The former “enemy combatant” Jose Padilla has been sentenced to more than seventeen years in prison. Padilla and two co-defendants were found guilty last year of conspiracy to commit terrorism and providing material support toward that goal. Padilla originally made international headlines in 2002, when President Bush declared him an enemy combatant for allegedly plotting to set off a radioactive dirty bomb inside the United States. He was stripped of all rights, transferred to a Navy brig in South Carolina and held in extreme isolation for forty-three months. The Bush administration denied him access to an attorney for two years. Faced with a Supreme Court challenge, President Bush finally announced criminal charges far less serious than the public allegations made at the time of Padilla’s capture. Defense attorneys argued that Padilla was unfit to stand trial and that the indictment should be dismissed because of government mistreatment. Prosecutors had urged a sentence of life imprisonment. But on Tuesday, Judge Marcia Cooke cited what she called Padilla’s “harsh” ordeal in U.S. custody as a factor in his sentencing. Judge Cooke added, “There is no evidence that these defendants personally maimed, kidnapped or killed anyone in the United States or elsewhere.”