"JohnH" wrote in message
...


The administration's rational for Padilla, to the best I can understand,
was
that the terrorist acts of 9/11 were conducted on American soil, Congress
authorized the war on terror (but not with the Patriot Act), the US is a
'combat
zone', and therefore a citizen can be detained as a combatant.

Do I agree with the idea of the USA being a combat zone? I don't know for
sure,
but I lean against it. I don't like the idea that the President, by virtue
of
the USA being a combat zone, could perhaps declare martial law and do
anything
he desires. (I don't know that combat zone and martial law go together so
easily, but you get my drift.)

John
On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD

If I recall, the cops can hold you for 48 hours without charging you with a
crime. While I'm sure they may stretch this occasionally, Padilla was held
for what...months? Wake up, John. That's illegal, unless the Patriot Act or
some other legislation makes it otherwise.