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Growing Controversy Over Government's Handling of Dirty Bomb Suspect

Aired June 12, 2002 - 05:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There is growing controversy over the government's handling of dirty bomb suspect Abdullah al Muhajir.

Our Senior Political Analyst, Bill Schneider, explains the legal issues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): Consider two Americans who have been caught collaborating with the enemy. John Walker Lindh is going on trial with his constitutional rights intact. Jose Padilla, a.k.a. Abdullah al Muhajir, is being held in military detention as a quote, "enemy combatant." What's the difference? Quick, get a lawyer.

JONATHAN TURLEY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: Part of the controversy here is whether the president can essentially look at a bunch of defendants and say, all right, you're going to go to federal court, you're going to go to Cuba, and you, in this case, are going to sit in a Navy brig, possibly indefinitely.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The administration claims Jose Padilla has forfeited his constitutional rights by joining the enemy. No criminal charges, no access to a lawyer.

LARRY THOMPSON, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: He is being detained under the laws of war as an enemy combatant. There is clear Supreme Court and circuit court authority for such a detention.

SCHNEIDER: The precedents go back to World War II. A 1942 case in which the Supreme Court allowed an American citizen to be tried and executed as a Nazi saboteur, and the 1946 case in which a circuit court allowed the U.S. to hold an American citizen fighting for the Italian army as a prisoner of war. Some legal experts say those precedents are shaky.

TURLEY: These cases have always been viewed as the Supreme Court's darkest hour. And in fact some of the justices later expressed regret.

SCHNEIDER: Like the decision allowing the U.S. to hold American citizens of Japanese descent in internment camps. The administration's defense is simple: we're at war. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This guy Padilla is a bad guy and he is where he needs to be, detained.

SCHNEIDER: The argument for holding someone, even an American citizen as an enemy combatant, isn't legal. It's military.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We're not interested in trying him at the moment; we're not interested in punishing him at the moment. We're interested in finding out what in the world he knows.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): So why is Jose Padilla being held in military detention, while John Walker Lindh gets his day in court? Because Padilla has information the government wants. In war time, that overwhelms the legal issues.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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