In His article "Clear case of misplaced sympathy" Gerard Henderson of the SMH feeds the public at large with enormous amount of rubbish that even my council would not pick up from the pavement. this:
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David Hicks's supporters are in denial about the nature of his actions, writes Gerard Henderson.

Blah blah blah....

....As with Hicks, the supporters of Thomas would have more credibility if they openly acknowledged that training or associating with al-Qaeda is a serious matter.

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No Gerard,t we they openly acknowledged that training or associating with al-Qaeda is a serious matter but no enough to warrant the abandonment from our government for more than four years... But that the CIA and US interests financed al-Qaeda via various means, overt and devious, including via the Taliban, to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan IS a far more serious matter. The fact that Hicks did not kill anybody should be in his favour... (I know many people who would kill someone somewhere but when it come to the crunch they don't...)

David Hicks has been made a scapegoat for the US "bungling" of the arrest of Bin Laden when they told the Brits who were about to do it, to let them deal with it... and they did... He's still at large, like the scarecrow the US need to frighten the populace into submission to believe their rhetoric about terror. Sure..., terror exists and had done so since the dawn of time... The reality is that the US desire to control the world no matter what, is irresistible to the present administration...

In their own time the US will find Bin Laden when its suits the mood of the moment... not one second before... and they're preparing the "psychological" ground for it...

In his penned colic, "Clear case of misplaced sympathy" Gerard Henderson of the Sydney Morning Herald also writes:

"""""""IT'S all but official. The United States, on George Bush's watch, is not a fascist state, despite what some Bush critics allege. The decision of the US Supreme Court in Hamdan v Rumsfeld, handed down last week, shows that the rule of law still prevails in the US democracy. In Hamdan's case, by a majority of five to three, the court found against the Bush Administration's attempted use of military commissions to try detainees held at Guantanamo Bay who have been charged with crimes."""""""

What a lot of rubbish! The majority of judges was 5 to 3 and could have easily gone 3 to 5... That three judges of the court go with the president on his dangerous rigmarole at this moment in time is outrageous and the most outrageous is that they ALL gave My Bonsai a reason (and advice) to go and get what he wants from the US Senators... Change the law to get the same kangaroo military courts with the right to shaft anyone... Thus the fascist loop-da-lollypop can be really completed. Gerard, the rule of law has long time been screwed in the US... Not only that, out of more than 400 detainees, only 10 have been charged with "real" crimes, the worse one being that "one the charged" injured someone! What a travesty of black robes that is! If the law cannot bring fair justice with proper defence, then the law is wrong. Simple...

That the US administration wants to dispense with proper defence is fascist.

In the blog above the above, I mentioned Bin Laden...

From the NYT:

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: July 4, 2006
WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.

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Signs that the US does not need a roaming Laden as much as they did and they might swoop on him to "victorise the president"... Wait for it...

From the ABC

Lawyer renews plea for Hicks's release
The lawyer for Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has asked for the federal Cabinet to formally review his client's case, now the US military commission process has been ruled invalid.

David McLeod has made a renewed plea to the Foreign Affairs Minister to support his client's release.

He emerged from Alexander Downer's Adelaide Hills office after what he described as a robust yet courteous discussion.

Mr McLeod says he argued that the charges against Hicks are no longer valid due to a ruling by the US Supreme Court and there is no chance of his client receiving a fair trial.

"I indicated to him that in my opinion the charges were no longer in existence and that David Hicks was now simply a detainee," he said.

He says Mr Downer gave him a fair hearing but it is difficult to tell whether the Government will respond to his requests.

"The Government has indicated what its position has been clearly to date," Mr McLeod said.

"Whether it has been prepared to take into account the matters that I've raised to the Minister and the material I've put before them remains to be seen."

Mr Downer says he told Mr McLeod it is important to remember that Australia is engaged in a war on terrorism.

"The most evil organisation in the world today is Al Qaeda," Mr Downer said.
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Gus thinks that if the CIA has decided to wind up its "search" for Mr Bin Laden (see blog above) this is a strong indication that the most evil (I do not believe in that word anyway) organisation is not Al Qaeda or this "organisation" (which is not one) is getting out of the picture... Al Qaeda... Another word that the Clowner loves to sprout like he did douse us with "Saddam has weapons of mass destruction" at least 8,500 times publicly... with the conviction and forcefulness of a delusional fanatic...

And no... Australia is not engaged in a war on terrorism... Terrorism is not a unified enemy but a state of mind in other people who may have an axe to grind or are madly deluded too... Fighting "a war on terrorism" is as useful as shooting blanks. That we protect ourselves from terrorism is another story but the Howard government's tactics on this are far from the way to go...

That David Hicks once trained with the hordes of Bin Laden and the Taliban does not mean he has to be removed from the fairness of the law. That he has already served more than four years in prison without proper charge and considering he has been mistreated all the way without an objection from the Howard government, shows that our Clowner has no idea what international laws are... He should be deposed from his post for badly impersonating a foreign minister...

‘Up to 8,000 suspected al-Qa'ida
sympathisers are being investigated by MI5 and the police in an operation to
identify future terrorists, The Independent has learned.

The huge covert inquiry, known as
project Rich Picture, is aimed at finding people who are being groomed for
terrorism, and at identifying the Islamist extremists carrying out the
recruitment.

The nationwide investigation
follows intelligence suggesting there is a very small, but significant number
of British-born and Britain-based Muslims, who are prepared to carry out
bombings and other terrorist attacks in this country.

Undercover officers are gathering
information from all over the country, including at colleges, mosques and
internet websites where extremists may try to "groom" or radicalise
those sympathetic to the aims of al-Qa'ida. Of the estimated 1.6 million
Muslims living in Britain, counter-terrorist sources have disclosed that they
believe up to 0.5 per cent - about 8,000 - support al-Qa'ida's aims, and have links
to Islamist extremists. These are the people being investigated.’

MI5 Conducts
Secret Inquiry Into 8,000 al-Qa'ida 'Sympathisers'

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat
Aziz on Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts: “There is speculation as to where he is,
but certainly nobody
has a clue.”