Why it's the noncitizen who is getting the trial

A French citizen is accused of conspiring in the Sept. 11 attacks. Zacarias Moussaoui gets a full trial in civilian courts.

A U.S. citizen is suspected of plotting with al-Qaida to explode a so-called dirty bomb in the United States. Jose Padilla is held in military custody with no prospect of release, even though he hasn't been charged with a crime.

Isn't the Constitution supposed to provide more, not less, protection to U.S. citizens?

The difference, a legal analyst said, is that prosecutors feel they have the goods on Moussaoui but not on Padilla, whom the government has designated an "enemy of the state."

"Prosecutors in this dirty bomb case don't have enough evidence. So they're using this ploy of putting him in military custody so they can hold on to him," said Robert Precht, an assistant dean at the University of Michigan Law School.

The government says Padilla, also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, had trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A dirty bomb contains radioactive material that is scattered by conventional explosives.

Whether Padilla's detention is constitutional will be decided in the courts.

Praising many 'good men'

President Bush still likes to praise good men.

Last year, we noted Bush's fondness for praising friends and colleagues by saying, "He's a good man."

Now, Bush is using the phrase even more frequently. According to the White House Web site, Bush has used the phrase 39 times this year, an average of about seven times each month. Last year, he used it 62 times, or roughly five times each month.

Among his good men this year: former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, California gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon, former Rep. Floyd Spence, Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Jim Talent, FBI director Robert Mueller ("He's had his hands full, but he's a good man"), the prime minister of Italy, and St. Patrick ("a good man who spread a gospel of peace").

A search of the White House Web site showed no instances where Bush had referred to a "good woman."

Foley: shaky or shoo-in?

Okay, which is it? Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, is in deep trouble for re-election, or he's home safe?

In the kind of exchange that makes people really respect politics, the House Democratic and Republican campaign committees offered diametrically opposite interpretations of events last week.

"Kaboom!" crowed the National Republican Congressional Committee in a news release, saying the Democrats' hopes of capturing Foley's seat had gone "up in smoke."

As he withdrew from the race, Democrat Ken Eggleston alleged in a federal lawsuit last week that his former employer, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ed Bieluch, had worked with Foley to sabotage his campaign. Eggleston was Bieluch's former undersheriff, and Bieluch had fired him for allegedly campaigning for Congress during work hours.

Then, a Democratic aide picked up a computer disk in Lafayette Park outside the White House that had been dropped by a White House intern. It contained a confidential assessment of Republican prospects in the midterm congressional elections, including that many GOP-held House seats in Florida are vulnerable to being picked off by Democrats.

"Florida Republicans have found themselves on the White House's endangered incumbents list because they repeatedly broke their promises (to protect) Social Security," said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Kim Rubey.

Although the Republicans didn't name Foley as one of the vulnerable Floridians, the Democrats were only too happy to do it for them.

-- Compiled by Times staff writers Mary Jacoby and Bill Adair.

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