"If Hicks was working with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and not connected to hostilities against parties outside the country, he may not have committed an offence."

That was essentially the point I was making in respect of Walker. If it turns out he was involved in other ways, that's be another matter. I'd be reluctant to rely on anything said in military interrogation - there's too much history in Northern Ireland for example that throws very severe doubt on that kind of stuff. Those are circumstances in which people are likely to say anything at all, if they think that is what the interrogators want to hear.