If David Hicks is guilty, when will we see the arrest, and trial, of the other Australians who have been PROVEN to have "materially assisted a terrorist organisation": THE DIRECTORS OF AWB?

Saddam Hussein's regime was not a terrorist organisation.

I don't know where you should look for the story, but American farmers are taking AWB to court soon over it. We can probably count on that telling us more about what really happened than the cover up job we had here.

nearly every week there is some indication that australia is run by a few, against the wishes and well being of the majority.

yet few and majority both agree oz is a 'democracy'. a more clearcut example of newspeak and doublethink would be hard to imagine.

those who would describe themselves as educated middleclass citizens are as guilty of deceiving themselves and society as any footy-fan/soapie-addict who could not reliably spell democracy.

the awa case is a perfect example of white collar crime, in spite of poses with firearms. i believe that cabinet was so implicated in this particular crime that the facts will not come out. all that can be learned is that allowing pollies to conduct public affairs in secret is not survival oriented.

however, ozzies should not complain of the quality of their masters- it leads to questions about why you endure them.

Chainsmoker:

My humble apologies. It was the USA who said that Saddam Hussain was assisting and harbouring terrorists.

The board of AWB merely financially aided the government who was assisting and harbouring terrorists.

AWB were a bunch of overweight fools promoted to their positions by an incompetent and politically corrupted board. The board and CEO carry the baggage of political favours and allegiance to an “old boy structure” not totally dissimilar to that of the deep southern states of the US.
David Hicks or Mohammed Dawood is an idiot supported by his silly but verbally well-equipped old father and a host of misguided do-gooders and civil libertarians. Hicks will be a millstone around our necks as he will require surveillance and centre link support. He does not seem to have any skills that could support him and is almost certain to seek compensation and damages as Habib is doing. There are plenty of ambulance chasing lawyers out there that will support him in this.

sille, hicks will be a cheap date compared to what the awb fat cats will cost us. sending troops to iraq for no visible reason lined us up for some incoming that will cost us even more, if australian lives count for anything with you.

i wonder why this doesn't bother you more than hicks.

It seems we are ALL assisting terrorism in one way or another. If they really want, we can all be dragged through the torturous and criminal gulags of the "righteous" "coalition of the willing".

In years to come, long after John Howard is gone people will ask how blind we were to allow him to have unconstitutionally invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. How we could have tolerated his conduct with AWB, David Hicks, the refugees, etc.
Yes, we will be looked upon as having been “sheep”. Sure, I for one knows that I did everything within my power to oppose his rot, but it are those who supported his conduct that ultimately allowed this.
The issue is not if they think invading Iraq was a good thing, rather that they ignored John Howard to act in blatant breach of constitutional provisions and by this allowed him to become a tyrant who placed himself above the law. David Hicks is in that regard a no body. Someone who simply pursued some form of excitement, no matter how misplaced and suffered considerably for it. He should sue and I hope John Howard personally for failing to secure his release. Even the framers of the constitution made clear that a Minister could be sued.
We saw how Vivian Alvarez Solon was in an utter disgraceful manner deported while Phillip Ruddock was Minister of Immigration, but he isn’t paying the compensation, we as tax payers are. It was his total incompetence to ensure she was not unconstitutionally denied her rights, and he ends up as Attorney-General. No wonder Hichs suffered for that long.
We should hold politicians more accountable and if they make gross errors of judgment then they and not the taxpayers should be paying the compensation bill. Why should they retire with million while they totally mismanaged their portfolio’s?
We, the people, must hold them accountable and only if we strip them of financial gains will other politicians become more aware that they better operate within the provisions of law or they too will face the financial consequences.
The solution is there. And, perhaps in the federal election everyone votes for INDEPENDENTS and all the political parties be kicked out. That just might teach them we are fed up with them.