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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Down Under
Hicks to be sprung Saturday
2007-12-29
David Hicks, the first Guantánamo Bay prisoner convicted of terrorism charges, will walk free from an Australian prison tomorrow after more than six years in captivity. The 32-year-old former kangaroo skinner will apologise to the Australian people for the inconvenience he has caused when he leaves the maximum security Yatala prison in Adelaide, his father said.

However, Terry Hicks insisted that his son had been pressured into admitting terrorism charges in a plea bargain which saw him sent home from Guantánamo in May. "There'll be some sort of apology," Terry Hicks said. "It is important to him that he gets this message across and thanks everybody who has been supportive of him."

He added: "Nothing's really been proved, nothing's been in a proper court system, all that's happened is that David signed a piece of paper to get out of the place."

US officials portrayed Hicks, who was captured while guarding a Talitank alongside Taliban forces in Afghanistan in December 2001, as a committed al-Qaida supporter who had met Osama bin Laden a number of times. His lawyers countered that the Muslim convert, who has since renounced the faith, was an immature adventurer who only went to Afghanistan after his application to enlist in the Australian army was turned down.
Immature young lad. On a grand adventure. With a gang of blood-thirsty jihadis. And a rifle of his own.
Hicks spent more than five years at the US detention centre in Guantánamo Bay, where his family say he became depressed and withdrawn.
No kidding; being in a U.S. military slammer would sure depress me.
He became the first person convicted at a US war-crimes trial since World War II after he pleaded guilty in March to providing material support to al-Qaida. Under the plea bargain, Hicks was allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence in Adelaide, but in return forfeited any right to appeal his conviction and agreed not to speak to the media for a year from his sentencing date.
He admitted his guilt. Case closed. Next!
Australia's government has concedes that the gagging order may not be enforceable in Hicks' home country, where he has not been convicted of any crime. On release, Hicks will be subject to a form of control order obliging him to report to police three times a week and obey a curfew, among other restrictions.

Hicks' long incarceration without trial prompted human rights campaigners to condemn the country's then prime minister, John Howard, for not pushing the US for his release. The new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who defeated Howard in a November election, was a strong critic of Hicks' treatment and the military tribunal system that convicted him.

However, Rudd has not challenged the plea deal and said today that Hicks would have to accept the control order. "Mr Hicks should be treated no differently to any other Australian citizen in these circumstances and our expectations of Mr Hicks is that he would comply with the requirements which have been imposed upon him," he told reporters.
Mr. Rudd does not seem to be a complete ninny...
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Down Under
David Hicks prefers cell to sunshine
2007-12-24
Former Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks prefers his prison cell to the prison yard after years of confinement, a report said Monday, just days ahead of the 'Aussie Taliban's' release. Hicks spent five years in US military custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and can no longer cope with open spaces, preferring enclosed rooms and artificial lighting to open air and sunshine, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The former Muslim extremist who once described Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a "lovely brother", had only been into the prison yard once since he was returned to Australia in May, it said. "He tried to go out but he just said everything closed in on him," his father, Terry Hicks, told the paper.

The 32-year-old also suffered a panic attack on the one occasion he was removed from Yatala Labour Prison in South Australia as part of preparations for his December 29 release. The journey, to suburban Holden Hill police station, had to be called off because Hicks suffered the attack, believing he was back in the hands of the US military. "It was not good -- he had an anxiety thing," Terry Hicks said. "They told him he had no choice, he had to go (to Holden Hill) and they put him in the van and took him away. He just regressed back to Guantanamo Bay and he had such anxiety they had to bring him back."

