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Down Under | ||
Australian Held at Gitmo May Return Home | ||
2007-02-19 | ||
By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press 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.
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."
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. | ||
Posted by:anonymous5089 |
#3 So try him as an unlawful combattant, find him guilty (I don't think there's much doubt), and execute him. Solves the entire problem. Bury him in Cuba, just for the he$$ of it. There are several small islands that are part of Guantanamo. Bury him on one of them, and burn the records. Let his idiot father wail and gnash his teeth all he wants. Sounds like "daddy" may be as big a risk as "sonny-boy". |
Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-02-19 14:17 |
#2 a former kangaroo skinner who converted to Islam Can you say 'made for tv movie'? |
Posted by: SteveS 2007-02-19 08:49 |
#1 an electoral liability? I doubt it. AP terrorist-loving spin |
Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-19 06:48 |