Thursday, February 08, 2007

Crime(s) Against Human(ity)

The blog entry immediately below this one titled “What Will We Tell Them?” is admittedly a blatant appeal to the emotions of our readers but I thought it might also be appropriate to tackle the issue of David Hicks’ incarceration from a more logical perspective, especially in light of the PM’s revelation this week.

So here goes. Please tell me via the comments section if you spot any flaws in my logic.

Prime Minister John Howard has told a meeting of his joint party room that for some time he has had the power to have David released and returned to Australia but that he has chosen not to do so because, under Australian law, David has committed no crime and therefore would return home a free man.

If the PM has the power to have David released to what the Americans would surely regard as the worst possible outcome, then presumably he also has now and has had for some time, enough influence to get David’s captors to agree to any or all of the following lesser concessions.
- allow greater access to David by his father, legal team, human rights groups etc
- have him charged expeditiously with crimes that were actually crimes at the time he is alleged to have committed them.
- ensure that David’s treatment was at all time in accordance with the Geneva Convention and accepted norms.

The fact that the PM has chosen to not effect these changes in David’s conditions and treatment means that, in effect, he must assume defacto responsibility for all the sufferings David, an Australian citizen, has endured.
Any coalition member, including the Member for Gilmore, who fails to speak out, both publicly and in the party room, against the PM’s cruel and degrading treatment of a fellow Australian, must also assume some degree of personal responsibility.

I believe that when all the facts surrounding David’s capture, interrogation and incarceration are finally revealed, all those who remained silent but had the power to do something, anything, will stand condemned.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

What Will We Tell Them?

Don’t move.

We have all been witnesses to a crime, a crime against a man and a crime against humanity. We have all seen it, little by little, night by night on the evening news. A man has been abandoned by his Government, forsaken by his countrymen, tortured by his accusers and played with for political advantage by those whose duty it was to protect him.

What will we tell our grandchildren when they ask, “ What did you do to help David Hicks?”

Perhaps he will still be in Guantanamo Bay when one of them turns the legal or political key to release him, some decades from now.

How will we explain our inaction?

Was the Government too powerful, the time too short, the mortgage to pressing or the task too daunting?

What will we tell them?