Gonzales Defends Detention

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales on Tuesday defended the Bush administration’s detention of alleged Al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla, following a judge’s ruling that he must be charged with a crime or be set free.

While lawmakers urged compliance with the ruling by U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd, Gonzales said the Supreme Court had upheld the proposition that the government could hold someone it declared an enemy combatant “for the duration of the hostilities.”

The administration’s position troubled Reps. Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) and Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), who said the fight against terrorism was unlike other conflicts in U.S. history.

“I will not live to see the end to the war on terror,” Wolf said. “We cannot continue to keep an American citizen. This is not [Osama] bin Laden.”

Serrano said that if the government had the evidence to back its claims against Padilla, “then bring him to trial.”

Padilla, a former gang member who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., has been held for 21 months without being charged. He was arrested after a trip to Pakistan.