Asia-Pacific News
Australian guilty of terrorism in first Guantanamo verdict
Mar 30, 2007, 16:27 GMT
On the Web
Similar articles
- Australia warns against challenge of Hicks' sentence (1st Lead)
- Guilty plea will not bury Hicks' story, Australian minister says
- Guilty plea from Hicks buoys Australian government (Roundup)
- NEWS ANALYSIS: Hicks fix a convenient out for Howard and Bush
- Guilty plea from Hicks buoys Australia government (1st Lead)
Latest Headlines in Asia-Pacific
- 1. Wildlife charity raided by Thai park officials
- 2. Cash on hand, Singapore targets productivity growth with new budget
- 3. EU easing of Myanmar sanctions goes into effect, more might come
- 4. Taiwanese hope Lin brings luck in lottery
- 5. Pressure mounts on favourite to quit Hong Kong leadership race
Older Talkback
page: 1
This is ludicris. Guantanimo is just a holding cell which is designed to force people to admit they are terrorists or be pretty much mentally and physically abused to death. Anyone under these circumstances would admit that, not only did they commit 9/11, fight US Forces in Afghanistan and set up dirty bombs, but say they commited the subway bombings in the UK, tried to con children with candy and steal your grandmothers purse.
THEN we have the audacity to say that Iran trying to force the captured UK Navy woman to say things like 'We need to get out of Iraq' is 'disgusting' is completely unjust. Media isn't half as involved as it used to be.
Shane M.-How dare you.Because your fellow ozzie is going to be wearing a sundress for the next 7 years? I wonder what the Koran says about prisoners who,uh,mate with their fellow prisoners. He's just lucky he was caught rather than killed in a firefight.
Well said Shane.
What other choice do the detainees have? Tortured until you confess or... nope. Just tortured until you confess. Oh, and it's convenient that they get their first conviction as the presidential race is gaining momentum...
Justice and consequences at last. None too soon for this guy. He deserves worse to have intended to kill Americans but everyone should know their is a price to pay for the freedom to oppose liberty.
its obvious that nobody reading this has ever worked there or seen the detention center. well i have and you not in the know are dumber than you think. the detainees are treated better than your grandmother at the senior living home. think before you speak. thank you
I suppose we should just put the suspected terrorists 'on their honor' to return for trial. Just like they honorably sneaked up and killed 2000 ususpecting civilians. Or, just like they honorably convince people to blow themselves up to kill unsuspecting civilians. Oh, sorry, I forgot they have no honor.
Not that I would want any facts to get in the way of a good 'I hate America' rant, but there has been no evidence with three Congressional investigations that any Guantanamo prosoner has been mistread in any way.
Don't you guys have history books? How exactly do you torture someone who kills their own people and themselves You should really read up about what 'Torture' really is before you start throwing it around on a blog.
I think Hicks is a lucky man. If he had been with the Brits or the Americans and caught by al-Qaeda he would have had his head cut off. Be thankful that we still have some Western laws protecting us. Better pray those idiots do not get an atomic bomb.
Eric, being in Guantanimo, out of US jurisdiction (but still in US custody) was allegedly dunked UNDER WATER until the sensation that your drowning, you gag reflex, begins. Pulled out and being yelled at 'DID YOU DO IT?' and the reply of 'No!' would only get you dunked again.
Being in solitary confinement for weeks in the dark and silent only to be thrown into a room with lights brighter than the sun reflecting off white walls and music as loud as ship horns blaring into your ears - what choice do you have?
And don't give me this 'not in my America!' wanna-be retorts. Not only is it HAPPENING right under your nose, but its happening to guilty and innocent alike. I'm sure you wouldn't be saying the same thing if they suspected you of terrorism and sent you to the Death Bay, now, would you.
One of many downsides to these Guantanamo show trials is that they undermine our ability to criticize the rigged legal systems of our enemies.
The Alice in Wonderland world into which we have all been pitched by the US Patriot Act .. anytime .. anywhere .. for any reason .. we can all be snatched from our beds by US government goons and transported to CIA Prisons around the world.
Habeas Corpus is denied .. legal representation is denied .. torture unlimited .. the American sado sexual torture .. I bet those torturers orgasm .. total evil that has set back the whole of the civilized world by at least 200 years.
David Hicks guilty plea is not worth the paper or breath that has been expended on that plea .. He has been incarcerated .. he has been tortured .. he has been sodomized .. he has had his legal counsel dismissed by military sock puppets.
The hypocrisy of the axis of evil is on full view .. witness the snivelings of Blair over the British fall guys .. The Australian John Howard has cloaked the Nation in a shit stained blanket .. God help us all we are ruled by madmen.
Thats a nice argument Shane M. Too bad its fantasy.
'None too soon' !!!!
He should have been tried five years ago.
The Bush Administration refused to try anyone
for five years and then had the chutzpah, on
the eve of the 2006 elections, to claim that
it was essential to National Security for the
Congress to pass new legislation authorizing
a new system for trials--one that was opposed
by all six sitting Judge Advocates Generals,
five of whom issued an unprecedented public
statement condemning the legislation before
even being called to testify before the
Congress.
The Bush administration insulted the nation
by refusing to utilize the military justice
system that served this country well for half
a century, a system that itself was tried
and true, had withstood judicial scrutiny and
was the envy of the world.
--
Fred Fighter
It is just amazing to me that any true American can support what is going on at Guantanamo. I read these posts and wonder what country these people were raised in. They are either naive or are just hopelessly attracted to fascism.