Despite the reports of his fragile mental state, Hicks is still considered a terror risk and an Australian court on Friday imposed tough restrictions on his movements following his release. The magistrate placed Hicks under a midnight to 6:00 am curfew and ordered him to report to a police station three times a week. He is also banned from leaving Australia and there are limits on him owning a mobile phone.
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Down Under
Hicks Just Wants To Go Home
2007-03-28
Lawyers for an Australian who was the first terror suspect to plead guilty before military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay met in private with prosecutors Tuesday to formalize details of a confession expected to speed his return home. David Hicks, who was accused of supporting al-Qaida and the Taliban during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, entered the plea Monday in a surprise development seen as a bid to end his five-year imprisonment at the U.S. naval base in southeast Cuba.
Couldn't be he did nuttin' wrong, he just copped a plea to get back on da street.

The United States has agreed to allow Hicks to serve any sentence in Australia, and the U.S. military said a conviction on his charge of providing material support for terrorism could allow him to return home by the end of the year. Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Tuesday that he believed his son pleaded guilty as part of a bargain with prosecutors that would get him out of Guantanamo: "It's a way to get home, and he's told us he just wants to get home."

The guilty plea came at the opening session of a new military tribunal signed into law in October by President Bush after the Supreme Court struck down the previous system. Critics of the commissions said the plea reflected Hicks' despair over his prospects for justice from Guantanamo courts.

"He and his attorneys knew he could not receive a fair trial, so Hicks pleaded guilty," said Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, the lawyer for Omar Khadr, a Canadian detainee who is expected to face charges before the commission.

Hicks, a 31-year-old Muslim convert, pleaded guilty to one charge of providing support to a terror organization involved in hostilities against the United States. But he denied a second allegation of supporting terrorism.

He allegedly attended terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and reported to an al-Qaida commander after the Sept. 11 attacks, but he was not accused of firing a shot against U.S. or coalition forces. He was captured in December 2001 and was one of the first men taken to Guantanamo a month later.

Hicks, who lives at a maximum-security facility at Guantanamo, has been transferred to a complex with special meeting rooms to make it easier to consult with his lawyers.

At a private conference Tuesday, the defense and prosecution were expected to discuss details of the guilty plea before presenting it to the military judge, Marine Corps Col. Ralph Kohlmann, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. Kohlmann was expected to make the determination this week. "Under commission rules the military judge must be satisfied that Hicks' guilty plea is voluntary and otherwise lawful," Whitman said.
But whaddabout the ACLU? Ammnesty International?

Members of a military tribunal convened for Hicks' case are expected to travel to Guantanamo this week to approve any sentence. Defense attorneys said a gag order by the military judge prevented them from discussing details of the plea until a sentence is announced.

Hicks is the only detainee charged so far by the reconstituted tribunal system. The military says as many as 80 of the 385 men held at Guantanamo will likely face prosecution.

A challenge of the new system is pending before the Supreme Court. Lawyers for detainees have asked the high court to step in again and guarantee that the prisoners can challenge their confinement in U.S. courts.
Yeah! We want the same rights as those we hope to kill!
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Down Under
David Hicks Dad may be called as key prosecution witness after calling his son a terrorist
2007-03-06
THE father of Australian terror suspect David Hicks could be called as a key prosecution witness in his son's trial after calling his son a "terrorist", the US military chief prosecutor said today.

Chief prosecutor at the US Office of Military Commissions, Colonel Morris Davis, said he has evidence of Terry Hicks referring to his son as a "terrorist".

Mr Hicks is a vocal supporter of his son and has been a key figure in the campaign to have him released from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and returned to Australia. But Col Davis said Mr Hicks referred to his son as a "terrorist" in an interview soon after it became public Hicks had been picked up in Afghanistan in December 2001 and put in US custody. "The very first interviews I can find when someone referred to him as a terrorist was Terry Hicks," Col Davis said.

"The first time he was interviewed, Terry Hicks described the phone call with David in September (2001) after 9/11 and David was in Pakistan and said he was going to go back to Afghanistan. "Terry Hicks said he tried to talk him out of it and told him he shouldn't be taking up arms against his own.

"I think his quote was 'He's 26 years old, he's his own man, and I can't tell him what to do. In our eyes he's a terrorist because he took up arms against his own'.

"I would tend to agree with Terry Hicks."

