my letter to the shonky bushit lawyer ......

The American Ambassador to Australia,                            
Ambassador Robert D. McCallum Jr,                                      
American Embassy,
Moonah Place,
YARRALUMLA.   ACT.   2600.                                      October 8, 2006.

Dear Ambassador McCallum,

Mr David Hicks 

As American Ambassador to Australia, you are an honoured guest in our country.

Throughout my life, I have recognised, respected & observed the belief that it is inappropriate to be rude or discourteous to guests.

Having said that, your government’s criminal & outrageous treatment of my fellow Australian citizen, Mr David Hicks, compel me to voice my complete contempt for the current US administration.

Whilst there may be many US citizens whose views might be influenced by such statements, you should be aware that the majority of Australians recognize them for what they are: just lies.

For the record, Mr Hicks was being held by anti-Taliban elements of the Northern Alliance military forces in Afghanistan prior to the commencement of US hostilities in that country in December, 2001. Following their arrival, he was handed-over to US ground forces in return for the payment of a bounty & subsequently removed to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where he has been held ever since.

Mr Hicks has been tortured by your government & denied his legal & human rights for a period of five years, whilst being held in solitary confinement for most of that time.

Mr Hicks has been deemed by your government to be an “unlawful enemy combatant”: a novel status contrived by your government to deny him his rights under the Geneva Convention.

Various spokespersons on behalf of your government have, over the course of the past five years, asserted that Mr Hicks was captured on the “battlefield”, an assertion that is, at best, a gross distortion of the facts.

During the period of his detention, Mr Hicks has been the victim of a concerted effort on the part of both the American & Australian governments to characterise him as a “killer, murderer & terrorist”. Indeed, your government’s statements attempts to extend that distortion by making the unsubstantiated allegation that Mr Hicks is “….still believed to pose a terrorist threat …..”

Believed by who Mr McCallum?

You? President Bush? Donald Rumsfeld? Donald Duck?

Both the American & Australian governments have cooperated to illegally abuse the rights of Mr Hicks, contrary to the requirements of the Geneva Convention, the Torture Convention, the International Covenant of Civil & Political Rights, whilst denying him the presumption of innocence & the right to due process.

During the course of his detention, Mr Hicks was denied access to legal representation for a significant period, subjected to torture [subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation & denied knowledge of his fate] & exposed to hostile interrogation by numerous intelligence agencies from both our countries.

As a result of a ruling of the US Supreme Court, the phoney “charges” brought against Mr Hicks were recently rendered nul & void, although, your government, in a process that can only be characterised as a conspiracy to pervert International & American law, has shown that it is determined to pursue its cruel political charade in the best traditions of an authoritarian state.

And in the event that Mr Hicks is ultimately charged, such “charges” will be derived from offences created under the terms of the same Military Order of the President of the United States, itself not made until November, 2001, with the “offences” developed more than a year later: in other words, retrospective laws, an anathema to the criminal justice systems of all western liberal democracies.

And, of course, the charges will be brought before a US Military Commission: a “judicial creature” devoid of the standards of protections insisted upon under the criminal justice systems of both America & Australia, the US & Australian Military Courts Martial systems & all recognized international standards of justice. A “judicial creature” manufactured & run by legal engineers on behalf of your government, corruptly bent on achieving pre-determined outcomes.

Your corrupt government has effectively sought to establish a pseudo judicial system, bereft of any of the standards otherwise required by properly constituted courts, whereby it effectively acts as both prosecutor & judge.

Of course, such a situation would be farcical if it were not for the fact that we are dealing with the fate of human beings, a circumstance that renders it obscene.

So here we have it Mr McCallum.

The mightiest nation in the history of the world: in the hands of a corrupt administration that evangelises at every opportunity about its determination to deliver freedom, democracy & justice to all of humanity, proudly demonstrating its contempt for the human & legal rights of my fellow countryman.

A nation whose government openly defends its decision to afford American citizens detained under more doubtful circumstances than Mr Hicks, access to the US criminal justice system, along with all of the rights & protections that that system affords an accused, whilst denying non-US citizens the same privilege. Where I come from Mr McCallum, we call that hypocrisy.

So Mr McCallum, as you have no doubt gathered, I am not happy with either your government or the Australian government for their behaviour towards Mr Hicks.

It has been five years since Mr Hicks was illegally detained. Under such circumstances, it is the credibility of both the American & Australian governments that is under question, not the standing of Mr Hicks. Any action subsequently taken against Mr Hicks will be forever tainted, along with the reputations of both the United States & Australia.

Mr McCallum, your President has publicly stated to the world that it is either with America or against America.

Well, I’m here to tell you that I’m against your President & his corrupt administration, as well as the current Australian government.

I cannot & will not support politicians who deliberately conspire to undermine & corrupt the institutions, values & beliefs that underpin both our countries’ democratic traditions, whilst brazenly embracing the notion that the ends justify the means.

