A major setback for the US Government today in it’s ongoing “enemy combatant” debate. Jose Padilla has been given the right to meet with his lawyers by a federal judge. For those who don’t know Mr. Padilla is a US citizen who was working with al Qaeda to detonate a “dirty bomb” on US soild.

The decision is a legal setback for the Bush administration, which sought to block Padilla from meeting his defense lawyers under any circumstances, saying national security is more important than a detainee’s right to counsel.

No one will deny that Mr. Padilla is a very bad man, but in the same sense even Jeffrey Dahmer got to talk to his lawyer. The thing that scares me the most is that the US government denied a US citizen a basic right, the right to counsel.