Asked if Mr Hicks could be called as a prosecution witness or his comments used to bolster the prosecution case, Col Davis said: "Possibly". "I'm not the lead prosecutor in the case so I don't want to commit him to a particular strategy or not, but certainly Terry Hicks has changed his tune considerably since that time," Col Davis said. "But, on day one, he's the first one I can find anywhere that refers to David Hicks being a terrorist."

Col Davis said the prosecution was still open to a plea deal and if Hicks did plead guilty he could be back in Australia "walking free" this year. Col Davis said he could be open to a plea deal of 10 to 20 years imprisonment. If the sentence was the 10 years, and Hicks was sent back to Australia to serve it, Col Davis said it was his understanding Hicks's five years jail at Guantanamo could be taken into account.

Col Davis said the matter had been discussed with Hicks's US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori. "In my understanding in talking to Major Mori that there is a strong possibility or likelihood or expectation the Australian Government would credit whatever time he spent in Guantanamo once he gets back to Australia they would apply the credit," Col Davis said. "Depending on the length of the sentence, there's a strong possibility he would be parole ready once he got back to Australia.

"I'm certainly no expert on the Australian parole system, but the way it was presented to me, if it was reasonably accurate, it's possible, and I can't say it's probable or likely, but it's possible he could be back home and walking free by the end of the year."
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Down Under
Hicksville - place with a secret
2007-03-01
SUPPORTERS of self-confessed Taliban warrior David (aka Abu Muslim Australia, aka Abu Muslim Astrailii, aka Abu Muslim Philippine, aka Muhammad Dawood) Hicks are either brainwashed or brainless. Their threadbare arguments to "Free Hicks" would indicate they have suspended any ability they may have once possessed to think logically.

Blind emotion is clearly driving some, like millionaire Dick Smith, to contribute to this loser's cause when there are so many more better-defined causes in need of assistance. It is abundantly obvious Hicks' defence team hopes to win a victory in the court of public sentiment, probably because they fear the strength of the case against their client.

If they believed they had a water-tight defence they could have relied on the injunction offered in John 8:31-32 – "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

But they haven't. They have sought to dissemble, to obfuscate, to play to anti-US and anti-Howard forces, anything to keep their client from having his day in court.

They have signalled they intend to launch further appeals, in addition to the one launched in Sydney this week, which will again delay any trial.

Another diversion was announced yesterday in the US, where two other notorious Guantanomo prisoners, Hamdan and Khadr, filed petitions with the US Supreme Court seeking review of the habeas corpus removal provision in the Military Commissions Act in a third bid by the accused to try to use US federal courts to stop their trials.

So much for their claims that they look forward to their day in court where they can confront the witnesses and the evidence against them.

As the US chief prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis says: "If they really want their day in court, and if they believe the process is unfair, then why not go to trial and develop a record so everyone can see whether it is a fair or unfair process rather than just speculate on how it might work?"

With much of the Australian media barracking for Hicks, many people have forgotten it was his father, Terry, who told the media that, in a conversation with his son shortly after 9/11, David said the Americans "are the enemy" and he was going to go to the fight.

Terry Hicks said: "I told him what I thought of what he was doing," but "I can't tell him what to do – he's 26 years old and his own man."

Terry Hicks concluded: "He's a terrorist in our eyes as he's fighting against his own."

Colonel Davis says it "was interesting to hear Terry Hicks during the taping of (SBS program) Insight last week say David was just going back to Afghanistan to get his passport when in 2001 he described his efforts to talk David out of taking up arms against the US and the coalition."

Then there was the front page story in The Sydney Morning Herald which said Hicks was chained in his cell for 22 hours a day.

Sheer nonsense. Just like the charge that US prosecutors timed the swearing of charges to coincide with their departure from Guantanamo, when they were told a week prior in Colonel Davis' office when they were expected to be laid; or the claim that Labor would bring Hicks home for trial – what, under retrospective laws? Get real.

