Shame Australia shame
Australia decided not to help Mamdouh Habib while he was being held by the US. Why, asks Julian Burnside in the age.
Guantanamo is a bad advertisement for democracy and democratic values. It
reflects badly on any government that condones it. Great democratic principles, such as the rule of law and the right to due process, can be traced back to the Magna Carta. In the war against terror, it is well to
remember that we are defending those principles. In Guantanamo, those principles have been sacrificed.
Shame Australia shame
January 17th, 2005 at 10:57 pm
With sadness, I agree. Australians knew what the Howard Liberal government were not great supporters of democracy when we re-elected them. We’re getting what we voted for, and it’s times like this I wish Derryn Hinch hosted the 7:30 report.
Still, I’m pleased and surprised to see Mamdouh Habib released. I thought the Bush administration would have kept all the detainees detained until they had stacked the U.S Supreme Court enough to sanction the military commissions.