"the law of war, allows the detention of enemy combatants during the course of the hostilities. There is still a war on terror"
I don't think the US will declare the "war on terror" over within the next, oh, fifty years. So, look forward to a few more decades there, Hicks. (I previously blogged on this matter here.)
This is despite the US Supreme Court ruling that the intended military commission was unlawful. Hicks was in solitary specifically due to that impending trial, and he remains there eight weeks after the trial was quashed.
Fortunately, he's not George Bush.
Oops, he's Bush's mate, known him since he was 19.
All UK detainees were released after the UK government made representations to the Bush administration. However, when Hicks successfully applied for UK citizenship (after appeal), the Home Secretary immediately revoked it.
Obviously everyone thinks Hicks is a hot potato, really evil, or both. But there's no excuse for the Australian government not to support its citizen, nor for the US government to hold him in limbo with the trial ruled illegal.
We are measured by our treatment of the worst, not the best, cases. And our governments are found sorely wanting.
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