Is This Any Way to Treat Anyone?

This photo of Jose Padilla being deprived of sensory perception on his way to a dental appointment appeared in today's New York Times. The goggles and ear phones, which block out all sight and hearing, are horrifying testaments to the US government's inhumane treatment of this prisoner. He was on his way to a root canal, as if that is not bad enough.

Padilla was deemed by the Bush administration to be an "enemy combatant," and three and a half years since his arrest he still awaits trial, which is now scheduled for late January. From the NY Times article,

Now lawyers for Mr. Padilla, 36, suggest that he is unfit to stand trial. They argue that he has been so damaged by his interrogations and prolonged isolation that he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is unable to assist in his own defense. His interrogations, they say, included hooding, stress positions, assaults, threats of imminent execution and the administration of “truth serums.”

Padilla claims that those "truth serums" included LSD and Angel Dust.