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American Morning
Balancing Rights of U.S. Citizen Against Needs of War on Terror
Aired November 17, 2003 - 08:09 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Balancing the rights of a U.S. citizen against the needs of the war on terror, that is the issue today in a federal appeals court hearing for Jose Padilla, although he is not charged with anything. He's being held as an enemy combatant and Justice officials are fighting to keep it that way.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For nearly 18 months, Jose Padilla has been locked away in a military prison. He's been charged with no crime, yet no one who might help not lawyers, not family, has been able to see him.
ANDREW PATEL, ATTORNEY FOR PADILLA: He's not been allowed to go to court and say I didn't do it, you have the wrong guy. He hasn't been allowed to defend himself.
FEYERICK: Padilla is an American citizen. He was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport returning from Pakistan. Defense Department officials say Padilla met with al Qaeda's former operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, and that he talked about stealing radioactive material to build and detonate a dirty bomb somewhere in America.
ALICE FISHER, FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: We're in an armed conflict and we need to detain enemy and incapacitate those that support the enemy.
FEYERICK: Padilla's lawyers plan to argue in appeals court that President Bush was wrong to label Padilla an enemy combatant without what they call real evidence and without giving Padilla any chance to respond.
DONNA NEWMAN, ATTORNEY FOR PADILLA: What the government is saying, we can label somebody, call it a banana and we can put them in jail because we say so. That is not only fundamentally unfair, but, of course, it is unconstitutional.
FEYERICK: Padilla's imprisonment has Republican judges and lawyers like conservative Philip Lacovara crossing party lines and joining Padilla's fight.
PHILIP LACOVARA, ATTORNEY: Keeping somebody incommunicado in a military brig for 18 months with the stated objective of continuing to hold the person even longer in order to break his spirits just seems to me to be fundamentally unfair.
FEYERICK: Pentagon officials say letting Padilla meet with his lawyers might hurt intelligence gathering in their war on terrorism.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Those arguments are going to start about two hours from now before a three judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Terror>
Aired November 17, 2003 - 08:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Balancing the rights of a U.S. citizen against the needs of the war on terror, that is the issue today in a federal appeals court hearing for Jose Padilla, although he is not charged with anything. He's being held as an enemy combatant and Justice officials are fighting to keep it that way.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For nearly 18 months, Jose Padilla has been locked away in a military prison. He's been charged with no crime, yet no one who might help not lawyers, not family, has been able to see him.
ANDREW PATEL, ATTORNEY FOR PADILLA: He's not been allowed to go to court and say I didn't do it, you have the wrong guy. He hasn't been allowed to defend himself.
FEYERICK: Padilla is an American citizen. He was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport returning from Pakistan. Defense Department officials say Padilla met with al Qaeda's former operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, and that he talked about stealing radioactive material to build and detonate a dirty bomb somewhere in America.
ALICE FISHER, FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: We're in an armed conflict and we need to detain enemy and incapacitate those that support the enemy.
FEYERICK: Padilla's lawyers plan to argue in appeals court that President Bush was wrong to label Padilla an enemy combatant without what they call real evidence and without giving Padilla any chance to respond.
DONNA NEWMAN, ATTORNEY FOR PADILLA: What the government is saying, we can label somebody, call it a banana and we can put them in jail because we say so. That is not only fundamentally unfair, but, of course, it is unconstitutional.
FEYERICK: Padilla's imprisonment has Republican judges and lawyers like conservative Philip Lacovara crossing party lines and joining Padilla's fight.
PHILIP LACOVARA, ATTORNEY: Keeping somebody incommunicado in a military brig for 18 months with the stated objective of continuing to hold the person even longer in order to break his spirits just seems to me to be fundamentally unfair.
FEYERICK: Pentagon officials say letting Padilla meet with his lawyers might hurt intelligence gathering in their war on terrorism.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Those arguments are going to start about two hours from now before a three judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Terror>