Or the hysteria about military commissions, a long accepted means of trying those who commit offences against the laws of war which operated, for example, at the conclusion of WWII military commissions throughout Europe and the Far East.

There is no requirement that those who commit war crimes must be tried in civilian courts.

Hicks' lawyer Major Michael Mori may be the darling of the latte-lappers but his claim the new rules permit Hicks to be subjected to the death penalty was absolute hokum.

It went unchallenged.

NSW Attorney-General Bob Debus said last November: "I think it is fair to say that we are all shaken by the information that Major Mori has given us." But he hadn't even heard the charges.

As Colonel Davis said: "You would think someone with the legal training required to be an attorney-general would be somewhat hesitant to form a fixed and definite opinion based solely upon the representations of an advocate for a party in interest.

"You would think he would at least be interested in hearing the other side of the story before making up his mind on an issue in which he has no first-hand knowledge."

Nope. True believers don't need facts. It's all in the vibe.

Hicks hasn't been demonised, as Major Mori claims Treasurer Peter Costello has attempted to do.

Hicks' admissions of his desire to kill Jews and Christians and destroy those who follow Western culture is all of his own making.

He was a member of a group sworn to reject everything the West stands for – the equality of women, democracy, freedom to practise any religion. He certainly didn't need anyone else demonising him.

Now, he and his team in their attempts to evade trial are behaving like the six Pakistani defendants and their lawyers in one of Sydney's more appalling gang rape cases of which author Paul Sheehan wrote in his best-selling book Girls Like You – deny, exclude, confuse, accuse. Hicks' supporters should listen again to what Terry Hicks said after speaking to his son the terrorist and believe both Hicks were telling the truth.
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Down Under
Australian Held at Gitmo May Return Home
2007-02-19
By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press Imaginary Friend Writer
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Australia's foreign minister says that the U.S. defense secretary has assured him that an Australian held at Guantanamo Bay would be able to serve his sentence in Australia if he is charged and convicted, and he could return before the end of the year. David Hicks, a former kangaroo skinner who converted to Islam and is accused of fighting for the Taliban, has been held at Guantanamo for five years without being charged, and his attorneys and family say he may have developed mental illness during his extended incarceration.

He was captured in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance during the U.S.-led invasion in December 2001.
Just a confused, pious young kangaroo skinner wandering the hills and valleys of Afghanistan looking for enlightenment. With mullahs. And a rifle.
A U.S. prosecutor said last week that Hicks is likely to be formally charged with terrorism offenses within two weeks and a military commission would be established to try him within four months. "What we are trying to do is ensure that the trial takes place as quickly as possible, so assuming that the trial goes ahead on schedule, then whether he's _ whether David Hicks is convicted or he's acquitted, and we obviously make no judgment about that _ but he should be able to come home to Australia before the end of the year," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australia's Nine Network television Sunday.

David Hicks' father, however, said he was unconvinced by the assurances from Downer. "I think they just want to sound like they're looking out for David's interests to get them past the next election," Terry Hicks said.

Prime Minister John Howard told Nine Network on Monday that he would ask Vice President Dick Cheney about the Hicks case when Cheney visits Australia this week. "I will be pressing the vice president as strongly as the circumstances allow for the trial to take place without any further delay," Howard said. "It's taken too long."
We agree. Try him, convict him, jug him for thirty years, and promise the Aussies they can have him back the day he completes his sentence.
The Australian government announced last May that it had signed an agreement with the United States that would allow Hicks to apply for a transfer to an Australian prison if he were convicted at the U.S. naval base on Cuba of terrorism offenses. Such a transfer would need the approval of both the Australian and United States governments and Hicks would have to serve the full duration of the sentence handed down by a U.S. military commission.

Terry Hicks said he doubted whether either of the two governments would risk sending his 31-year-old son back to Australia where the top legal body, the Law Council of Australia, has condemned the military commission system as unfair and could potentially take up legal challenges to the case.

