The breaking news story of the day today: Padilla convicted of terrorism support.

Jose Padilla, the Brooklyn-born former street gang member arrested five years ago as a suspected terrorist, was convicted today by a federal jury in Miami along with two co-defendants on charges of supporting al-Qaeda and other violent Muslim extremist groups.

After a day-and-a-half of deliberations following a three-month trial, the jury found that Padilla, 36, joined a cell to provide money and recruits to terrorist groups. Also convicted in the case were Adham Amin Hassoun, 45, a Lebanese-born Palestinian who worked in the United States as a computer programmer, and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, also 45, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan who ran a purported relief organization that prosecutors said provided support to terrorist groups.

They were found guilty on all three counts against them: conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap as part of a terrorist campaign overseas, conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism and providing material support for terrorism.

AP News reports, “Padilla, a U.S. citizen held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant, was convicted Thursday of helping Islamic extremists and plotting overseas attacks in a case that came to symbolize the Bush administration’s zeal to clamp down on terrorism,” however the conviction “was hardly a complete victory for the government.”

Estela Lebron, Padilla’s mother, said outside the courthouse: “The winner is George Bush.” Earlier in the courtroom, she said she felt “a little bit sad” at the verdict but expected her son’s lawyers would appeal.

“I don’t know how they found Jose guilty. There was no evidence he was speaking in code,” she said, referring to FBI wiretap intercepts in which Padilla was overheard talking to co-defendant Adham Amin Hassoun.

Contrary to the AP line that the conviction was “hardly a complete victory for the government,” Abby Goodnough says in the N.Y. Times that it was “major victory for the Bush administration.”

There’s a wealth of opinions in the sphere this afternoon on the case at: The Newshoggers, Balloon Juice, Left In The West, The Moderate Voice, Mahablog, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Andrew Sullivan, Unqualified Offerings, and Majikthise. Check Memeorandum for all the buzz.

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