Ivor, please feel free to provide evidence that David Hicks was sodomized. Mr. Hicks is getting seven years when he should be getting a bullet in the brain. He was found ON THE BATTLEFIELD with WEAPON IN HAND. Wars gone by that was grounds for hanging from the nearest yardarm, not getting three squares and a prayer rug.
Scott, that's because you understand neither Guantanamo nor the definition of 'fascism'.
David, where's the proof? Do you have physical evidence supporting that he was 'captured, gun in hand'? I could be walking around, in America, and taken literally off the street in a little black van and never seen again. That'll only be easier with the implementation of the REAL ID ACT coming in 2009 (held up a year).
What, you don't know what the REAL ID ACT is? Maybe you should look it up and stop paying attention to liberal media or, whats worse, Fox News.
Haha... under 'international' law, spies are to be executed. They are NOT covered under the Geneva Convention, which covers enemy combatants that are part of an army.
David .. Your Quote ..
Ivor, please feel free to provide evidence that David Hicks was sodomized. Mr. Hicks is getting seven years when he should be getting a bullet in the brain. He was found ON THE BATTLEFIELD with WEAPON IN HAND. Wars gone by that was grounds for hanging from the nearest yardarm, not getting three squares and a prayer rug.
======================================================
What sort of insane gibbering is this?
In wars gone by prisoners were covered by the Geneva Convention. America has conducted 2 illegal invasions. So dont give me all this evidence malarky. America and her shit stained allies has behaved in a most barbaric manner ..
Go wash your filthy mind.
Observer Mar 30th, 2007 - 18:15:19
Haha... under 'international' law, spies are to be executed. They are NOT covered under the Geneva Convention, which covers enemy combatants that are part of an army.
=================================
Oh .. so he is a spy now?
A person who cannot differentiate between right and wrong is a moral cretin .. to support this type of evil is to be part of it.
Irrespective of what Hicks was accused of .. he has inalienable Human Rights .. one of those rights is Habeas Corpus and the right to a fair trial .. this has been denied .. why has it been denied?
Bush .. Blair .. Howard .. Olmert all war criminals .. supported by moral cretins.
Hiks is just a private in an enemy army. Why is he treated as anything more then that? So he fought Americans in the country they invaded, why is that illigal? Why is it legal for Americans to shoot someone in the same country? Reminds me of Hitler and Natzi Arian Nation.
I can well imagine Ned Kelly's response to this .. come on Australia show us some balls instead of the supine sucking of the Bush Phallus.
One thing is certain .. he who does not stand up for his rights .. need not expect to have his rights respected .. and what has happened to Hicks is ample proof of that.
As anyone who has traveled in small town America knows, they fear and hate the outside world.
The Hicks verdict is also a verdict on America – it shows that America stands for torture, show trials and politically motivated gag orders. Americans still think they are the salt of the earth, but all the rest of the world sees is evil.
One conviction after all this time? That'll show them nasty terrorists. Don't mess with the USA!!!
Look the boy got what he deserved. It seems to me that most of you folks would still blame the United States even if he were aquitted. It the hate America crowd at it again. Generally they have no idea what they are talking about and can only complain, not provide solutions. Typical Liberal tactic's. It's interesting how little they have done for America. To selfish and self centered to acknowledge the possibility that this guy was just a bad actor. Look if you have proof of what your saying ...let's see it.. repeating the Liberal line over and over again does not make it true. America has problems but the problem is not America. You can leave here if it's so bad you know.
Commen Sense (Sic)
you have missed the point entirely .. you sound like another one of these .. 'My Country right or wrong' .. Nutters .. well ya aint gonna believe it until the rifle butt between the shoulder blades and a one way ticket to the American detention camps which Commissar Jerkoff (he of dual nationality)has set in place.
Freedummy and Democrappy is the cry .. tell that to the Katrina victims .. an awful lot of them disappeared .. Black Water mercenaries patrolling the streets of New Orleans .. a Nation who out of sheer cowardice allowed this so called Patriot Act .. deserve anything that is coming to them.
Hicks was framed by the torurers .. the original charge was conspiracy .. it was thrown out .. Hicks has already spent 5 years in an American shit pit and subjected to torture .. in the same way that Paddila was ..
You are a moron.
The only Katrina victims that disappeared either drowned or partied to death on the Queen Mary. Conspiricy? Another nutball katrina story debunked.
Honestly...
Those who want to toss away the constitution and the values our country was founded upon may claim they love America, but actually they have very little faith in it. For them the 'great experiment' has failed or will fail when tested.
Apparently those of little faith become so terrified of our enemies that they immediately want to abandon human rights, freedom and due process. The very things that we need to be triumphant over those that want to destroy us.
Scott ...
I could not agree more .. I have many good American friends so I know its not the People that are rotten .. it is the Administration .. It is the same story in near on every nation in the world.
The American Constitution is a most important document .. not just to America .. but to many millions around the world .. not because it was formulated in America but because it sets out some fundamental rights for the common man. The fledgling nation had the benefit of eclectic hindsight and plucked the best from every nation.
How any one could support measures which encroaches on those rights conferred by the Constitution is beyond me .. are they so blind they cannot see .. that the freedoms that they would deny to others are also denied to them.
By not protesting these grotesque abuses against people one carries a virus that will destroy a nation .. and kisses the hand .. that holds the whip .. that scourges them.
page: 1
Your Talkback on this Story