In the following excerpt, the US wants to keep a US citizen, away from lawyers for interrogation purposes. Perhaps the interrogation consists of telling him that X is his public defender when X is in fact an interrogator. Combined with synthetic (disinfo) newspapers and news stories intentionally 'leaked' to him, Padilla's idea of his situation may be very different from reality.
While its probably legit to use disinfo newspapers (in the same way a cop can lie to you, or a detective can bluff the prisoner's dilemma) the former deception isn't. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/011/nation/US_argues_against_counsel_for_terror_suspects+.shtml US argues against counsel for terror suspects By Lyle Denniston, Globe Correspondent, 1/11/2003 WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, going to unusual lengths to keep lawyers away from suspected terrorists now in custody, has revealed in court its methods of secret interrogation to get information from these detainees. The administration contends that those methods surely will fail if lawyers are on hand. In a filing late Thursday in a federal court in New York City, the Justice Department disclosed that military teams have been interrogating a detained US citizen, Jose Padilla, for several months in hopes of winning his trust as a source of intelligence about the Al Qaeda
