U.S. Did Howard a 'Favor' (Australian PM Said to Have Asked Cheney on Hicks Gitmo Case)

[Hissyspit]

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

US did Howard a 'favor'
Natalie O'Brien
August 21, 2011

AS HE sought re-election in 2007, John Howard called in a political ''favour'' from the US government to get any charge possible laid against David Hicks, a former Guantanamo Bay chief military prosecutor has claimed.

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The United Nations is investigating the Hicks case after receiving a complaint from an Australian human rights barrister, Ben Saul, that Mr Howard negotiated directly with Mr Cheney to rapidly dispose of the Hicks case because of domestic political pressure.

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Colonel Davis said Hicks had been a good candidate to be transferred back to his home country - without charge - like dozens of others held in Cuba. He came to the conclusion that there was political interference in the case soon after he received an urgent phone call from the Pentagon General Counsel, William 'Jim' Haynes, who had asked him: ''How quickly can you charge David Hicks?''

''I knew for John Howard it was becoming a political liability with an election coming up,'' Colonel Davis said. That was the first and only time Mr Haynes had ever called him about a specific case and he found it to be ''odd''. The eventual plea bargain was negotiated behind his back, Colonel Davis said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/us-did-howard-a-favour-20110820-1j3k3.html

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[rooboy]

2. Howard's about as missed in Australia as Bush is in America. n/t