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David Hicks - and Kangaroos

The "trial" of David Hicks resumes tonight Australian time. The media is full of speculation about the outcome of Hicks' guilty plea. Of course, those who posture as experts about matters legal - and know nothing! - like Gerard Henderson and Miranda Devine [in the SMH - and nauseating to boot!] have expressed their views about the whole topic.

Whilst the interest in Hicks in Australia is considerable, it has also being the subject of intense interest around the world.

Amy Goodman [veteran journalist] writing in truthdig.com:

"It is appropriate that a person from Australia, home of the kangaroo, should be the first one dragged before the kangaroo court at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. David Hicks, imprisoned there for more than five years, pleaded guilty Monday to providing material support for terrorism.

The case of Hicks offers us a glimpse into the Kafkaesque netherworld of detentions, kidnappings, torture and show trials that is now, internationally, the shameful signature of the Bush administration. Hicks’ passage through this sham process affords us all an opportunity to demand the closure of Guantanamo and an end to these heinous policies. Conditions may soon exist to shutter the prison, with George Bush’s lame-duck status, the Democratic takeover of Congress, the possible departure of Guantanamo’s archdefender and architect, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and, if recent reports are true, a desire to close the prison on the part of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. These bogus military commission trials amplify global contempt for the Guantanamo prison."

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