The discussion on the whole David Hicks "affair", both in Australia and the USA, just won't go away.
What has clearly emerged is that it all depends on one's perspective on justice, fairness and political considerations and spin.
Just consider Jennifer Daskal, advocacy director for the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch, who was in Guantánamo Bay monitoring the Hicks military commission proceedings, writing in the IHT:
"While the Bush administration might try to paint the guilty plea by David Hicks plea as a triumph, the truth is that the Australian's conviction shows in painful detail just how illegitimate and dysfunctional the military commissions truly are."
Then there is the US ambassador to Australia [previously under investigation in the US and again now] writing in The Age:
"It [Gitmo] is a model prison, modern and secure. It is the most inspected, most transparent detention facility in the world."
And there is Alastair Nicholson, QC, a former chief justice of the Family Court, also writing in The Age:
"There is a further observation that I would make and it again involves the strongest possible criticism of the Government and of the Attorney-General in particular. Mr Ruddock had been suggesting that the remedy for Hicks' release lay in his own hands, and that remedy was to plea bargain. This was a cynical misuse of power unworthy of our first law officer. He well knew that unless the Government intervened, as it was morally obliged to do, and if Hicks contested the charges, it was highly likely that regardless of the outcome, it would be years more in Guantanamo Bay before any challenge to the legality of the second commission could be determined."
What has clearly emerged is that it all depends on one's perspective on justice, fairness and political considerations and spin.
Just consider Jennifer Daskal, advocacy director for the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch, who was in Guantánamo Bay monitoring the Hicks military commission proceedings, writing in the IHT:
"While the Bush administration might try to paint the guilty plea by David Hicks plea as a triumph, the truth is that the Australian's conviction shows in painful detail just how illegitimate and dysfunctional the military commissions truly are."
Then there is the US ambassador to Australia [previously under investigation in the US and again now] writing in The Age:
"It [Gitmo] is a model prison, modern and secure. It is the most inspected, most transparent detention facility in the world."
And there is Alastair Nicholson, QC, a former chief justice of the Family Court, also writing in The Age:
"There is a further observation that I would make and it again involves the strongest possible criticism of the Government and of the Attorney-General in particular. Mr Ruddock had been suggesting that the remedy for Hicks' release lay in his own hands, and that remedy was to plea bargain. This was a cynical misuse of power unworthy of our first law officer. He well knew that unless the Government intervened, as it was morally obliged to do, and if Hicks contested the charges, it was highly likely that regardless of the outcome, it would be years more in Guantanamo Bay before any challenge to the legality of the second commission could be determined."
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