One long national nightmare is over

Daniela Deane reports in the Washington Post that

Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held by the Bush administration for three years without charges as an enemy combatant plotting a "dirty bomb" attack in the United States, has been indicted on charges unrelated to any potential terrorist attack in this country.

Thus there are, at the moment, no US citizens arrested on US soil held indefinitely in prison without trial as a result of a decision made by the US president. The executive branch continues to hold non citizens without either trials of the Geneva convention protection for prisoners of war and the Senate has decided to restrict their right of habeus Corpus, but one bright line has been crossed heading towards the rule of law.

The optimistic can hope that in the not so distant future the USA will become again a free nation under the law.

Newly awakened from the nightmare of absolute presidential power, I fear that, if Padilla is acquited, he will be locked up again as an "enemy combatant" and the bill of rights will fall back into a coma troubled by the nightmares of arrogance and hypocricy.