"Dirty Bomber" Finally Charged … With Conspiracy to Kidnap and Murder

Jose Padilla, the American citizen who, in contravention of the Fifth Amendment, has been detained as an "enemy combatant" without being charged for more than three years, has finally been indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami, on charges of conspiring to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas.

Those with long memories might recall that this charge is a far cry from what then-attorney general John Ashcroft, citing "multiple independent and corroborating sources," claimed at a dramatic press conference live from Moscow in the summer of 2002.

We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive "dirty bomb."

And it's important to note that Padilla is only getting his long-overdue transfer to the American judicial system because of pressure from the courts—the Bush Administration was facing a Nov. 28 deadline to file a response to Padilla's legal challenge to define how long an American enemy combatant could be held without charge. Recall then-deputy secretary of state Paul Wolfowitz's ideas about Padilla from three years ago:

Enemy combatants, whether they are American citizens or not American citizens, are subject to the same provisions of the laws of war. You can hold an enemy combatant until the end of the conflict.

And, as Mike Lynch pointed out in these pages back in June 2002, "If the administration had its way, we'd never have heard of Padilla and his alleged plans to construct a dirty bomb."

Jacob Sullum's past takes on the Padilla case here and here.

UPDATE: You can read the indictment [PDF file] here.