The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Apologising to Hicks decreases our security > Comments

Apologising to Hicks decreases our security : Comments

By John Slater, published 26/2/2015

Hicks was found 'not guilty' because the law hadn't developed to deal with his particular crime at the time when he committed it.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. All
Rubbish all the way down!
Posted by Daffy Duck, Thursday, 26 February 2015 11:48:26 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Yup!
Rhrosty.
Posted by Rhrosty, Thursday, 26 February 2015 11:55:15 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
In the annals of history our war against terror is without precedent
Our approach without reason
Our objective our plan undefined
That we see daily spewing of hatred to and fro on websites across the globe I this subject should give us all pause
Hicks is a small near irrelevant pawn in this but also a symptom of the diabolical path we are on.
We as a nation have unflinchingly followed the USA lead in conducting this catastrophe
This generation of political leaders has failed in every imaginable way
They all disgust me, whether they lead the charge Into insanity or quietly sit by and thereby only encouraging the excess

They have unleashed hell on innocents and it will require generations to repair it
However bigoted, or conservatively infuriating our past leaders may have been they nevertheless retained an ability to reason compromise and lead for the greater good

This what we are witnessing is embarrassing - our news is embarrassing our whole culture daily becomes more and more insane

Hicks will get no apology because Washington would be offended because it would be an acknowledgement of error. This insanity concede not error this insanity is incapable of self reflection
For error to error it stumbles without reflectio
Posted by YEBIGA, Thursday, 26 February 2015 12:35:33 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
<the law was not calibrated to deal with the issue of foreign fighters joining overseas terror groups>

Did not Joseph Stalin, create laws that made previously innocent people, guilty. He then could imprison many people.

I think throughout history any number of political leaders as well as the monarchy have created laws to suit their own particular needs
Posted by Wolly B, Thursday, 26 February 2015 2:37:12 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
John may be right that: “in the real world, 'basic liberties' and 'human rights' exist only to the extent that sovereign nation states are willing to protect them.” But we judge nations as civilized precisely by their willingness to uphold those values, even for scum like Hicks.

I agree with almost none of this article, but this at least is correct:

“Make no mistake, wavering in our resolve about what sets the West apart from the barbarism of radical Islam would be gifting terrorists a home goal”

But “what sets the West apart from the barbarism of radical Islam” is precisely what John would have us abandon – respect for the rule of law, innocence until proven guilty, and not making retrospective laws to justify imprisoning and abusing people for actions that were not illegal when they did them.

And the “home goal” (own goal?) we have “gifted” the terrorists is in showing our willingness to abandon our principles when it suits us – at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, in torture and extraordinary rendition, and an Australian government willing to let its citizens be detained illegally and indefinitely by a supposed ally.
Posted by Rhian, Thursday, 26 February 2015 3:06:35 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Wolly B,

Yes indeed, that's perfectly true, but that doesn't negate the fact that there are crimes, evil intentions, whatever you like to call it, which do great damage and yet may not yet be crimes in law: the law is always playing catch-up with cyber-crime, for example, and how to deal with the importation of new forms of drugs which destroy many lives before they can be declared illegal.

We know that Hicks, an extreme right-winger and anti-Semite (unless you wish to defend al Qa'ida and the Taliban as some new sort of left-wing freedom-fighters ?), who fired on Indian troops - 'hundreds of rounds', he claimed, although of course he may be nothing more than a blow-hard - and was captured by the Northern Alliance (and not shot immediately) guarding a Taliban tank.

The Taliban has shielded al Qa'ida, who had blown up the twin towers (or is that a myth ?) Hicks was allied to al Qa'ida, he says so, and returned to Afghanistan immediately after the twin towers were destroyed. The actions of an innocent man ?

I wonder if capturing Yazidi, Kurdish and Christian women and raping and enslaving them is yet actually a crime in the Australian legal system ? Or burning someone alive in a cage ? or beheading ? or stoning ? or throwing gays off tall buildings ? Yes, perhaps they all deserved it, women, gays, adulterers - would you suggest that ? Perhaps you could discuss that with any women or gays that you know.

Of course, anti-Semitism is the new opportunist-Left stance du jour, but would you want to ally yourself with him on those grounds ?

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Thursday, 26 February 2015 3:13:22 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy