June 12, 2002

NEWS RELEASE

Stanley for U.S. Senate
Web site:http://www.stanley2002.org
Contact: Rick Stanley
Campaign office: 303.329.0481
Email:rick@stanley2002.org

============================================================

Libertarians Blast Unlawful Detention of Jose Padilla

(DENVER CO) On Sunday, June 9, 2002, the president of the United States signed an executive order declaring that Jose Padilla is an enemy combatant who does not have any rights. Mr. Padilla, aka Abdullah al Muhajir, is now reportedly in the custody of U.S. military forces somewhere in South Carolina.

Little is known about Mr. Padilla, or why president Bush has decided to violate his own oath of office by denying an American citizen the equal protection of the laws. Jose was born in the Bronx, and he lived in Puerto Rico, Chicago, and Florida before moving to Egypt in 1998.

The government has only named one witness in the case, a Mr. Abu Zubaydah, who is also currently in the custody of the U.S. military. Zubaydah is a foreign national who reportedly served as a top leader in al Qaeda before he was captured. He has lied to U.S. government officials on several previous occasions, causing some embarrassment to the Bush administration, which has issued erroneous terrorist alerts based on Zubaydah’s say-so. This time, apparently, Zubaydah is telling the truth.

Reporters from the "Chicago Tribune" have interviewed several Afghani experts on al Qaeda. Those experts have never even heard of Jose Padilla, nor of Abdullah al Muhajir. They deem it unlikely that Mr. Padilla is part of any terrorist plot. Even John Ashcroft has publicly admitted that Mr. Padilla has never had any of the radioactive materials necessary for constructing a "dirty bomb" in his possession.

The Attorney General continues to insist, however, that Padilla is a grave danger to America's national security, and that it's perfectly legal for the federal government to proceed against an American citizen as if the Bill of Rights does not exist.

Contacted at his home in Colorado Springs, retired Lt. Colonel Biff L. Baker, an Army Ranger with more than 20 years of military experience and currently the Libertarian candidate for U.S. House in Colorado's fifth Congressional district, had this to say: "The federal government has known about our enemies' desire to build weapons of mass destruction ever since 1996. That’s when 'Project Sapphire' retrieved some enriched uranium or plutonium that was being sold to Middle-Eastern terrorists by the Russians. Rather than increase the budget for human intelligence to defend America, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives continued the downward budgetary spiral, resulting in a 40% reduction in our defensive capabilities. All the terrorists had to do was wait while we downsized the military. Now all Americans are vulnerable to their attacks."

Rick Stanley, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate from Colorado, was even more blunt than usual. "The president has clearly exceeded his constitutional authority by imprisoning an American citizen without even filing a criminal charge. Jose Padilla may be a bad man, but the law is the law and nobody -- not even the president of the United States -- is above it."

"Benedict Allard took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States," Stanley continued. "But when a member of his own party makes open war on the Constitution, the traitor, Allard, is conspicuous by his silence." "I will not be silenced. The Constitution says that no person shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law. Jose Padilla is a person. He has been deprived of his liberty without due process of law. The people who did that to him are criminals. Case closed."

##30##

============================================================
Rick Stanley is the Libertarian Party's candidate for U.S. Senate (Colorado) in this year's election. More information about Rick's campaign can be found on his web site located at http://www.stanley2002.org.

To schedule media interviews please contact Rick at 303.329.0481.

For information about the Libertarian Party of Colorado please visit http://www.lpcolorado.org. For information about the Libertarian Party of America please visit http://www.lp.org