When it comes to David Hicks, the Rudd government should either hang its head in shame for succumbing to base political opportunism last year, or feel like it’s been made to look a fool by the Australian Federal Police.
Twelve months ago, lawyers for the AFP told a Federal Magistrates Court hearing that Hicks was so dangerous he should be subject to a control order the conditions attached to which meant that it could not be described as anything other than draconian. But now the AFP says all is well with Mr. Hicks, and it won’t be applying to renew the order.
It is hard not to conclude that those, like former Democrats senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, who argued that the case for a control order on the mentally and physically drained former Guantanamo Bay prisoner was simply a political stunt and not grounded in any real assessment of risk were absolutely right. In twelve months we have gone from curfew, restrictions on travel, reporting to the police, lists of people with whom Hicks was forbidden to make contact, and a gag on Hicks talking to the media about his story, to total freedom for Hicks.
This time last year lawyers for the AFP told the Federal Magistrates Court hearing in Adelaide that because Hicks had allegedly trained with Al Qa’ida in 2001 this meant that he had “the capability to execute plans for terrorist acts or to provide instruction to others in this regard”. And, the Court accepted the AFP line that “the fact that Mr. Hicks has trained in LeT and Al-Qa’ida training camps, and associated with senior Al-Qa’ida figures in Afghanistan may lead aspirant and current extremists to seek out his skills and experiences to guide them in achieving their potentially extremist objectives.”
Without a control order, the Federal Magistrates Court said, “Mr Hicks could be exploited or manipulated by terrorist groups. Due to his knowledge and skills, he is a potential resource for the planning or preparation of a terrorist act”.
All very heavy allegations indeed. So why the change of heart on the part of the AFP and Mr McClelland in the past year? What has Hicks done that convinced the AFP and Mr McClelland that they no longer have to keep tabs on a man whom they thought was still so dangerous to his fellow Australians last year?
Not much at all, is the answer to the second question. As to the first, perhaps the Attorney-General has decided that he was sold a pup by the AFP last year and that the persecution of David Hicks has gone on long enough.
The application for a control order on Hicks last year was nothing more than a PR stunt by the Rudd government and the AFP. Yesterday’s about face and soothing words from the Attorney-General about allowing Hicks to get on with his life in peace, and the AFP’s 180 degree change of heart are testament to that fact.
Well spoken Ruth and spot on.
The niaivity of the Dawood Hicks groupies here is staggering.
Let me quote a seargant Major from my favourite British series: If we want to charge all idiots, there would be no end to it..’.
Mr. David Sanderson, please do not put labels… as I, like many Liberals, am very much from the Right of the Libs. But, unlike Mr. Howard, I do believe in habeas corpus, democratic values and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is NOT me who is ‘pathetic’. That is why the Liberal Party is in disarray and cannot possibly get out of the mess Mr. Howrd and Ruddock got our country into. Strongly recommend the study of ‘Operation Storm’ in the Balkans. It was not Hicks who is responsible for the Balkan disaster. But I would definitely slap him for having joined the KLA of Kosovo, an organisation, still on the USA list of terrorists and yet, having all the support of the USA.
OK, we do not hold soldiers responsible for the orders. But Hicks did not kill anyone. Australian soldiers did do the killings. Now, why all these people , like you, all concerned, do not demand full inquiry on what Hicks did or did not do??? It is like ‘I know you are not a virgin but I do not want any proof’. Give us evidence of all the ‘abominable things’ Hicks is responsible for. Only then, I will believe you, providing you have all the support of the Australian Court’s findings. Cheers.
I assume that the above Marilyn is the same Marilyn who claims that the US was funding the Taliban until mid-2001 in order to be able to build a pipeline through Afghanistan. if you are as deluded as that then you are deluded enough to believe that Hicks is merely a misunderstood and mistreated boy.
Hicks fought for an extremist Islamic outfit in Bosnia and the used the talents he acquired there to fight as a Taliban soldier.That is more than enough to condemn him – he sought to kill and destroy, and no doubt did so successfully, on behalf of some the most nefarious forces this poor old world of ours has produced. Nothing he has said has dispelled the charge that he was willing to work for al Quaeda; he was just unwilling to participate in suicide missions.
I am happy to accept that he has reformed and is no longer a threat. I do not accept that his heinous past actions should have gone unpunished.
I would not judge the AFP so harshly. They did make rather a mess of the terrorism thing, but they had a lot of help from the experts in the house on the hill. I have had some dealings with the AFP over child protection issues. The police persons I dealt with were excellent. They handled the matter in a very sensitive way, communicated with me frequently and after passing on the matter to their colleagues interstate I found that they were just as good as the people I had spoken to in the ACT.
What really needs replacement in this country is the political system and their fellow travellers of the forth estate. We have a system that is beholden to Private wealth at the expense of the common good. Until that changes we will never get a top class police and affordable judicial system, a top class taxation system or a decent environment.
I’m hoping htat I might retain a bit of pride in Australia soon: I don’t think it’ll be Kev who does it, but at least we’re going the right way. Certainly, Hicks isn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but for goodness’s sake, there was no way he was ever a threat, particularly after 5 years in Gitmo. Dismantle the AFP, which was, after all, set up by Billy Hughes to protect him from egg-throwing ‘terrorists’. Replace it with a decent law enforcement agency.