http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hicks This website is quoting things pretty much up to date ( at most a couple of days old)nioka said:Just put Hicks aside for one minute. This is the problem here: Nobody, not even a dog ,should be subjected to torture or held without trial for years for something they may have done. That IS terrorism.
Alleged Mistreatment
Professor Alfred W. McCoy writes[6] that:
• Initially held onboard USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea, Hicks was "flown to a nearby land base for ten-hour torture sessions, shackled and blindfolded, which were marked by kicking, beatings with rifle butts, punching about the head and torso, death threats at gunpoint and anal penetration with objects – all by Americans."
• On 9 July 2003 Hicks was placed in a closet-sized, self-contained cell designed to deny its occupant all stimuli; this CIA sensory-deprivation torture technique continued for eight months (244 days). Hicks "experienced 'extreme mood swings' almost hourly" and began to consider suicide. By early 2004 American attorney, Joshua Dratel, "found Hicks at the brink of despair","obsessed with the minutiae of his surroundings, almost unable to comprehend the reality of his trial and the larger issues at stake."
• August 5, 2004; an affidavit[18] by Hicks claims mistreatments. (The affidavit was made public on December 10, 2004.) The following are excerpts:
o Item 9. I have been in the company of other detainees who were beaten while blindfolded and handcuffed. At one point, a group of detainees, including myself, were subjected to being randomly hit over an eight hour session while handcuffed and blindfolded.
o Item 11. I have had my head rammed into asphalt several times (while blindfolded).
o Item 13. I have had medication - the identity of which was unknown to me, despite my requests for information - forced upon me against my will. I have been struck while under the influence of sedatives that were forced upon me by injection.
o Item 14. I have been forced to run in leg shackles that regularly ripped the skin off my ankles. Many other detainees experienced the same.
o Item 15. I have been deprived of sleep as a matter of policy.
o Item 16. I have witnessed the activities of the Internal Reaction Force (IRF), which consists of a squad of soldiers that enter a detainee's cell and brutalize him with the aid of an attack dog. The IRF invasions were so common that the term to be "IRF'd" became part of the language of the detainees. I have seen detainees suffer serious injuries as a result of being IRF'ed. I have seen detainees IRF'ed while they were praying, or for refusing medication.
o Item 23. At one point during 2003 alone, my weight dropped by 30 pounds (and I was not overweight to start).
o Item27. As noted earlier, the above catalogue of abuse and mistreatment is not complete. It is but a summary of some of the abuse I suffered, witnessed, and/or heard about since my detention began. I would be able to provide further information and detail if the Court so desires, but a complete account would require a substantially longer document. In fact, at my request and due to the persistence of my lawyers, I have recently met with US military investigators conducting the probe into detainee abuse in Afghanistan. Also, this is not the first time I protested my mistreatment, since on several occasions - in Afghanistan, and later at Guantanamo Bay - I informed representatives of the International Red Cross of the abuse.
• In March 2006 the camp authorities moved all ten of the detainees who faced charges before the Guantanamo military commissions to solitary confinement. This move was described as a routine measure because of the detainee impending attendance at their tribunals. However The Jurist reported on August 23 2006 that Hicks remains in solitary, seven weeks following the US Supreme Court's confirmation of a lower court's ruling that the commissions were unconstitutional.[19]
According to The Jurist Hicks extended stay in solitary confinement has put his health at risk.
Major Michael Mori described Hicks as one of the best-behaved detainees, and said his solitary confinement, for 23 hours a day, was unnecessary.[22]
Hicks's father Terry Hicks has sought since 2002 to have his son brought to Australia for trial, but the Australian government has made no move to request the U.S. to release Hicks. Since 2003 the Australian government has been requesting that Hicks be brought to trial without further delay, and has extended him consular support.
