Australian's Long Path in the U.S. Antiterrorism Maze

[Rose Siding]

For more than three years, Mamdouh Habib, an Egyptian-born Australian with a volatile temper and an intense devotion to radical Islam, was in American custody, transported from Pakistan to Afghanistan to Egypt to the prison at Guantánamo Bay.

The Americans designated him an "enemy combatant," saying he had admitted to having prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks and to having trained some of the hijackers. He said he confessed while in Egypt only to stop the waves of torture.

The Americans designated him an "enemy combatant," saying he had admitted to having prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks and to having trained some of the hijackers. He said he confessed while in Egypt only to stop the waves of torture.

But Mr. Habib's journey came to an unexpected end on Friday afternoon at Sydney's international airport when he stepped off a white executive jet and was set free....

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/29/international/29habib.html?oref=login

[velvet]

1. quite some spin here

Makes it sound like the Australian government was doing all it could to help Habib. :eyes: Not so.

[Phoebe_in_Sydney]

2. I hadn't heard anything to suggest

... that the Australian government was putting up much of a fight to get Habib released -- or even charged.

Little Johnny Howard just likes to go along with whatever Bush says. At one stage Foreign Minister Downer denied reports of Habib being tortured simply by saying they couldn't be true because the Americans said they weren't true. End of story. They make me sick.

Maybe some of the anonymous officials mentioned in the article were diplomats or consular officials of some type who actually did try to do something. The fact they didn't want their names revealed says something.

Habib sounds like a potential troublemaker, but that's doesn't make him a terrorist and it certainly doesn't justify him being locked up for 40 months without charge and tortured.