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White House Defends “Dirty Bomb” Suspect’s Legal Status
White House counsel Alberto Gonzales yesterday defended the Bush administration’s policy of labeling detained terrorist suspects as “enemy combatants” who can be held indefinitely without being charged. “They need not be ‘guilty’ of anything,” Gonzales told a committee of the American Bar Association. “Nothing in the law of war has ever required a country to charge enemy combatants with crimes, provide them with access to counsel or allow them to challenge their detention in court,” he added. Two U.S. citizens have been designated enemy combatants, including Jose Padilla, who was arrested in 2002 on allegations that he was involved in a plot to detonate a radiological weapon, or “dirty bomb,” within the United States (see GSN, Feb. 23). Padilla has been detained without being charged with a crime since his arrest. In December, a federal appeals court ordered his release, but the U.S. Justice Department appealed the decision. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in late April. Gonzales yesterday said the White House policy resulted from an “elaborate, careful process” over two years. In the Padilla case, there were lengthy consultations with several agencies, including the Justice Department, the FBI and CIA before U.S. President George W. Bush decided to designate a U.S. citizen as an enemy combatant, Gonzales said (Frank Davies, Miami Herald, Feb. 25).
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