According to Hicks in conversations with his father, he was abused by both Northern Alliance and U.S. soldiers. Nevertheless, the Australian Government has consistently accepted U.S. assurances that David Hicks and another Australian formerly held at Guantanamo Bay, Mamdouh Habib, have been treated in accordance with international law. This is in contrast to the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations' report of July 28, 2006, which criticizes the United States for its human rights policies and positions. According to the Center for Constitutional Rights: "The United States has become a country that openly flouts human rights laws, refuses to respond to questions about policy and practice, and worst of all commits abuses that would have been unimaginable under prior administrations."
Of course everything has gone into a new phase with two parallel cases racing to come up with a decision (preliminary hearing of case against Hicks, and locally where the Fed Govt is being taken to task over its inaction). Interesting times - what a movie this one will makehttp://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1850542.htm
...Smith pledges more
Meanwhile Australian businessman Dick Smith has foreshadowed further contributions to the defence costs for Hicks. Mr Smith revealed yesterday he has already spent $60,000 on funding the defence effort, because he is angered at the way Hicks has been treated. Now Mr Smith has indicated he is prepared to spend more.
"I'm going to continue funding as long as it needs to get him a fair trial," Mr Smith said. "It makes me quite angry giving this funding because it should be going to charities like the Salvation Army or the Smith family. "To be putting it into defence for David Hicks is terrible but it's just what I have to do."
Besides pride in or admiration of its principles, being pro-USA requires acknowledging and facing its shortcomings and its inconsistencies. Like the concomitance [concurrent coexistence] of pro & anti, America both has a democracy and it doesn't; its citizens vote but only for their favorite ad campaign.
The American dream also still endures, because it's being adapted as a fantasy in order to maintain its allure in today's dynamic reality.
Of course America was never invincible, it was a role it perfected in front of a mirror and performed it with the conviction of a method actor, so much so that it couldn't tell itself apart anymore from the character.
As for being unstable, that could never happen here, those who'd make trouble would be locked up in our flourishing, profitable prisons.
JuliaJulia said:Rob,
I don't know any more than anyone else does.
I am simply quoting what his own father said in an interview I heard.
That would appear to be the closest thing to an accurate source we have available. It has also been widely reported that he has admitted being happy about 9/11, and before you jump on me for that comment, no I don't necessarily place any credence on that when we have no means of knowing what coercion may have been used to extract such an admission.
I'm just getting a little tired of hearing him discussed as some unwitting innocent who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to resort to the old cliche.
What do you think he was doing over there, Rob?
Julia
9th March 2007, 12:49 WST
A US Navy medic who pleaded guilty to kidnapping in the murder of an unarmed Iraqi man who was forced into a hole and shot was released on Thursday on a reduced sentence for good behaviour.
Seaman Recruit Melson J Bacos, 21, had been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but a pretrial agreement capped that sentence at 12 months. His lawyer said the sentence was further reduced.
Members of the US Marine squad with Bacos have said they placed a gun and a shovel by the body of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, to make it look as if the Hamdania resident were an insurgent planting a bomb.
Bacos has emerged as a key player in the criminal case. According to testimony, he was the first to tell investigators his squad had dragged a civilian from his home and shot him.
Five of the troops have pleaded guilty to reduced charges; three are still awaiting trial. One Marine originally pleaded guilty to murder but later withdrew that plea and is now pleading not guilty.
Bacos was the first to strike a plea deal with prosecutors, speaking of his conflicting feelings as the killing took place.
"Why didn't I just walk away?" Bacos said in October.
"The answer to that question was I wanted to be part of the team. I wanted to be a respected corpsman, but that is no excuse for immorality."
Bacos' lawyer, Jeremiah Sullivan III, said if Bacos behaves well and testifies in upcoming trials, he may be allowed to stay in the Navy.
PS Kauri , your previous post "sez it all"Lobby group says Govt hasn't asked for Hicks's return
The Perth-based lobby group 'Justice for David Hicks' says comments by the United States Defence Secretary clearly show the Federal Government has not asked for Hicks to be returned to Australia. Robert Gates wants to reduce the number of inmates at Guantanamo Bay but says the facility has inmates who would attack the US if released and others whose home countries do not want them.
