Well LEGO if it wasn't for whining about due process we would be living in dictatorships. Thank heavens for whiners.

As for Hicks it has always been a mystery as to how he ended up training with an overseas terrorist organisation.

Was he groomed? From all accounts he was a likely candidate - young, naive, disenfranchised and all the rest (possibly not a high IQ). Whom did he come into contact with who encouraged and arranged this training? Has anyone been investigated? I don't presume one can just ring up Al Qaida and ask for an interview or write to the Taliban enquiring where to join.

Lots of questions left unanswered but perhaps these are all part of ongoing investigations.

Dear Squeers,

As always you've probably nailed it in one. And as Pelly points out,
so many unanswered questions...

Based on what we have learned about the lies I'd not be standing to give George W. or cronies a standing ovation either.

If I'm considering misplaced idealism a big enough mitigation to get Hicks to the status of deserving a standing ovation then an awful lot of people now in prison should be released.

I agree Hicks appears to have been an idiot but he is an idiot who went and fought on behalf of a regime that murdered large numbers of people who didn't comply with their view of religion, who denied women education, jobs and basic freedoms, who deliberately destroyed priceless cultural artefacts etc, etc.

Other muslims were trying to get some of their excess stopped.

Take a breath, forget about Howard, Bush etc for a few minutes and think about the Taliban and the nature of someone who choose to go and fight with them.

R0bert

[Deleted for abuse.]

LEGO,

.....charmer that you are...I thought I'd add a thought or two to the mix.

Don't you agree that it's fascinating how the U.S. (and yourself, no doubt) supported the "suicidal civilian mass murderers....armed with anti aircraft weapons and anti tank missiles" when they were lobbing them in the direction of Russians.

Why, the Americans even supplied the weapons.

The only principle in play here is that attitudes change depending on who is staring down the barrel, and the U.S. decided to introduce some fancy word play to to wriggle out of it's commitment to the Geneva convention.

What was that you were saying about overly thick craniums?

Well put Poirot.

Fact is bad behaviour should have consequences no matter if it is atrocities committed by governments or individuals. Many like LEGO believe only those who oppose his views need atone for wrongdoing, those who parrot his own worldview can apparently get away with murder.

Accountability is needed more than ever and there are positive signals that people of all persuasions are agreeing at least on that one principle.