Hi John

I don't know about the English guys, but i'd be surprised if the American govt would release them if they were truly terrorists.

David Hicks, one of the two Australians in Guantanamo Bay, has never claimed to be a backpacker. he was a muslim convert who went to Afghanistan to fight with the taliban against the Northern Allaince (an afghan army opposed to the former communist regime.He was more than a mercenary, because it was a religious war - religious values against secular values (God against the commies).and he was on the religious side.

now I am not supporting his decision to do that, i strongly condemn it because the taliban are notorious human rights violators. It is worth noting that Al Qaeda is a different bunch of people than the Taliban. The taliban are Pakistani based, Al Qaeda is Saudia Arabia based. While the taliban were everywhere in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda were in small pockets. They also would have had to win their territory from the local warlords, and couldn't just waltz in and be everywhere.

David Hicks father took a lawyer and documentary maker to the area in Afghanistan and interviewed people in the area. Comments were made re two things:

at no point did David engage in combat against american soldiers.

Afghans in the area would never have trusted a person of western origin with any secrets - if Al Qaeda was in the area in any form, (which has not been proven) David would not have been trusted with that knowledge.

He went there to fight a religious war. Another country (the US) moved in soon after. He is now condemned as a member of Al Qaeda, when no evidence to that effect has ever been presented and no charges have ever been laid.

He has not been given the legal rights that American citizens in that postion have been given. He doesnt have a non military lawyer and can't be tried in an independent court.

And until a real court gathers and examines the evidence and makes a decision, no one will ever know what the situation is. Luckily he has an American military lawyer who is a decent man who is condemning his own govt (the US) for their treatment of his client.

David was a member of the Taliban army. I condemn him for that, because they were such an brutal and obnoxious bunch. But he was not violating any law by doing that. At the time he joined the Taliban, they were the government army, in power in their country, fighting a war aginst insurgents.

If David Hicks is a member of Al Qaeda, I condemn him. But no one has found out yet, we are still waiting.

and in the meantime, the legal rights that protect that we all have, are being eroded in the name of anti terrorism. When there is no legal accountability, no proper rules of evidence in a country, our children and the next generations will be the next victims.

All we are asking for is that accepted international laws are followed and respected.

freda

ps hope your hamster's going well