The head of the lobby group, former WA premier Peter Dowding, says Hicks does not fit the first category so it is clear the Government has never tried to have him returned home. "We've been saying for a long time that the Prime Minister should demand Hicks's return just as Prime Minister Blair demanded the return of the British inmates, and it's clear that although he's had the opportunity to do it he's simply let Hicks down," Mr Dowding said.
The Federal Attorney-General's office says it has always been the Government's position that Hicks would be brought back if it was clear the case against him would not proceed.
http://abc.net.au/news/world/americas/default.htmUS and Americas. ABC News Online.
Summary: ... Tony Jones talks to US soldier Joshua Key about his book on the Iraq war Joshua Key, Lateline. http://abc.net.au/news/world/americas/default.htm - 52k - [ html ] - Cached - 9 Mar 2007
what level of BS are they resorting to now !!!Terry Hicks denies calling son 'a terrorist'. The US chief prosecutor in Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks's case says there is evidence his father referred to his son as a terrorist in an interview. It has been reported that Terry Hicks may be called as a prosecution witness at his son's looming military trial.
But Mr Hicks says he never referred to his son as a terrorist and he has not been approached to testify. "I think what is happening here is we're going through a discrediting exercise that's coming through the US," he said. "They've done it with Major [Michael] Mori [Hicks's defence lawyer] the last few days on a few comments that he's made.
"Now all of a sudden that's failed - let's try and jump on Terry Hicks's neck." Meanwhile the US Supreme Court is being asked once again to rule on whether Guantanamo Bay detainees, including Hicks, have the right to challenge their detention.
Hicks has joined other detainees in asking the Supreme Court to overrule the Bush administration's move to deny terrorism suspects the right to challenge their detention in US courts. Lawyers for the detainees say many Guantanamo inmates now have no avenue to seek release from the detention centre.
Wells Dixon of the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights says the detainees have legal history on their side. "I think it's important to remember that in each of the two cases brought by detainees to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court has always ruled in favour of the detainees," he said. The Supreme Court will decide by the end of the month whether to hear the appeal.
If the court decides to hear the appeal, it could result in suspension of the looming military trial of Hicks. Hicks, originally from Adelaide, has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002. The convert to Islam was captured in Afghanistan where he allegedly fought alongside the ruling Taliban against US-led forces who invaded after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
rederob said:Julia
I think people like Hicks are misguided and foolish, but I am not sure that warrants them being treated the way he has been, and for as long as he has been mistreated - in both moral and legal senses.
Julia said:Rob,
Then we have no argument.
Julia
I think that Mr Howard not intervening, as Hicks is a Australian...the chance of winning the next election looking slimmer by the hour.....after all....what the US has done, creating a hugh problem for Mr Howard....unlike Mrs Clarke of New Zealand which tells the US exsactly what is what...MR Howard does not stand up against the US...the English did and had their people released..but as Mr Howard does not...he will pay for it in the next election....Australia needs a person who will ,and, it looks Mr Rude will be the man....just the way I see it...even Mr Dick Smith can and does see thathappytown said:from todays new york times (would have provided the link but sometimes requires registration),
" By RAYMOND BONNER
Published: March 20, 2007
LONDON, March 19 ”” David Hicks, the first detainee to be formally charged under the new military tribunal rules at Guantánamo Bay, has alleged in a court document filed here that during more than five years in American custody he was beaten several times during interrogations and witnessed the abuse of other prisoners.
In an affidavit supporting his request for British citizenship, Mr. Hicks contends that before he arrived at Guantánamo, his American captors threw him and other detainees on the ground, walked on them, stripped him naked, shaved all his body hair and inserted a plastic object in his rectum.
