‘Light on facts’ Padilla trial begins.

U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, “once accused as a ‘dirty bomber’ and confined for more than three years in a Navy jail as an ‘enemy combatant,’ finally goes to trial here today on less sensational charges.”

The scenario federal prosecutors plan to present has nothing to do with the accusations in 2002 by then-attorney general John Ashcroft and President Bush that turned a former Chicago gang member into one of the most notorious terrorism suspects since the 9/11 attacks.

Instead, prosecutors…contend that Padilla, who converted to Islam after serving time in prison as a juvenile, left the USA in 1998 and trained in Afghanistan for ‘violent jihad,’ court papers say. Padilla, 36, is not charged with participating in a specific attack.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke warned prosecutors last summer that the indictment was “light on facts.”

Veteran investigative journalist Lew Koch will be covering the trial for FireDogLake. Rick Perlstein has more.