Bush pledge to Howard over Hicks
February 20, 2007 - 6:41PM/the AGE
US President George Bush is pledging to do all he can to speed up David Hicks' trial, promising the Australian will be "first in line" to get his day in court.
Mr Bush made the promise to Prime Minister John Howard during a telephone call this morning, in which he vowed to "do everything he could to make sure the process was pushed along".
"He said that Hicks was the first in the line, and he understood very much the concerns that I had," Mr Howard said.
Under growing pressure from his own backbench and aware of increasing concerns in the community over the US handling of the Hicks case, Mr Howard has put Washington on notice that it needs to act without delay.
A Crikey Morgan Poll of 400 voters in Mr Howard's electorate of Bennelong found 62 per cent of people wanted the government to ask the US to return Hicks to Australia.
Thirty one per cent believe Hicks should remain in US custody to face trial.
Mr Howard, who will raise the matter with US Vice President Dick Cheney when they meet on Saturday, said Mr Bush understood his concerns.
"He was sensitive to that," he told ABC Radio.
"I said that there could be no more significant slippage in the process of moving towards David Hicks in getting his day in court, that the concern in this country was in relation to his continued detention without trial."
Adelaide-born Hicks, 31, has been in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for more than five years since being picked up in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Former military judge Susan Crawford is considering the charges recommended against Hicks - attempted murder and providing support from terrorism.
Once the charges have formally been served, there is a 120-day deadline for the military commission trial to begin.
But if Hicks' trial is further delayed by appeals outside his control, the government has hinted it is looking at alternatives to return him to Australia.
Under current laws the government cannot impose control orders to manage a situation like Hicks' return but Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says he is examining his options.
"There are difficulties and these are matters that I have to look at, if these matters are going to be pursued," he told SBS Television's Insight program.
"I am looking at all the potential options that I might have to address in various circumstances."
Mr Ruddock raised the issue of how Hicks might feel if he was brought home before getting a chance to clear his name.
But Hicks' US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, said: "David Hicks won't complain if they bring him home (and) he didn't get to clear his name."
"David will do whatever he's asked," he said.
And as Treasurer Peter Costello urged the public not to sanctify Hicks, Mr Ruddock maintained he was entitled to a presumption of innocence.
"I think some of the rhetoric has got out of control here, as if he was some poor innocent abroad backpacking through the sights and the sounds of Afghanistan," Mr Costello told the Macquarie Radio Network.
"He was in Afghanistan because he had been trained by al-Qaeda, he had been given weapons training, this was the organisation which he knew had just murdered thousands of people in New York, including Australians.
"Australians died in the World Trade Centre, so by all means the man is entitled to a trial, but let's not sanctify what he did or why he was there."
When reminded that many in government had not always presumed Hicks innocent, Mr Ruddock said that he, as principal law officer, always had.
"I have never asserted guilt," he said.
AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/bush-pledge-to-howard-over-hicks/2007/02/20/1171733756081.html