The abuse, Mr. Hicks asserts, began during interrogations in Afghanistan, where he was captured in late 2001. It then continued while he was shuttled between American naval ships, aircraft, unknown buildings and Kandahar before he was taken to the military detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in early 2002, according to the affidavit.
While Mr. Hicks did not claim that he was tortured at Guantánamo, he said he was given regular, mysterious injections that “would make my head feel strange.” He also said he witnessed or heard about mistreatment of others there.
A detainee with only one leg was “set upon” by a special military team and its dogs, he said. The man was dragged out of his cell, and there was blood on his face and the cell floor. “It put me in such fear that I just knew I would ‘cooperate’ in any way with the U.S.”
A spokesman for the military commission, Cmdr. J. D. Gordon, described Mr. Hicks’s allegations as “false,” and “completely lacking in merit.”
“Hicks has make a number of allegations in the past, which have proven to be unsubstantiated and completely lacking in merit,” Commander Gordon said.
For example, he said Mr. Hicks had once alleged that he was shackled to the floor for 22 hours a day, which Commander Gordon said was untrue.
Mr. Hicks is Australian, but his mother was born in Britain; he has been seeking citizenship here because he believes that the British government has done more to secure the release of its citizens in Guantánamo than Australia has.
At an American military commission hearing scheduled for March 26, Mr. Hicks will plead not guilty to a single charge of providing material support for terrorism, his military lawyer, Maj. Michael Mori, has said. The initial charges against Mr. Hicks, including attempted murder and aiding the enemy, have been dropped.
Major Mori’s aggressive defense of Mr. Hicks continues to draw fire from the chief prosecutor of the military commission, Col. Morris Davis. In an e-mail message last week to the judge who oversees the military commissions, Colonel Davis said that Major Mori appeared to have violated Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which prohibits an officer from using “contemptuous words” against the president, vice president, secretary of defense and other senior officials.
Colonel Davis cited numerous statements by Major Mori on his trips to Australia that he said could be considered insulting or rude. A copy of the message, from Colonel Davis to Judge Susan Crawford, was provided to The New York Times by someone who supports Major Mori.
Major Mori declined to comment on Colonel Davis’s latest criticisms. Earlier this month, after Colonel Davis first voiced disapproval of Major Mori’s conduct, Major Mori said that it might force him to withdraw from the case. Commander Gordon, the commission spokesman, declined to discuss Colonel Davis’s message, calling it “an internal staff matter.”
In Australia, Major Mori is widely credited with having changed the public attitude toward Mr. Hicks. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Hicks was often described in Australia’s tabloids as “Australia’s Taliban.” Now, across the political spectrum, there is pressure on Prime Minister John Howard to have Mr. Hicks returned to Australia soon.
Major Mori has also been praised by former detainees for his representation.
Australian intelligence officials have said that Mr. Hicks went to Afghanistan to train with Al Qaeda. For his part, Mr. Hicks said he was seized by the Northern Alliance, which was fighting with the Americans against the Taliban, and was treated well for two weeks.
“When the U.S. interrogators showed up my treatment changed,” Mr. Hicks said in the affidavit, which was filed in December but has remained largely unnoticed.
He said he was interrogated by five Americans, who were dressed in black combat gear without any insignia.
“The U.S. interrogators would question me,” he said, “and after my responses I would be slapped in the back of the head and told I was lying.”
At one point, he said, he was forced to sit on a window ledge, and outside there were six American soldiers with their weapons pointed at him, he wrote.
One interrogator, “obviously agitated, took out his pistol and aimed it at me, with his hand shaking violently with rage.” It was at this point, he said, “I realized that if I did not cooperate with U.S. interrogators, I might be shot.”
He said was taken to the amphibious assault ship Peleliu, which he knew because of announcements over the public address system. Among the detainees was John Walker Lindh, the American who later pleaded guilty to serving with the Taliban and is now serving 20 years. Commander Gordon said the military would not discuss whether Mr. Hicks was held on ships, but noted that it was a matter of public record that Mr. Lindh was held on the Peleliu.
