A federal judge found that Jose Padilla is competent to stand trial.
Rep. Mel Watt, Chairman of the Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, presided over a hearing today: Insurance Claims Payment Processes in the Gulf Coast after the 2005 Hurricanes; see videos here.
According to an article by Naomi Klein, Judge Cooke said,. “It’s not like Mr. Padilla was living in a box. He was at a place. Things happened to him at that place.” She has ordered prison employees to testify at the hearings on Padilla’s mental state. They will be asked how a man alleged to have engaged in elaborate antigovernment plots now acts, in the words of brig staff, “like a piece of furniture.” The fact that he’s now been declared competent to stand trial is very confusing.
According to the article in The Nation the cruel methods US interrogators have used since 9/11 to “break” prisoners are finally being put on trial. Sounds like in order to have a trial the judge had to declare him competent to stand trial otherwise what happened to him won’t see the light of day. Am I missing something?