Hicks is looming as an electoral liability for Howard's center-right government, which hopes to win its fifth three-year term at elections due late this year. Members of his government complain that voters are angry about the time Hicks has spent at Guantanamo without being convicted of any crime.
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Down Under
India wants a piece of David Hicks
2007-02-11
Melbourne, Feb 10: While a debate is raging down over long trial delays for the Australia’s sole Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks, Indian government is also interested to talk to him for his alleged involvement in activities in Kashmir. David Hicks, an Australian citizen, had allegedly fired hundreds of bullets on the Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in year 2000.

Indian government is believed to have started an investigation about the Australian’s involvement in anti-Indian activities as a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The chances of Indian government extraditing David Hicks from Australia in the near future are though somewhat bleak as David Hicks faces 20 years imprisonment in the US if terrorism charges labelled by the Americans are upheld.

Hicks was arrested in Afghanistan in late 2001 and is among around 395 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters being held in Guantanamo. He faces charges of providing support for terrorism and attempted murder in violation of the law of war. While the British and number of other US allies have taken their nationals home, David Hicks is still waiting for the illusive trial to decide his fate.

David Hicks’ father Terry Hicks has been fighting a lone man’s fight to bring his son home ever since the former kangaroo skinner was found among the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 2001 by the US forces.

David Hicks, father of two from Adelaide, was used to write to his family in Australia from Pakistan. In an oft-quoted letter he is believed to have written on August 10, 2000.
“I got to fire hundreds of bullets. Most Muslim countries impose hanging for civilians arming themselves for conflict. There are not many countries in the world where a tourist, according to his visa, can go to stay with the army and shoot across the border at its enemy, legally.’’ David Hicks had also claimed to be a guest of Pakistan’s army for two weeks at the front in the “controlled war’’ with India in the same letter.
According to News Limited newspapers, the US prosecution file states that David Hicks converted to Islam and joined the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan in 2000. He is believed to have gone to the disputed Indo-Pak border in Kashmir and allegedly fired on the Indian soldiers. This information was sent to New Delhi this week by the Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Australia, Vinod Kumar, News Limited newspapers have reported.

“If Mr Hicks was involved with them at any level, and if he was indeed firing weapons at our troops, then, most certainly, we would like to talk to him about it ... We don’t take kindly to attacks on our soldiers — even attacks by people like Mr Hicks,’’ an Indian official has told Australian reporters from New Delhi.
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Home Front: WoT
Hicks Charged; Dad Gloomy
2007-02-03
The announcement of proposed charges against Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks brings little relief, says his father Terry Hicks.

Overnight, Colonel Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor for the upcoming US military commissions, announced Hicks would be one of the first three Guantanamo Bay inmates brought to trial. Col Davis has recommended Hicks be charged with "providing material support for terrorism and attempted murder in violation of the law of war". If convicted, the 31-year-old former jackeroo from Adelaide faces a maximum penalty of life in a US prison.

Col Davis "swore" the charges against Hicks today but they won't be formally laid until they have been approved by US military judge Susan Crawford - a process expected to take two weeks.