On board, Mr. Hicks said he could hear other detainees “screaming in pain” when being interrogated.
He said he was later transferred to the amphibious assault ship Bataan, where he said conditions became “drastically” worse. He was fed only a handful of rice or fruit three times a day, the affidavit asserts, and on several occasions, he and other detainees, blindfolded, hooded and handcuffed, were thrown onto helicopters and taken to hangar-like buildings in an unknown location.
They were forced to kneel for 10 hours, during which time “I was hit in the back of the head with the butt of a rifle several times (hard enough to knock me over), slapped in the back of the head, kicked, stepped on, and spat on,” he said. “I could hear the groans and cries of other detainees.”
He was flown back to the ship, and a few days later back to a hangar.
A week or so later, he was flown to Kandahar, where he and other detainees “were forced to lie face down in the mud while solders walked across our backs.”
He was stripped, his body hair shaved and a piece of “white plastic was forcibly inserted in my rectum for no apparent purpose,” he wrote. Soldiers made crude comments about the insertion, he said.
Commander Gordon said he had no knowledge of such treatment. Some former detainees have made similar accusations, including Mamdouh Habib, an Australian who was picked up in Pakistan, turned over to the United States and delivered to Egypt, where he says he was badly tortured.
At Guantánamo, Mr. Hicks said he was also shown a picture of Mr. Habib. “In the photo, Habib’s face was black and blue,” Mr. Hicks wrote. “I first thought it was a photo of a corpse,” he said, adding that an interrogator told him that if he did not cooperate he would be sent to Egypt “to suffer the same fate.”
“This regular brutality left me in a heightened state of fear and anxiety about my own safety,” Mr. Hicks wrote in the affidavit.
After Mr. Hicks was formally charged earlier this month, Australian officials said publicly that they hoped a plea bargain allowing Mr. Hicks to come home could be negotiated. Two American officials close to the case said they expected that the deal would be for Mr. Hicks to plead guilty to the one charge, in exchange for the five years he has already been held."
cheers
happytown said:from todays new york times (would have provided the link but sometimes requires registration),
" By RAYMOND BONNER
Published: March 20, 2007
LONDON, March 19 ”” David Hicks, the first detainee to be formally charged under the new military tribunal rules at Guantánamo Bay, has alleged in a court document filed here that during more than five years in American custody he was beaten several times during interrogations and witnessed the abuse of other prisoners.
In an affidavit supporting his request for British citizenship, Mr. Hicks contends that before he arrived at Guantánamo, his American captors threw him and other detainees on the ground, walked on them, stripped him naked, shaved all his body hair and inserted a plastic object in his rectum.
The abuse, Mr. Hicks asserts, began during interrogations in Afghanistan, where he was captured in late 2001. It then continued while he was shuttled between American naval ships, aircraft, unknown buildings and Kandahar before he was taken to the military detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in early 2002, according to the affidavit.
While Mr. Hicks did not claim that he was tortured at Guantánamo, he said he was given regular, mysterious injections that “would make my head feel strange.” He also said he witnessed or heard about mistreatment of others there.
A detainee with only one leg was “set upon” by a special military team and its dogs, he said. The man was dragged out of his cell, and there was blood on his face and the cell floor. “It put me in such fear that I just knew I would ‘cooperate’ in any way with the U.S.”
A spokesman for the military commission, Cmdr. J. D. Gordon, described Mr. Hicks’s allegations as “false,” and “completely lacking in merit.”
“Hicks has make a number of allegations in the past, which have proven to be unsubstantiated and completely lacking in merit,” Commander Gordon said.
For example, he said Mr. Hicks had once alleged that he was shackled to the floor for 22 hours a day, which Commander Gordon said was untrue.
Mr. Hicks is Australian, but his mother was born in Britain; he has been seeking citizenship here because he believes that the British government has done more to secure the release of its citizens in Guantánamo than Australia has.
