So we are about to have Mohammad Darwood returned to us (I think that is Hick’s Islamic name). I wonder how much Habib has cost us in social security payments and surveillance. Who is going to pay for the Hicks upkeep, it will not be his silly old father it will be us again the taxpayers.

The equivocating bleeding hearts are still at it.He admitted years ago to his crime and has done so again.His own father dis-owned him at one stage for being a traitor to his own kind.

The only thing that was not fair was the period of internment without a trial.The stupid Yanks turned a criminal terrorist into a folk hero in the eyes of our growing left wing lunatic fringe.

If the US do indeed have a case against Hicks than they've made a mistake in not insisting it go to trial. There's a good chance Hicks will now always be seen as an innocent victim of the callous US system. If it had gone to trial and Hicks had been convicted, the world would know what heinous crimes Hicks had committed and would assign its sympathies more judiciously. I suspect the US knows it has a poor case (either legally or in PR terms, or probably both) and is very relieved that Hicks accepted the deal. Wouldn't surprise me if Hicks gets a surprisingly good 'deal'. Poor Major Mori looks like the biggest loser.

I read Mirko's article in the Herald Sun, it was worse than the one that was posted here. I wonder what happen to his arguments to destroy 100s of years of legal principle in just the last day. Was it my email to him asking why he though the law should be rewritten case by case depending on how disliked the defendant was? hmmmm.

The real issue here is this, we went to war to uphold a principle, the principle of human rights. In doings so we have become no better than our enemy. To defend torture to uphold our freedom is an oxymoron. To strip people of their legal rights to defend democracy is also an oxymoron, and for a lawyer to champion this says a great deal about his character and legal mind.

America have destroy any moral advantage they thought they might have, and watching the documentaries shows that sinister characters in the American administration are responsible for a lot what has since happened. If we really want to preserve our way of life then we need to remove those who compromise it.

As for Hicks, he did wrong, but certainly he isn’t Osama Bin Laden so why have the Australian government allowed him to be exposed to some the most hideous torture techniques? I reckon he was used as a patsy, just another tool in the arsenal to further torture the other inmates. Why else would the others torment him and call him, “CIA spy”.

What a pity Hicks didn't achieve his goal of martyrdom and save us all this trouble.

Hick's guilty plea carries no more weight than a confession obtained under tortue. It may be Hicks was guilty of something, although the actual trade was pretty nebulous, or he may have just accepted the plea bargain as a means of escape from a hell hole. Who knows what he was told by the Americans what his future would be if he he let the "trial" run its course. Whatever has happened it falls a long way short of what would be considered a fair and just trial by Australian standards.