Hicks

In todays Australian Neil James, executive director of the Australia Defence Association takes the Law Council to task over their recent letter.

THE Law Council of Australia has unfortunately lapsed into domestic legal terminology in describing David Hicks as having languished powerless in custody for a period of 30 months before he was even charged with any offence. Such a mix of fact, supposition and error is the latest version of the common but simplistic claim that it is merely a matter of trying Hicks or releasing him.

It has been my contention since the day his capture was announced, that he should be detained until the War on Terror is finished. James agrees with me although he limits any such detention to the duration of the the Afghanistan conflict.

….Hicks can be detained as a PoW until the conflict in Afghanistan concludes, or the detaining power (under the Geneva Conventions) releases him on parole to a neutral country once he guarantees to undertake no further actions as a belligerent.

I note in yesterday’s Australian a couple of letters on the subject that were heavy on emotion and light on facts. Ruth Trigg from Normanville SA floors me with this statement

Each day this situation continues is a day of shame for the memory of all Australians who have died fighting for freedom for all of the citizens of this country.

A bit weird, really. All those Australians who have died fighting for freedom did so fighting people like Hicks. I swear some people think of Hicks as the nice guy next door and not the Taliban supporter he really is. Geof Keynes from Beaumont SA (is there something in the water down there?) confidently predicts the Hick case will represent the end of the Howard Government.

I believe that the David Hicks issue is going to become this government’s pivotal issue, and that the government’s future will increasingly be determined by how it is handled.

Followed by this ‘I wish it were so’ statement;

The public perception is that the Government is too gutless to stand up to our partner, and tell them that enough is enough.

It might be ‘public perception’ at your dinner table, Geof, but I doubt if it has currency beyond the ‘hate Howard’ set. For myself, I’m just pleased that the government haven’t caved into pressure from the Left to bring him home to allow the lawyers to make him a hero. The war ain’t over yet.