I am truly saddened by the need to convey this message to you.

I am blessed with many American friends. I have spent many years working to build the success of American corporations. I am not anti-American.

However, until such time as your government & the Australian government come to recognize & correct their failure to respect & uphold the rule of law & extend equal rights & protections to all human beings before that law, I must & will oppose them.

Sincerely,

John Richardson

CC: Members of the House of Representatives
        Members of the Senate
        Amnesty International
        Human Rights Watch
        Fair Go For David
        Get Up
 

‘Australia's two most senior church leaders have condemned the treatment of David Hicks and called on the Federal Government to ensure he is given a fair trial as quickly as possible.

Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen said Hicks' detention at Guantanamo Bay for 4½ years without trial was an abuse of human rights.

"For someone to be held for this number of years without trial is unconscionable," Dr Jensen told The Age. "It is both unjust and undemocratic and also an abuse of human rights. It goes against the freedoms and rights for a fair trial that have been developed in jurisprudence over centuries. David Hicks has the rights to a fair trial and it should be immediate."

In his first public comments on Hicks, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney George Pell said: "I have long been disturbed by some aspects of David Hicks' situation. From all accounts we owe him no special favours at all, but he has a right to be brought to trial more quickly than has happened and now as quickly as possible."

Bishop Christopher Saunders, chairman of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, said he had increasing concerns about the physical and mental health of Hicks.

"If he has a case to answer he should be tried without further delay by a competent and independent tribunal with all the protection of the rule of law that Australian citizens would expect, compliant with the Geneva conventions," he said.’

Plea From Churches For Hicks

‘The annual convention of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, which has more than 2000 members, is under way on the Gold Coast.

Perth QC and human rights lawyer Tom Percy says the meeting has unanimously carried a motion calling on the Government to quickly get Hicks to trial or allow him to come back to Australia.

"I would be hoping that branches and law societies around Australia would be passing similar motions so that the Government can be left under no misapprehension the Australian legal fraternity is completely appalled at what the Government is doing about David Hicks," he said.’

Lawyers Vote To Condemn Govt's Treatment Of Hicks

The bushit administration has admitted for the 1^st time that detainees are subjected to “water-boarding” .....

‘Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that US interrogators subjected captured senior al-Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called “water-boarding”, which creates a sensation of drowning.

Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn’t regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. “It’s a no-brainer for me” Cheney said at one point in an interview.

Cheney’s comments, in a White House interview on Tuesday with a conservative radio talk show host, appeared to reflect the Bush administration's view that the president has the constitutional power to do whatever he deems necessary to fight terrorism.’

Cheney Confirms That Detainees Were Subjected To Water-Boarding

From [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1775699.htm|Auntie] ABC

US plays down Cheney's water interrogation comment

The White House is moving to play down US Vice President Dick Cheney's suggestion that dunking terror suspects in water may be a useful interrogation technique.
The comment has outraged human rights groups.
Mr Cheney was asked by a talk show host this week whether a dunk was a "no-brainer" if it could save lives.
"Well, it's a no-brainer for me," he said.
Civil liberties groups say the Vice President has endorsed the controversial interrogation technique called 'water-boarding' in which suspects are made to feel as though they are drowning.
-----------------
Gus: The little man in the White House is still huffing and puffing about the US not doing torture... Gees!... Just his presence on this planet is torture enough for me!

The Chief Justice of the High Court, Murray Gleeson, recently intervened in the public debate on terrorism, by speaking against the use of torture, forced confessions & detention without trial.

In his speech to the annual Judicial Conference earlier this month, Justice Gleeson noted that torture was "never lawful in Australia" & was abolished in Britain in 1640, after Guy Fawkes was forced to sign a confession under torture in the Tower of London.

Justice Gleeson quoted from the Torture Convention, observing that it required states not only to prohibit torture but to "suppress & discourage its practice & not to condone it".

The Chief Justice's comments are particularly relevant, given that the US Congress recently passed legislation allowing the President to authorise the use of interrogation techniques on detainees that are regarded as torture under the Geneva Convention & International Law.

They are even more relevant, given accusations that the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock had recently defended the use of sleep deprivation & other abusive techniques against US detainees, the Australian government’s refusal to publicly condemn the illegal behaviour of the Bush administration & the detention & torture of Australian citizen, David Hicks, at Guantanamo Bay for the pat 5 years.

The full text of Justice Gleeson’s speech is now available at the link below.

A Core Value

‘An effort to restore habeas corpus rights for enemy combatants could be the first test of the Democrats' resolve to change course in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who is expected to become chairman, confirmed Thursday that he is drafting a bill to undo portions of a recently passed law that prevent terrorism detainees from going to federal court to challenge the government's right to hold them indefinitely.’

Democrats Will Revisit Habeas Debate