Hicks: Forget about guilt or innocence?

In a week in which US officials have sought some sort of pr angle in relation to David Hicks, yesterday saw the ABC's correspondent in Washington interview the director at Guantanamo Bay on Radio National's PM program.

"The man who runs the Guantanamo Bay detention centre says Australian detainee David Hicks is a dangerous terrorist. Rear Admiral Harry Harris has told PM that Hicks is being kept in his maximum-security cell for 22 hours a day because he poses a real security threat. The Admiral says all the inmates at Guantanamo are dangerous men. At the same time Admiral Harris says Hicks has been generally cooperative in the more than five years he has spent there."

MICHAEL ROWLAND: A lot of detainees including David Hicks insist they're innocent. What makes you so sure they have a case to answer?

HARRY HARRIS: Well, it's not a question of guilt or innocence. With the exception of those detainees that would be charged with war crimes as part of the military commissions process, and David Hicks is one of those, but we are detaining enemy combatants here in Guantanamo."

Astounding! Forget about fundamentals of a trial. The interview only highlights why A-G Ruddock continues to be a disgrace in not calling for the immediate release of David Hicks. Read the transcript of or listen to the full interview here.

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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