An article in Monday’s New York Times describes the chilling conditions in which those Bush decides are “enemy combatants” are kept. Jose Padilla, a US citizen, was been held for three and a half years as an enemy combatant. Originally accused of a “dirty bomb” plot (with no evidence ever presented), the government finally brought charges against Padilla last fall which have nothing to do with the “dirty bomb” plot in order to avoid his case going before the Supreme Court. The following excerpts from the NY Times article provide a glimpse into the torture and degredation Padilla has had to endure:
“Today is May 21,” a naval official declared to a camera
videotaping the event. “Right now we”re ready to do a root canal
treatment on Jose Padilla, our enemy combatant.”Several guards
in camouflage and riot gear approached cell No. 103. They unlocked a
rectangular panel at the bottom of the door and Mr. Padilla’s bare feet
slid through, eerily disembodied. As one guard held down a foot with
his black boot, the others shackled Mr. Padilla’s legs. Next, his hands
emerged through another hole to be manacled.Wordlessly, the
guards, pushing into the cell, chained Mr. Padilla’s cuffed hands to a
metal belt. Briefly, his expressionless eyes met the camera before he
lowered his head submissively in expectation of what came next:
noise-blocking headphones over his ears and blacked-out goggles over
his eyes. Then the guards, whose faces were hidden behind plastic
visors, marched their masked, clanking prisoner down the hall to his
root canal.***
In the brig, Mr. Padilla was denied access to counsel for 21 months.
Andrew Patel, one of his lawyers, said his isolation was not only
severe but compounded by material and sensory deprivations. In an
affidavit filed Friday, he alleged that Mr. Padilla was held alone in a
10-cell wing of the brig; that he had little human contact other than
with his interrogators; that his cell was electronically monitored and
his meals were passed to him through a slot in the door; that windows
were blackened, and there was no clock or calendar; and that he slept
on a steel platform after a foam mattress was taken from him, along
with his copy of the Koran, “as part of an interrogation plan.”***
Dr. Angela Hegarty, director of forensic psychiatry at the Creedmoor
Psychiatric Center in Queens, N.Y., who examined Mr. Padilla for a
total of 22 hours in June and September, said in an affidavit filed
Friday that he “lacks the capacity to assist in his own defense.”“It
is my opinion that as the result of his experiences during his
detention and interrogation, Mr. Padilla does not appreciate the nature
and consequences of the proceedings against him, is unable to render
assistance to counsel, and has impairments in reasoning as the result
of a mental illness, i.e., post-traumatic stress disorder, complicated
by the neuropsychiatric effects of prolonged isolation,” Dr. Hegarty
said in an affidavit for the defense.***.
Mr. Padilla’s lawyers say they have had a difficult time persuading him that they are on his side.
From
the time Mr. Padilla was allowed access to counsel, Mr. Patel visited
him repeatedly in the brig and in the Miami detention center, and Mr.
Padilla has observed Mr. Patel arguing on his behalf in Miami federal
court.But, Mr. Patel said in his affidavit, his client is
nonetheless mistrustful. “Mr. Padilla remains unsure if I and the other
attorneys working on his case are actually his attorneys or another
component of the government’s interrogation scheme,” Mr. Patel said.Mr.
do Campo said that Mr. Padilla was not incommunicative, and that he
expressed curiosity about what was going on in the world, liked to talk
about sports and demonstrated particularly keen interest in the Chicago
Bears.But the defense lawyers” questions often echo the
questions interrogators have asked Mr. Padilla, and when that happens,
he gets jumpy and shuts down, the lawyers said.Dr. Hegarty said
Mr. Padilla refuses to review the video recordings of his
interrogations, which have been released to his lawyers but remain
classified.He is especially reluctant to discuss what happened
in the brig, fearful that he will be returned there some day, Mr. Patel
said in his affidavit.“During questioning, he often exhibits
facial tics, unusual eye movements and contortions of his body,” Mr.
Patel said. “The contortions are particularly poignant since he is
usually manacled and bound by a belly chain when he has meetings with
counsel.”
Excerpts from “Video Is a Window Into a Terror Suspect’s Isolation “, NY Times, 12/4/06.