David Hicks "Confesses" and "Apologises" in Return for a 9 Month Sentence.
"First and foremost, David wants to apologise to his family. He wants to apologise to Australia and he wants to apologise to the United States."
- from a prepared statement read to a panel of military officers by Major Michael Mori
By an incredible coincidence, Hicks' confession and the length of his sentence are perfectly timed to maximise the political benefit to John Howard's conservative government.
Firstly, the confession itself legitimises 5 years incarceration under a system which has been condemned internationally and described by Amnesty International as a "symbol of injustice and abuse".
Secondly, he is banned from receiving money from selling his story, thus limiting the benefit he may gain from making statements which may be embarassing to the Government.
Thirdly, the nine month prison sentence, to be served in Australia, ensures that he will be behind bars until after the next Federal election.
In relation to the Hicks story there are some interesting facts which many may have forgotten:
- Hicks was captured in early December, 2001.
- Osama Bin Laden was allowed to escape from his hideout in the Tora Bora mountains in the first or second week of December 2001.
This was confirmed in the Guardian, on 4 September 2002:
"According to reliable sources in Kabul, he fled at night in a convoy of "eight or nine" vehicles. Pakistani tribesman came into Afghanistan to collect his party of about 26 in exchange for a large sum. "His wives travelled separately," the source added.
US special forces coordinating the Tora Bora assault, where al-Qaida fighters had been sheltering in caves, closed a northern escape route, but fatefully left a snowy track to the south open. "The US operation was like a Swiss cheese with too many big holes," another source in the new Afghan administration said." - source.
Thus, while Bin Laden escaped from Tora Bora, the authorities swooped on a man who, as agreed by the Guantanamo Military Commission, never fired a shot and never participated nor even conspired in any terrorist act.
This man is now held up as the first war crimes convict among the hundreds of foreign captives held for years at the Guantanamo prison camp.
Go figure.