At an American military commission hearing scheduled for March 26, Mr. Hicks will plead not guilty to a single charge of providing material support for terrorism, his military lawyer, Maj. Michael Mori, has said. The initial charges against Mr. Hicks, including attempted murder and aiding the enemy, have been dropped.
Major Mori’s aggressive defense of Mr. Hicks continues to draw fire from the chief prosecutor of the military commission, Col. Morris Davis. In an e-mail message last week to the judge who oversees the military commissions, Colonel Davis said that Major Mori appeared to have violated Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which prohibits an officer from using “contemptuous words” against the president, vice president, secretary of defense and other senior officials.
Colonel Davis cited numerous statements by Major Mori on his trips to Australia that he said could be considered insulting or rude. A copy of the message, from Colonel Davis to Judge Susan Crawford, was provided to The New York Times by someone who supports Major Mori.
Major Mori declined to comment on Colonel Davis’s latest criticisms. Earlier this month, after Colonel Davis first voiced disapproval of Major Mori’s conduct, Major Mori said that it might force him to withdraw from the case. Commander Gordon, the commission spokesman, declined to discuss Colonel Davis’s message, calling it “an internal staff matter.”
In Australia, Major Mori is widely credited with having changed the public attitude toward Mr. Hicks. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Hicks was often described in Australia’s tabloids as “Australia’s Taliban.” Now, across the political spectrum, there is pressure on Prime Minister John Howard to have Mr. Hicks returned to Australia soon.
Major Mori has also been praised by former detainees for his representation.
Australian intelligence officials have said that Mr. Hicks went to Afghanistan to train with Al Qaeda. For his part, Mr. Hicks said he was seized by the Northern Alliance, which was fighting with the Americans against the Taliban, and was treated well for two weeks.
“When the U.S. interrogators showed up my treatment changed,” Mr. Hicks said in the affidavit, which was filed in December but has remained largely unnoticed.
He said he was interrogated by five Americans, who were dressed in black combat gear without any insignia.
“The U.S. interrogators would question me,” he said, “and after my responses I would be slapped in the back of the head and told I was lying.”
At one point, he said, he was forced to sit on a window ledge, and outside there were six American soldiers with their weapons pointed at him, he wrote.
One interrogator, “obviously agitated, took out his pistol and aimed it at me, with his hand shaking violently with rage.” It was at this point, he said, “I realized that if I did not cooperate with U.S. interrogators, I might be shot.”
He said was taken to the amphibious assault ship Peleliu, which he knew because of announcements over the public address system. Among the detainees was John Walker Lindh, the American who later pleaded guilty to serving with the Taliban and is now serving 20 years. Commander Gordon said the military would not discuss whether Mr. Hicks was held on ships, but noted that it was a matter of public record that Mr. Lindh was held on the Peleliu.
On board, Mr. Hicks said he could hear other detainees “screaming in pain” when being interrogated.
He said he was later transferred to the amphibious assault ship Bataan, where he said conditions became “drastically” worse. He was fed only a handful of rice or fruit three times a day, the affidavit asserts, and on several occasions, he and other detainees, blindfolded, hooded and handcuffed, were thrown onto helicopters and taken to hangar-like buildings in an unknown location.
They were forced to kneel for 10 hours, during which time “I was hit in the back of the head with the butt of a rifle several times (hard enough to knock me over), slapped in the back of the head, kicked, stepped on, and spat on,” he said. “I could hear the groans and cries of other detainees.”
He was flown back to the ship, and a few days later back to a hangar.
A week or so later, he was flown to Kandahar, where he and other detainees “were forced to lie face down in the mud while solders walked across our backs.”
He was stripped, his body hair shaved and a piece of “white plastic was forcibly inserted in my rectum for no apparent purpose,” he wrote. Soldiers made crude comments about the insertion, he said.