Terry Hicks says the new proposed charges are confusing and bring little promise that the process is moving forward. "There is in one way, but I would be more relieved if David was facing a fair and just situation, not virtually the same thing that they went through before, which has been ruled as illegal," Mr Hicks said today.
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Home Front: WoT
U.S. removes Saddam photo from Gitmo
2007-02-02
Having a little fun with the boys, are we?
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A news report about Saddam Hussein's execution was removed from a recreation area at the Guantanamo Bay detention center after a detainee's lawyer accused officials of using it to frighten prisoners, a U.S. military spokesman said Thursday.
Didya hear, guys? His head popped clean off!
Authorities also removed an Arabic-language poster that depicted Saddam's capture, court appearances and death sentence, said Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, a Guantanamo Bay spokesman. The military decided the poster "appeared insensitive" and did not belong in the recreation area, where authorities post information about current events for detainees.
Awwwwwwwwwww...did it scare the Brave Jihadi Warriors?
"The intent of this poster was to show that the Iraqi people are making progress and have delivered justice," Durand said in an e-mailed statement from the detention center on a U.S. Navy base in southeastern Cuba.
...and that maybe this could happen to you, Brave Jihadi Warrior.
Earlier, an attorney for Australian detainee David Hicks complained the military was attempting to intimidate prisoners with news of the Iraqi leader's execution. "What they're trying to do is ground them into submission with the prospect of their execution," attorney Joshua Dratel said by phone from a Florida airport as he returned from a visit with Hicks.
We heard he died slow, mate. Maybe that won't happen to you. But maybe it will. Tough to find a good hangman these days...
Dratel said detainees were shown photographs of the execution, but Durand said the news article included only a picture of Saddam before the hanging.
Woah! Look at that! That looked really painful! That hadda hurt!
Durand said stories are intended only to provide "intellectual stimulation" to detainees, most of whom have been held since 2002 and otherwise would learn about the outside world only from their attorneys and letters from their families. The military has displayed stories from a number of news organizations on such topics as the decision by Keith Ellison, a Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress from Minnesota, to take the ceremonial oath with a Quran instead of a Bible."Articles chosen are not always pro-U.S.," Durand said.
Why?
Dratel noted that some of the nearly 400 men held at Guantanamo could face execution if they are convicted by military tribunals.
Let's hope so.
Hicks, a former kangaroo skinner, was one of the first prisoners to arrive at the isolated detention center when it opened in January 2002. His lawyers say he is suffering from depression and ill health because of the conditions of his incarceration. "He's doing as poorly as I've seen in the three years we've been going down there," Dratel said.
Manolo! The violin!
Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, said that showing detainees the photo and articles about the execution amounted to "intimidation, mind games and mental torture. My reaction to that is that plain and simply the Americans have now lowered themselves to the regime that they put out in the first place," said Terry Hicks, who lives in Adelaide, Australia.
You know? That one my kid worked for?
Hicks was detained in Afghanistan and was originally charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit war crimes and aiding the enemy. He was selected to face a U.S. military tribunal before the U.S. Supreme Court declared the commissions illegal in June. The lead U.S. prosecutor in a revised tribunal system, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, has said Hicks could be among a handful of prisoners expected to be charged by Friday.
Or maybe not. Maybe he'll get to wait another couple of years...
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Down Under
Hicks's dad fears son may die at Guantanamo
2007-01-11
Manolo! Violin!
David Hicks's father says he is worried his son will commit suicide if he is not released from Guantanamo Bay soon.
See ya next year, pops. I'll bet David will still be with us. And still on the verge of insanity, as usual...
Today marks the fifth anniversary of Mr Hicks's detention in the United States military camp on suspicion of being a terrorist. He still has not been charged.
Maybe they'll give him a cake?
His father, Terry Hicks, says the confinement is taking its toll. He is afraid his son could die at Guantanamo."It's a problem that's always in the back of your mind," he said. "They've had suicides in the Guantanamo Bay.
Not enough.
"Over the last 12 months his reactions as far as the mental side aren't very good, so we've just got to hope that he's strong enough."
I thought this guy was borderline pineapple 3 years ago?
Terry Hicks says he hopes his son's case will help unseat the Liberal Party at the next federal election.
I hope monkeys holding million dollar bills fly outta my ass...
However he says he does not believe an appeal to the Prime Minister today will do any good."I'm sick of making appeals to John Howard ... he doesn't do anything about it," he said.
Jeez, I wonder why?
"All I can say at this point in time with John Howard is I think David's been there long enough for whatever reason. He's done his time."
Jihad lasts forever. David knows the deal.
"I think it's time he came back here.If they want to put him through a court system so be it, but I think five years is long enough for anyone."
Send him home to Pops in a bag.
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Down Under
I Owe It All To My Loony Terrorist Son
2006-08-08
Good luck, pops. Bin Laden will send in a absentee ballot for you...
CANBERRA (Reuters) - The father of Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks has been nominated for the country's "Father of the Year" award, angering the Australian government which said it was being used to score political points.
Nahhhh.Ya think?
Hicks was detained by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in late 2001 and has been in custody in Guantanamo Bay since 2002, where he is awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy.

