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"I'm a true blue Aussie," Guantanamo detainee tells Howard
 David Hicks: Jihadi pussy. And a groveling one at that...SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian held at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years has written a pleading letter to Prime Minister John Howard, insisting he is a "true blue Aussie" and not an evil terrorist. Somebody get David some extra bedsheets. And maybe another belt... David Hicks, who was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 after allegedly fighting alongside the ousted Taliban regime, implores Howard to secure his release from the US military prison in Cuba. "I am determined to fit back into society and be a model citizen," Hicks, 31, writes in the letter, a copy of which was obtained Friday by AFP. "I am not an evil person or a risk to the Australian public and it saddens me that some may think so. On the contrary, I like to think of myself as a true blue Aussie. Australia is in my heart and forever will be." I'm a victim of coicumstances, I tell ya! His lawyer David McLeod said Friday that Howard had not responded, or even acknowledged the letter, written on January 21, 2005. Dear David, Eat shit and die. Regards, Office of the Prime Minister  Hicks' description of himself in the letter is at odds with the charges laid by the United States and the strong comments of the Australian government which insists it has no sympathy for the inmate. The former ranch-hand, or "jackeroo" in the Australian outback, was one of a handful of Guantanamo detainees scheduled to face a special military tribunal. The Muslim convert was charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder and aiding the enemy after allegedly training in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Hicks' father Terry informed his son of the [Hamdan] Supreme Court ruling in a two-hour telephone conversation on Friday. He told AFP his son took little comfort in the ruling and was close to breaking point. Is he closer to the breaking point then he was closer to the breaking point 2 years ago, Pops? "He said if I have to go another 12 months I do not know if I will last," Hicks' father said. Oh, I'll bet he will. Just so he can complain about being closer to the breaking point... "He was agitated, he was angry. It was terrible to listen to him," added Hicks, who requested permission through Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs to phone his son several months ago. Hicks said his son was facing tougher conditions in the US military prison since the suicide of three inmates last month. "They have taken all his rights off him," he told AFP. "No books, no writing. He has nothing. On occasions they take his clothing and turn the air conditioning on cold, up as high as it can go," he added. "They are pushing him to the limits." He said David no longer wanted to see Australian consular officials and believed they were misrepresenting his circumstances and failing to pass on his list of grievances. Hicks last received a consular visit two weeks before the June 10 suicides, according to McLeod. Prime Minister John Howard last month described the report from that visit as "positive." There was no immediate comment Friday from Australia's foreign affairs department. Political opponents and legal experts have rounded on Howard's government for doing nothing to help free Hicks. While Britain secured the release from Guantanamo of its nine nationals and argued the tribunals did not meet international legal standards, Howard supported the process. Since the Supreme Court ruling, he has urged Washington to find another means of trying Hicks.
Man, get out the big, GIANT violin... Posted by: tu3031 2006-07-07 |
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