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**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
I’ve made by Al-Qaeda terrorist Abdullah Al-Muhajir a/k/a Jose Padilla’s lawyers and how they are gaining a foothold. Padilla claims that he was tortured because–among other things–he was forced (like many American prisoners) to sleep on a cement slab. He claims that, therefore, he has some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is unfit to be tried.
Nonsense.
Unfortunately, this nonsense is getting a full hearing by U.S. Federal Judge Marcia Cooke, who is presiding over the trial. As I’ve written, most of her rulings , and don’t look for that to change. The latest is that she has granted a hearing, Thursday, to determine whether or not Al-Muhajir/Padilla’s treatment left him unfit for trial. That there is a hearing–over the implausible claim that Padilla’s mental state has been harmed so much so that he cannot prepare for trial–is absurd enough.

Judge Marcia Cooke Hearts Padilla
Worse, in an unprecedented move, she is requiring officials at a Navy brig where Al-Muhajir/Padilla was held to testify. Press reports say it will be the first time Defense Department officials with direct knowledge of Padilla’s confinement will speak publicly.
Essentially what we have here is now NOT a trial of an Islamic terrorist bent on America’s destruction. Instead, with Judge Cooke’s direct intervention, we have a trial of America’s soft treatment of terrorists with the assertion that it still isn’t soft enough. Judge Cooke, by the way, was a Bush nominee to the bench, who got the unanimous support of Democrats. Hint, hint.
What is it they say about too many cooks spoiling the broth? In this case, one Judge Cooke spoils the broth . . . and America’s national security.
Yet another omen that this trial .
**** UPDATE: Reader Carl writes:

Debbie,
I am a reserve deputy for a sheriff’s department and spend a lot of time working in the jail. Our inmates either sleep on a raised concrete slab “bunk” or a steel bunk bolted to the wall and floor. When we are crowded, they may sleep in a hard plastic “boat” (looks like a small “john boat”) on the floor. They have a thin mattress and pillow, both with a tear-resistant plasticized canvas cover. Unless allergic to wool, they also get a set of wool blankets, cotton sheets, and a pillow case. This is not torture, this is incarceration. Almost all of the inmates understand this. They don’t like it, but they understand it. I think that most of our inmates would consider Padilla a whiny, wimpy scum and not even a real man. I think they would consider him a traitor also. Criminals or not, they are in touch with reality (mostly).
Keep up the good work.