His father Terry Hicks has led a four-year campaign to have his son either face trial or be set free, but Australia, a close ally of the United States and with forces still fighting in Afghanistan, has refused to seek his release.

Jon Stanhope, head of the local Australian Capital Territory government -- which has authority over the national capital Canberra -- said Terry Hicks was an inspiration to all parents. "To show the enduring and unconditional love and the grace that Terry Hicks has shown in supporting his son, I think is wonderful," Stanhope told Australian radio on Saturday.
And a right fine terrorist ya raised there, Terry! Good on ya!
But Australia's Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, who has long campaigned against allowing David Hicks to return home, hit back at Stanhope and said the nomination was not appropriate.
"I don't think politicization of the program of nominating outstanding fathers of the year is a good way to go," Ruddock said on Saturday.

The Father of the Year award, to be announced on September 1, is an annual award to recognize a high-profile person who is seen as a good role model for fathers, either through support for their family or the community. It is run a by the Shepherd Center charity, which raises money to help deaf children, and is administered by a council made up of prominent Australians and community leaders.
This should do wonders for fund raising...
Previous winners include sportsmen and military leaders, as well as Prime Minister John Howard and former conservative Australian prime ministers Malcolm Fraser, William McMahon and Robert Menzies.
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Down Under
I can't take much more, Hicks tells his father
2006-07-08
GUANTANAMO BAY inmate David Hicks told his father yesterday he did not know whether he would survive another year in the US detention centre, saying he was being "pushed all the time" since three suicides there last month. Terry Hicks broke the news yesterday to his son about last week's historic decision by the US Supreme Court, which ruled that the military commission set up to hear his case was illegal and a violation of the Geneva Conventions and US military law. In their first conversation since Christmas, Mr Hicks was allowed to speak to his son for a little over two hours yesterday, along with other members of the Hicks family and his Australian lawyer, David McLeod.

Mr Hicks said that while his son was pleased about the court victory he was depressed that he was not being released. "That means I could be here for another 12 months or more and I can tell you now, I don't know whether I can last that long," Hicks told his father. "You don't realise how much pressure we are under here, the guards are absolute pigs."

Hicks has been held in Guantanamo Bay for 4œ years, much of it spent in solitary confinement. The Prime Minister, John Howard, said this week he would not ask for Hicks to be released. He said he still wanted Hicks tried by the US. The Howard Government had backed the military commission process as a fair means of trying Hicks. He was one of the first Guantanamo Bay inmates to be selected for military commission trial, and the court decision striking them down is a major setback for the Bush Administration. The White House and Congress are now attempting to set up a new process for hearing the cases, but it is unlikely the legislation will be passed in the near future.

Following three suicides at the camp last month, Hicks told his father yesterday that the guards had "locked down" the facility. He said his books, table and chair, pen and paper had been removed, he had received no letters and spent most of his time in solitary confinement lying on a concrete floor. He said the guards would turn the air conditioning on full, make loud noises and sometimes take his clothes away. "Just listening to him talk he was so angry," Mr Hicks told the Herald. For 45 minutes his son told him about the conditions at the camp and said suicide was one of the few ways to get back at the guards. While he insisted he was not suicidal himself, he told his father: "We're being pushed, pushed, pushed all the time. Don't be surprised if things happen."

Hicks was given only 30 minutes' notice of the phone call and was told at the same time he was being shifted to Camp Echo, out of solitary confinement. He apparently believed this meant he was being released and was deflated when he realised his mistake. Hicks's US lawyer, Major Michael Mori, was due to arrive at Guantanamo Bay last night to explain the court decision to him.
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