What do YOU think about this?

I think David should be re-trained and 're-conditioned' to server as a grunt for America.

That guy has a nice father to still care for his son after what he did. Aren't the yanks going to give him back anyway?

Treason should always result in death or imprisonment. There is no excuse for betraying one's country, no matter what the circumstances.

yay trog agress with me =P

I suppose, the more that I think about it, the question is what is he being prosecuted for?

When does an Australian citizen not become an Australian citizen? imho, if you go and fight for an 'enemy', you might as well not be a citizen.

It's a bit like Breaker Morant (except he was a hero) wasn't he tried by the English?

Hmm I don't believe america should have him
If anyone it should be somehere in afghan or Australia.

Like trog brought up though, and I believe it too, if one is fighting for another country (against his own no less) then for all intents and purposes he is a citizen of that country, or alteast not ours.

I would actually like to find out what he ACTUALLY did though. Did he kill anyone? Did he kill aussies, was he actually under taliban regime? What? THe newspapers hype it too much.

It is illegal (up to 14 years max sentence)for an Australian Citizen to fight in the armed forces of a Government that is not recognised as the countries lawful government (ie: Taliban/Afghanistan)

He should be tried for that, here in Australia

An Australian citizen CAN enlist lawfully in any army in the world, provided that army is run by the countries lawful & recognised government

Yeah I too agree with Trog.... He is no longer an Australian anyway as far as I am concerned. He is being tried by America cos we are in treaty/alliance with them and they lead the attack on the Taliban. If you look at it, its basically The West against the Taliban, and with America being the self appointed leader of The West, they will try anyone found in treason against The West.... I guess thats their attitude anyway.

well guess that's what he did then. I wish the media would make atleast that part clear, instead of assuming he was a gun toting maniac.

He left Australia, so he should be trialed wherever he went to.

under law i suppose he'd be considered a mercenary...eg got paid by the enemy to fight against Australia etc... as far as i know mercenaries are not allowed a visa for entry to australia so he won't be coming back any time soon

One's country? I sure as hell don't want to 'belong' to any country and i look forward to the day when people realize that physical boundaries defining one's self is as shallow as skin colour defining character!

haha, mercenary? i didnt know we had laws for that, awesome.

Actualy under australian fedral law which includes treson he can be hung by the neck until dead, which i think they should do to him, i am hopeing to get a job at chogm as security and he was helping a goverment that qould just as quickly if they had a chance blow the thing up.

actually, one of the main reasons that he's being tried, in america, is because he hasn't actually done anything wrong under australian law.

from what i know, he never actually fired a shot, or killed anyone in the "war". but he is being tried for conspiracy, because of the plane thingo.

as an australian, and to us, he hasn't actually done a thing wrong, so there is no real point in us having him, as he would be released.

imo, he should be tried in america, he fought for the side that was against them, and they are the ones who might of suffered from any action that he undertook. that and they will make sure he gets a punishment for being the stupid idiot he is.

Don't get me wromg, I don't want to live anywhere else in the world. Australia rocks as a place to live. And so I'm loyal to this piece of dirt (more or less).

I guess I'm saying that treason is a matter of perspective. Think about this, Nelson Mandella & Sth Africa.... Was he guilty of treason by fighting against Apartheid(?) (an evil regime if ever was) government?

Hicks didn't betray Australia (selling government secrets etc), he broke a law by enlisting in an unlawful army (ie: Mercenary)

I'll agree that he's an idiot and the guilty of the above crime, however thats all that he is guilty of period.

is osama bin laden dead yet?

Some theorize that he is dead. He apparently had a kidney problem or something. Infact shipped over two medical machines, one for his people the other for private use.

With all the hospitals and stuff blocked/destroyed some assume that he has not been able to get the medical attention he deserves and is infact dead.

Actualy under australian fedral law which includes treson he can be hung by the neck until dead,

That's probably one of those old laws they can't be bother changing cause it never gets used.

actually, one of the main reasons that he's being tried, in america, is because he hasn't actually done anything wrong under australian law.

giririsss

He did break Australian law.
By enlisting in the unlawful miltary forces of a government not recognised as the lawful government of a country.

For that, he can be sentenced under Australian law for up to 14 years imprisonment

What is worse ?

Depends if you want fast or slow deah.

I think David should be re-trained and 're-conditioned' to server as a grunt for America.

imo, he should be tried in america, he fought for the side that was against them, and they are the ones who might of suffered from any action that he undertook. that and they will make sure he gets a punishment for being the stupid idiot he is.

Nah, in fat I think if the US government in any way seeks to choose his punishment we should go nuts. Hes still an Australian citizen, and as such should be bought back here, tried for treason, and if possible, executed... As far as im aware, Treason is one of the only things that can still get a person executed here (along with Mutiny, I believe?), can anyone confirm this?

It'ss better for him to just disapear for the marty factor, then there's no real proof that the US did it.

not sure about mutiny but treson sure as hell can be hung for

I seriously doubt the US could capture him alive if they tried. Unless his people really wanted him to stay alive.

AnaRot you have no idea, if you think America is the shining white night of justice, you had better pull ya head out. YES the september 11 is a terible travisty, but did America give a s*** about terrorism in the middle east, Israli - Palestine conflict, f*** no, we're making to much money selling weapons and s***. Beside they f***** started it by siding with the PLO and suppling munitions for the 196? war.