Commander Gordon said he had no knowledge of such treatment. Some former detainees have made similar accusations, including Mamdouh Habib, an Australian who was picked up in Pakistan, turned over to the United States and delivered to Egypt, where he says he was badly tortured.
At Guantánamo, Mr. Hicks said he was also shown a picture of Mr. Habib. “In the photo, Habib’s face was black and blue,” Mr. Hicks wrote. “I first thought it was a photo of a corpse,” he said, adding that an interrogator told him that if he did not cooperate he would be sent to Egypt “to suffer the same fate.”
“This regular brutality left me in a heightened state of fear and anxiety about my own safety,” Mr. Hicks wrote in the affidavit.
After Mr. Hicks was formally charged earlier this month, Australian officials said publicly that they hoped a plea bargain allowing Mr. Hicks to come home could be negotiated. Two American officials close to the case said they expected that the deal would be for Mr. Hicks to plead guilty to the one charge, in exchange for the five years he has already been held."
cheers
moXJO said:Yes our prisons are a lot safer.You only get raped, bashed ,shanked, the ole pillow case full of weights to the head or abused in some other way.Or more solitary confinement.
Agreed. Despite Mr Hicks being foolish enough to have got involved in the situation in the first place, he is still entitled to natural justice. Its about time that this saga is closed for the benefit of all concerned. Its also surprising how the Hicks issue crosses the political spectrum when you now have most people calling for a fair trial for him.Julia said:Rob,
Then we have no argument.
Julia
Blind Freddy can see its a sham. Did anyone hear Downer hysterically pleading Santoro's case to be "treated like a human!!" lol.http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1878200.htm
Joyce backs Democrats on Hicks's treatment. Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce has supported a motion by the Democrats, critical of the treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. Hicks will make an initial appearance before a military commission on Monday, with his full trial on a charge of providing material support for terrorism expected to start around July.
The Democrats' motion labels the commission process a sham and calls on the Government to urgently look into reports that Hicks was forcibly sedated. The motion failed, despite Senator Joyce's vote.
Anyone want to comment about the mental health of these captors? - speaking of pleading insanity (as someone said about Hicks)http://www.antiwar.com/rothschild/?articleid=2615
The Face of Torture by Mark Rothschild
Pictures of a dead Iraqi prisoner from Abu Ghraib, packed in ice and bound with duct tape have become infamous. Today, other photos came to light showing an additional victim of US Army interrogations at Abu Ghraib.
The dead man has been tentatively identified. His name is Manadel al-Jamadi. Mr. Jamadi is the second dead prisoner to appear in photographs taken at Abu Ghraib prison. An autopsy has determined that Mr. al-Jamadi was beaten to death. US officials have declined to confirm his name.
Manadel al-Jamadi was captured in November by US Navy SEALs, an elite commando force. Pentagon sources and the CIA have said that Mr. al-Jamadi was already in poor health when he was turned over to prison authorities on Nov. 4, but the Navy has denied this, claiming that Mr. al-Jamadi was received at the prison in good health. His autopsy revealed that he had been beaten to death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janis_Karpinski Janis Leigh Karpinski (born May 25, 1953, Rahway, New Jersey) is a United States Army Colonel in the 800th Military Police Brigade. She was demoted from Brigadier General in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. Karpinski claims that she was made a "scapegoat" in order to protect higher ranking military personnel from the scandal.[1] Karpinski was demoted to Colonel for dereliction of duty, making a material misrepresentation to investigators, failure to obey a lawful order and shoplifting. Karpinski had failed to inform the Army as required when filling out an official document about an earlier arrest on an Air Force base in the US on a misdemeanour charge.
She was the commander of three large US- and British-led prisons in Iraq in 2003, eight battalions, and 3400 Army reservists.
