to act on behalf of Western civilization. Fredo's impertinent presumption is of course merely a self-gratifying fantasy. Fredo couldn't recognize civilization if it smacked him in the face.

    Parent
    Maybe (none / 0) (#5)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 12:10:16 AM EST
    he's still raw about how that last fishing trip turned out.

    Parent
    Stalin would be proud (none / 0) (#3)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Jan 17, 2007 at 11:08:10 PM EST


    fredo, are you still upset (none / 0) (#6)
    by cpinva on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 12:29:23 AM EST
    over the alligator clips, to your, um, well, uh, nether regions? get over it guy! :)

    has Fredo heard of the word (none / 0) (#8)
    by Jen M on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 09:33:46 AM EST
    "morals"?

    Fredo... (none / 0) (#13)
    by Fredo on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 03:36:06 PM EST
    ...delights in how easy it is to upset dolts.  Fish in a barrel, as the saying goes.  Fredo rubs his hands together in gloating, triumphant joy.  ("Thug."  That's the sweetest compliment I've had in years from the Moonbat Left.)

    A real dolt... (none / 0) (#14)
    by Dadler on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 04:18:32 PM EST
    ...is someone who takes pleasure in the pain and cruelty inflicted on defenseless others, then considers it some kind of accomplishment that his pleasure has led people with consciences to respond.

    Parent
    Fredo (none / 0) (#15)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 04:44:06 PM EST
    Probably starts off a date with 30 minutes of dead baby jokes, and when she walks out on him, he takes it as a personal triumph.

    Parent
    An appeal to the right (none / 0) (#19)
    by Al on Fri Jan 19, 2007 at 12:00:34 AM EST
    I have not heard a single cogent, well-made argument for anything from the right in the longest time. I appeal to the right; is this drivel really the best you have to offer?

    Parent
    trying to remember (none / 0) (#22)
    by Jen M on Sat Jan 20, 2007 at 12:19:45 AM EST
    lets see

    • makes a statement contrary to prevailing sentiment of forumn

    • a statement guaranteed to upset a majority

    • returns to be amused by responses

    • gloats

    what is word... I forgot word...

    Parent
    A 'fredo' thread... (none / 0) (#16)
    by Edger on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 05:09:30 PM EST
    What an achievement.

    Fredo's just trolling (none / 0) (#17)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 07:00:47 PM EST
    Fredo, I know you are smarter than that. You need a better outlet.

    "Scumbag" (none / 0) (#18)
    by Fredo on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 08:52:36 PM EST
    Former member of Latin Kings street gang in Chicago.  Many arrests; most recent imprisonment before converting to Islam was for aggravated assault.  Converted to Islam while in prison, upon release traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan to join Al Qaeda.  Received cash and instructions in bomb-making from Al Qaeda.  If that's not a scumbag, how will we recognize a scumbag when one comes along?  Is O.J. Simpson a scumbag?

    I thought that was YOUR resume at first (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Dadler on Fri Jan 19, 2007 at 01:16:34 AM EST
    Your nation stooping to the level of psychopath or serial killer -- and Padilla's treatment reminds me of guys who hold women as slaves, keeping them in boxes under their beds -- is something that might get you off, Freddy, but not everyone.  The rest of us, those who live in the greater Reasonville, Reality Springs, Sanetown tri-city area, we tend to gravitate toward those silly notions of civilized conduct.  Saddam Hussein took pleasure in that kind of stuff that gets your motor running.  Why is that?    

    Parent
    Scumbag (5.00 / 3) (#21)
    by scarshapedstar on Fri Jan 19, 2007 at 11:44:49 AM EST
    Former cocaine addict, alcoholic; forced his girlfriend to have an abortion; married a drug dealer who once committed vehicular homocide; associated with numerous failed "business ventures" with heavy investment from families of middle eastern terrorists; profited extensively from his ties to the perpetrators of the biggest corporate theft in history; personally ordered 150 killings and later allowed hundreds of thousands more through gross negligence...

    Parent
    Jose Padilla and Gratuitous Cruelty | 22 comments (22 topical)

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