The Padilla mystery

In today's Guardian, Naomi Klein reports that accused terrorist Jose Padilla has been subjected to extreme methods of pscyhological torture -- techniques reminiscent of the worst abuses uncovered during the MKULTRA investigations:

Arrested in May 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare airport, Padilla, a Brooklyn-born former gang member, was classified as an "enemy combatant" and taken to a navy prison in Charleston, South Carolina. He was kept in a cell 9ft by 7ft, with no natural light, no clock and no calendar. Whenever Padilla left the cell, he was shackled and suited in heavy goggles and headphones. Padilla was kept under these conditions for 1,307 days. He was forbidden contact with anyone but his interrogators, who punctured the extreme sensory deprivation with sensory overload, blasting him with harsh lights and pounding sounds. Padilla also says he was injected with a "truth serum", a substance his lawyers believe was LSD or PCP.

According to his lawyers and two mental health specialists who examined him, Padilla has been so shattered that he lacks the ability to assist in his own defence. He is convinced that his lawyers are "part of a continuing interrogation program" and sees his captors as protectors.

(Emphasis added.) Now, I don't want to open up a discussion of the CIA's notorious mind-alteration program. There is a surprisingly large subculture of unpleasant people who want to blame their mental health issues on the Agency, and these folks get very angry if you dare to ask for evidence. But the Padilla case justifies a (cautious) reference to MKULTRA. The CIA and the military did indeed fund many studies in sensory deprivation; they even financed John Lilly's well-known work, which inspired the fanciful Ken Russell film Altered States.

From a piece by George Monbiot, published last December:

The purpose of these measures appeared to be to sustain the regime under which he had lived for more than three years: total sensory deprivation. He had been kept in a blacked-out cell, unable to see or hear anything beyond it. Most importantly, he had had no human contact, except for being bounced off the walls from time to time by his interrogators. As a result, he appears to have lost his mind. I don't mean this metaphorically. I mean that his mind is no longer there.

(Emphasis added.) As we've noted before, the purpose of mental torture often is not to extract the truth, but to force a man to "confess" to a lie -- or to hide the truth by foisting insanity on someone who has seen too much.

But why Padilla? Why was he held for so long without warrant, without charges? The evidence against him -- insofar as it has been made available to the public -- amounts to this:

Padilla was a Latino street gang thug who, as a juvenile, killed another gang member. He converted to Islam and (reportedly) embraced non-violence. He was associated with one Adham Amin Hassoun, agent for a charitable organization accused of being a secret funding mechanism for terrorism. Padilla traveled throughout the Middle East in 2001 and 2002: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. It is claimed (but not proven) that, in an intercepted communication, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed suggested to another Al Qaeda operative that Padilla might participate in a "dirty bomb" plot. (KSM is quite the mystery man in his own right, and the oddities surrounding his capture remain perplexing.) When Padilla was arrested in May of 2002, he inexplicably carried some $10,000 in cash, as well as the email addresses of several Al Qaeda operatives.

All of which sounds extremely troubling, even damning -- although finding a triable crime in that resume seems to have given prosecutors difficulty. However, Padilla's phone wiretaps have been leaked, and the evidence is far from compelling:

The leaked transcripts documented seven telephone conversations on which Padilla's voice is heard that were intercepted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Defense lawyers have said that Padilla is never overheard discussing any violent acts and that many of the conversations involve family matters, casting doubt on the strength of the government's case.

If the reader will forgive a bit of speculation (and I am, of course, hardly the first to offer this thought): Padilla's resume suggests the possibility that he functioned as an undercover agent. A gang member with a murder rap might well have stayed in the joint for the bulk of his life. Padilla could have made a deal in order to regain his freedom.

The "undercover agent" thesis could also explain why the government held him without charges: He might have rebelled against his assignment, and might have displayed a willingness to reveal matters his handlers considered best kept secret.

As noted above, he now apparently views his captors as his protectors. It is easier to understand how Padilla, in his addled state, might have been led to this conclusion if we posit that he once worked for the government.

Some conspiracy theorists have suggested that Padilla could well have been the infamous John Doe #2 of Oklahoma City bombing lore. Padilla does bear an inarguable resemblance to the drawing issued by the Janet Reno Justice Department. Then again, so do many other people.

Incidentally, it seems to me that the only possible witness against Padilla, vis-a-vis the dirty bomb charge, would be Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Whatever happened to him, and why aren't more people curious about his fate? Many would dearly love to see him on a witness stand -- indeed, many would love to see him tried. No charges have ever been brought against him. Why not?

Longstanding rumor holds that KSM was never captured and has been living comfortably in Pakistan. Most people believe that he is being held in rough detention in Jordan, undergoing torments even worse than those applied to Padilla. I wish we knew the truth. Alas, too much of current history is written in invisible ink.