Osama was sponsered by US in the war against USSR, the whole truth will never be known. Those caves that the taliban use were built with US money, their weapons supplied by the US. Probably their traing as well, we'll never know the truth.

And no I will not get over America and their 2 faced f***** righteousness. Go the UN.

Hahaha here we go Mr Conspiracy theory.... go play with Hunter, you two idiots would have a great time!!

The UN??? Hahahahahaaha... they are the most useless organisation in the world. Our pitiful little Australian Army (though it was supposedly a UN force) achieved more by itself in East Timor than the UN has achieved since its inseption. Its f*****g useless, too much red tape and beaurocratic control to ever be effective.

America DID give a s*** about conflict in the Middle East, that is the WHOLE REASON that Bin Laden etc are pissed off, cos America stuck their hands in where apparently they didn't belong (at least thats the terrorists belief). Maybe you should watch CNN and Foreign Correspondent instead of reading conspiracy websites all the time....

The perfect punishment for Bin Laden woud be to force a sex change upon him and make him live as a woman under Taliban rule...

That's justice if you ask me

You are 200% correct there. The way they treat their women is far worse than he'd ever get in most of the world's prisons.

Cailean - I realise that, but they inform you of world events pretty reliably.. and pictures can only lie so much.... Of course nothing is really ever objective, but stuff like Foreign Correspondent is far more reliably objective and informed than some idiot making up conspiracy theories.

Apart from intelligent thought and common sense. Oh, and also, a more objective less idealistic view, bigger picture, and putting things in perspective help to dispell crap like that or at least to balance it out. Its written by the ever-stupid minority groups of course....

Hehe ok.... I guess you're right there :)

I think that by fighthing for the taliban, he has effectively given up his australian citizenship. He is no longer an australian, so he can be punished the same all all the other taliban POWs under US law.

Futhermore,if he is ever let out of prison, he should never be allowed to return home.

He turned his back on Australia, it's only fair that Australia does the same to him.

Just a small point, they are not being held as POWs and US (as well as international) law is being ignored. Hicks cannot be tried here because he has allready been illegally questioned by US and Australian authorities and denied access to any form of legal representation, which would mean any trial here or in the US would be thrown out of court.

Here is a link for more info:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/16/opinion/opinion1.html

Also the book Animal Farm would be a good reference point for this - the line between the pigs and the humans is being blurred mightily ;-)

So many issues :)

It is known that the Taliban was armed and supported by the US against the russians. That is not conspiracy. The Tora-Bora fortress/caves was made with CIA money and support, that is not conspiracy the major press referred to it constantly as an American built facility used by the Taliban against the Russians.

George Bush Jnr provided FUNDING (US$45Million), just last year, to the Taliban to thank them for stopping opium production (For 1.5 years the Taliban had a no-poppy-growing law, which is why Australia's heroin supply has dried up so much. Mind you, that left the Northern Alliance as the biggest produces of heroin in the world).

If David Hicks is declared a POW he would have to be repartriated with his country once the 'war' ends. He can not be tried for his crimes. He hasn't done anything wrong IF HE IS A POW. That's why America is legalese-ing this and doesn't want to call the people being held in cuba POWs - it gives them rights the US doesn't want them to have.

For David Hicks to commit treason, I believe Australia would have had to have declared war on afgahnistan, we didn't. He was just in the armed services of another country. Skippy-Australians go do their time in the Greek defense force so they aren't considered desserters, and I believe it's the same with many Isreali-Australians. Doubt he had Afgahnii citizenship though :) or that Australia allows dual Australian-Afgahnistii citizenship.

Whenever australians are accused of committing crimes in other countries australia helps them out.

Whenever they are found guilty of committing crimes in other countries australia petitions the government of that country to have them serve their time in australia.

If the death penalty is involved australia makes a huge deal about how barbaric it is, and begs for them to be brought back to australia to serve a life sentence instead.

That happens no matter whether the australians involved are (now) convicted rapist, murderers, peadophiles, spies, drug traffickers, or preachers of christianity.

Hes still an Australian citizen, and as such should be bought back here, tried for treason, and if possible, executed

if you broke US laws , you would be tried in the US not sent back to australia, why is this any different?

also, hicks fought not as a hired merc, but as a taliban soldier, whether he believed in the cause or not, thats what he claimed.

now, he has commited treason not only against austalia, but against its allies, which if i remember rightly is punishable by the country against whom he treasoned against, in this case, the USA

whihc is an offense punishable by lethal injection

I think our punishment is better, hang hte bastad lethal injection don't hurt hanging does

i don't hate him i think he should be charged with treson but with out personaly knowing him i can't hate him as long as he pays for his crime, and i know some ppl say he did not commit a crime here i personaly think he did since we were allied in this war, for some reson ppl think america is god allah and budda all rolled into one. its not its just as bad as anyone else around, but this person hicks commited an act of treson against australia, he fought for the other side in the conflict becuase supposedly he got turned down to join the army here, i have been denied 3 times already u see me running off to join someone to fight against australia. No, what he did is an act of treson against australia.

He could have just joined the foreign legion if he wanted to join an army.

But last night you screamed that you loved me!!!!

anarot - really, you say that to ALL the guys on this forum! how is one to believe you?

anarot, flattery will get you everywhere