In October 2005 she published an account of her experiences, One Woman's Army, in which she claims that the abuses were perpetrated by contract employees trained in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay and sent under orders from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and that her demotion was political retribution.
that's a good one - lol - shoplifting !!On May 5, 2005, President Bush approved Karpinski's demotion to colonel from the rank of brigadier general. Her demotion was not officially related to the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. The allegations against her were for dereliction of duty, making a material misrepresentation to investigators, failure to obey a lawful order and shoplifting. Karpinski had failed to inform the Army as required when filling out an official document about an earlier arrest on an Air Force base in the US on a misdemeanour charge of stealing less than US$50 worth of cosmetics from a military store.
And Ruddock pretending that he is also interested in Hicks welfare. ..Hicks may opt for plea deal. by Michael Rowland
Australian terrorism suspect David Hicks is contemplating a plea deal on the eve of his preliminary commission hearing at Guantanamo Bay. Late tonight Hicks will appear at a preliminary hearing for his trial, which is scheduled for July. He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if he is found guilty of providing material support for terrorism. He is expected to plead not guilty.
But Hicks's Adelaide lawyer, David McLeod, says his client is suffering both mentally and physically after spending more than five years in captivity and a plea bargain may be an attractive option. "He's been in the western world's most notorious prison for five years, the last year or so in pretty much isolation," he said. "He's had a pretty rough trot over the period of five years and if it was yourself, you'd be thinking I suspect about how to get out of this place."
Before leaving Washington for Cuba, Terry Hicks told the ABC he was apprehensive about meeting his son. "We don't know what David's going to be like, how his mental condition is or how his physical condition is," he said.
"We're going to probably be aware that he's changed and we'll just take it from there." The United States military says a plea bargain is always an option, but the ball is in Hicks's court. Hicks's defence lawyers have already gone on the offensive against military prosecutors, accusing the chief US military prosecutor, Colonel Moe Davis, of misconduct.
They say Colonel Davis tried to silence military lawyer Major Michael Mori. Colonel Davis maintains Major Mori has stepped over the line with some of his criticism of the military commission system. "I stand by what I said. I do think it is improper. But he doesn't work for me," Colonel Davis said.
Tonight will be Hicks's first public appearance in two and a half years and will provide a chance for Terry Hicks to be reunited with his son. "You've just got to hope that he's still travelling okay and knowing we're coming, or I presume he knows we're coming, it may help to buoy him up," Mr Hicks said.
Meanwhile, federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says lengthy delays in Hicks's trial may work in his favour. "It does impact upon the quality of the evidence," he said. "Normally that advantages a defendant."
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says he is glad Hicks will finally have his day in court but Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says it is a breach of Hicks's human and legal rights.
"I am no defender of Mr Hicks, of what he's done or alleged to have done," he said. "But at the same time I defend the legal rights and human rights of every Australian citizen and he will not be receiving a fair trial through this US military commission."
Pentagon investigates Hicks sedation claim. By Kim Landers
The Pentagon says it is examining allegations that South Australian detainee David Hicks was forcibly sedated at Guantanamo Bay last month. David Hicks's US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, says the 31-year-old was given medicine which sedated him for almost 24 hours. Major Mori says it happened last month just as Hicks was told about the new charges he is facing.
A Pentagon spokesman says he is looking into the matter, but notes that a number of past allegations surrounding Hicks's treatment have been "unsubstantiated". He also adds that Hicks "has been treated humanely while in US custody".
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has told ABC Radio's The World Today program that Australian consular officials have raised the allegations with US authorities. "There may be something sinister and if that's the argument, it can be probably investigated," he said. "But it may be something that is quite innocent and if that's the case, one ought to allow the inquiries to be pursued."
And Mr Ruddock has questioned why Major Mori has gone public with the allegations. "I mean there's a bit of advocacy in relation to these matters, Major Mori could just have well have checked with American officials these issues before he goes public on it but he elects to do that, I've elected to seek to have the information verified," he said.
That's really not a good outcome though...David Hicks has just pleaded guilty.... should be home soon!!!!
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