David Hicks

I have heard Hicks a couple of times being interviewed by John Faine ABC, to me he comes across, contrite about his story, I just felt uneasy listening, whether he was fodder for the Howard Government or a victim of a "boys own adventure" something about him makes me uncomfortable, there are lines in the sand that are relevant in our lives, that determine responses and behavior and I think he has crossed that line, he is a very lucky man to get a second chance

Actually Logman by blood was nowhere near boiling.
I agree completely!

Trouble is we in Australia believe that but Islam does not, we must all submit to Islam or die.
Difference between what is right and fair and should happen, and what really happens.

^^^ That's not a bazooka...it's a clarinet.


...and he's doing it wrong.

I am progressing through this book, and the photo of David Hicks holding a 'rocket launcher' (which I think Mark is thinking of) is actually a photo taken in Albania, where he is training as part of his volunteering in the KLA. It is a an RPG, which is unloaded and he says that he and other volunteers grabbed these unloaded weapons to pose for photos.

The KLA was a NATO backed (!) army responding to the Serbian attacks on the Albanians.

So, are Albanians now terrorists and Arabs, or have you gotten this fact wrong?

It seems that there were a lot of volunteers from all over the world heading to Albania to join the KLA. If it was backed by NATO, how is that bad from a US perspective?

You keep pushing that bull Mark and it's always ignorant bull. Some of them may believe that. Most don't. None of the ones that I know believe it. A huge chunk of them in Afghanistan under the Taliban certainly didn't believe it.

There are some christians who want to start nuclear war and wipe out the whole world - muslim, christian, pastafarian, you name it. They want to kick start armageddon apparently. So should we beat up all christians as well?

You are wasting your time mate!

Had the grave misfortune of being in a spot where I could not avoid but listen to John Opinion for Sale Laws today. His listeners soak it up and spout it out without giving anything a moments thought. Reckon they would still be bleating the same crap as they walked up the abattoir ramp.

It is best just to turn a deaf ear after a while or one loses faith in humanity

Oops! What did I say to give you the impression I haven't? I figure we just have to keep chipping away at these blind prejudices and one day finally some light'll get in. It used to be like that for women and gays. It's slowly getting better.

Yep! if it is on Google Hicks' book it is true!

Mark 'Chopper' Reid wrote a book, (and made paid Teev appearances - including on the night of his release) made money and no-one got their knickers twisted too far.

Chopper was a murderer, thief, extortionist, and a very violent and dangerous bloke.

Hicks hurt no-one that I am aware of but had an unfortunate pic taken with a bazooka and it is likely the only image of him you will EVER see of him, as it certainly sells copy.


Perspective is a funny thing.

I'm not saying Hick's is a genius or without sin but he was following a belief he held (at the time) and representing the people of the country he was in.

That is the crucial bit. He intended to fight alongside Afghanis in Afghanistan.

Our troops (with POMs and Seppos etc etc) entered the home country of Hick's allies and attempted to forcibly take it from (some of) the Afghani's. You know - the one's the Seppos were happy to support in previous regional stouches.

So who is breaking the law then?

It's not always so black n white..


Hicks should be allowed to sell his book - if only so that we can know just what evils 'our' side were prepared to commit in the name of 'good'.

Taliban are evil and the world would be better off without them. But you can't just look at world events from 'our' perspective only IMO.

So far in my progress in the book he has* joined up to fight in Pakistan against the Indians in the Kashmir region. He did this instead of accepting a job from someone else as a mercenary. He suggests at this point that he is doing this to help those that are being downtrodden. He also tells us that there is really no religious basis for the fighting, and that the Kashmirs are of multiple religions themselves.

He describes the training as being basic and insists that the Australian government tried to make this out as more than it was even though their own experts declared that it was not as good as the basic training that you would receive in the Australian Army.

Surprising was the point that he applied to join the Australian Army, but was rejected on the basis that he hadn't passed Year 10 at high school (having left in after failing a repeated year 9).

So far, he seems like a guy that has got it in his head to get out of a bad environment, travel a bit, and to try and make the place a better world by helping defend those that can't do it by themselves.

Admittedly I am only up to chapter four.

* All the above is based on my sometimes dodgy memory hours after reading parts of the book!

so has anyone actually read the book...?

its been out for a while, like more than a year

you can get it at kmart or bigw for like twenty bucks...

read it before judging...

after reading it and reading about australias involvement in the east timor fiassco and complacent knowledge of the bali bomb BEFORE THE EVENT

that alex downer cant should be tried, publically stoned, have a thousand rusty needles shoved up the eye of his tiny penis and spend the rest of his days in conditions similar to what David had to endure for five years...

and john anus licking howard should join him

these two people directly condemned with full knowledge of their action (and the actual reality of the situation, not our medias biased banker spin) thousends upon thousands of people to their deaths

that is no exaggeration

Keep reading as it starts to become quite interesting yet disturbing at the same time. In my opinion, if Hick's has provided an accurate and factual account of his treatment, I think that it is a very disturbing read and paints a pretty bleak picture of the collective mental state of the US military at that particular point in time.

I actually would not consider him naive, I would consider that he believed in what he was doing to try and actually DO something about the state of affairs in Pakistan. I think he was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time, and became the poster boy.

If you've read the book, youll know there is more holes in his story than in an Aero Bar.

Come on bjw what you expect he wrote a book about himself of course he is going to "omit" what will not make him look like the poor innocent victim! Here we have all the peeps in that forum telling us not to listen to talk back radio, the news in general, the current affair programs; because it is all bull but in another hand they take Hicks for the Biblical reference of the entire real true!
BJW and I may be ignorant but you are so ****ing naïve that you make me ROFL!

No you can't. You can't buy it at Kmart in Waratah, Big W in the Newcastle, the book shop at Marketown neither of the two second hand book shops in Hamilton which I did not know existed, or the only books only shop, Macleans, in Beaumont street.

However I have ordered it and am looking forward to reading it. As I pointed out to my red neck house mate, I want to find out what his side of the story is, you know the stuff that usually comes out in a trial. And I will judge for myself how many holes is in it!