You've undoubtedly heard original Patriot, Ben Franklin's famous take on the Patriot Act and our War on Terra:

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security

Maybe our paranoid brethren on the right will listen to their hero Ronald Reagan:

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or a right. There is only an up or down: up to man's age-old dream -- the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course. Ronald Reagan, Republican National Convention, 1964

America is populated by idealists. Indeed our vision of the World affects our vision of ourselves. That is why there is such dissonance about the Abu Ghraib scandal. The realities on the ground are completely at odds with our perception of who we are and what we strive to be.

No, we are not as bad (read evil) as some would announce, but we certainly are no angels. Indeed our confidence in ourselves is shaken even more when our Justice Department shows it's complete lack of faith in the Justice System by holding someone like José Padilla without being confident that the overwhelming evidence they have of his guilt will suffice to put the guy away. In fact, the complete abrogation of this man's basic rights due to the government's paranoia of what he might do if freed, may be the very instrument used to unlock his cage. This would be a hell of a price to pay for learning that the Constitution protects everyone, even the most heinous among us.

Dalmer was responsible for a lot of murders, more than Padilla, so was Terry Nichols and Tim McVie. They all got fair trials and access to legal counsel. The list of monsters for whom our system can and does afford continued respect of their basic human and civil rights is legion. Just because we can label such a monster a "terrorist" makes him no less human and entitled to the protections we idealistic Americans believe in. Before John Ashcroft, this Nation would take pains to protect a criminal's rights, mainly to make sure that the menace could not go free on a "technicality," another word for a government blunder.

Now, when the "blunder" is intentional, colored by the legality of expedience and patriotism, it is all the more important that this callous disregard for all our protected rights be found totally un-American, and if Padilla and other's like him must be released so that Mr. Ashcroft realizes the limits of his power, so be it. Terrorist can kill and injure and destroy if freed, but they cannot defeat us or our way of life. However, when we act to undermine the very freedoms and rights that define us as Americans, they win without even leaving their 10 by 10 foot cells.