Sick

I just heard this story on Morning Edition. It seems after all the inhumane things he's been exposed to, José Padilla is suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover:

There is no indication that Padilla is faking it, Hegarty says. To the contrary, Padilla denies that he has any problems and tends to identify with the government's interests more than his own.

For example, Padilla thought his lawyers were unfair in their rigorous questioning of the FBI agents who arrested him at O'Hare airport. This is a "typical response," writes Hegarty, a modified version of the Stockholm syndrome in which hostages identify with their captors. Because the captors "hold all the power," the more the captive identifies with that power, "the safer he feels."

As Padilla's been held largely incommunicado since 2002, I can't say I'm really surprised. I am, however, ashamed that we've done this to someone—even someone who may not have been a saint; "if men were angels" and all that.

As an aside, the lead-in to the story (no audio available yet audio now available at the link above) explained that NPR had long ago made a conscious decision to pronounce his name "pah-DILL-ah" (that's "dill" as in the pickle) rather than the typical Spanish-language "pah-DEE-yah." Turns out that was just a mistake, based on an incorrect filing in court.

Coming up on the five-year mark, and we just now got the guy's name right. Great.