"Don't You Ever, Ever Ask That Question Again."

From wikipedia: On Jose Padilla..

"In January 2007 a mental competency hearing was scheduled for February 22, 2007 over allegations of torture by the military,[30] after two mental health experts hired by the defense to conduct a competency evaluation concluded Padilla is not mentally fit for trial and a third evaluation submitted by the Bureau of Prisons found him mentally competent. The judge also ordered that Sandy Seymour, technical director of the Charleston brig, Craig Noble, brig psychologist, Andrew Cruz, brig social worker, four employees of the Miami federal detention center, and a Defense Department lawyer appear at the hearing.[31]
On February 22, 2007, at the competency hearing, Angela Hegarty, a psychiatrist hired by Padilla's defense, said that after 22 hours of examining Padilla it was her opinion that he was mentally unfit to stand trial. She said that he exhibited “a facial tic, problems with social contact, lack of concentration and a form of Stockholm syndrome." She diagnosed his condition as post-traumatic stress disorder.[32][33] She told the court "It's my opinion that he lacks the capacity to assist counsel. He has a great deal of difficulty talking about the current case before him."[33] In cross examination Federal prosecutor John Shipley pointed out that Padilla had a score of zero on Hegarty's post-traumatic stress disorder test and pointed out that this information was omitted in her final report. Hegarty responded that this omission was an error on her part.[33] Another psychiatrist hired by the defense testified along the same lines. The Miami Herald reported that a "U.S. Bureau of Prisons psychiatrist who believes Padilla is fit to face trial and Defense Department officials -- are expected to testify at the ongoing hearing before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke.""

This such a glossed over version of what happened; Padilla was so insane that he could not even consult his lawyer, thinking that he was a spy or a torturer. Through the time that his lawyer represented him, the lawyer complained that he could not even have one coherent conversation with Padilla. Padilla was so beyond it, in fact, that he basically appeared to fit all the criteria of a severe mental illness; his counsel argued that he should not be considered fit to stand trial. Padilla would often end up in the fetal position in front of him. The US government blocked this assessment, because hey, without it, he wouldn't be able to go to trial. And so try him they did, despite the fact that there was only circumstantial evidence of any crime, provided by paid agents of the selfsame government.

The story of Jose Padilla, and the wikipedia version of it, illustrates the intense vulnerabilities of the information age. More people know about Padilla, but most people haven't much of a clue as to what really happened.
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=23381

Padilla could not speak for himself about what happened to him at this trial. When asked if he was tortured, his terrified response: "Don't you ever, ever ask that question again."