>We can't make them deny it because the powers that be
>control the dominant culture and the media and we
>don't. We have to sound semi-reasonable. That is why
>it is counterproductive as well as probably untrue to
>call mere supporters of Gitmo fascists.
How about "barbarians" then?
Detainee Hicks at breaking point: lawyer Melbourne Age June 22, 2005 - 8:06PM
Australian terror suspect David Hicks was despairing and at breaking point, his civilian lawyer said on Wednesday.
Adelaide-based lawyer David McLeod has spent the past five days meeting with Hicks at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Hicks, 29, has been detained by the US at Guantanamo Bay since January 2002, following his capture among Taliban forces in Afghanistan a month earlier.
Hicks, from Adelaide, has denied charges of conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy but a date for his US military commission trial remains unknown.
Mr McLeod said Hicks was despairing.
"David is not well," Mr McLeod told ABC radio.
"Unfortunately, he is exhibiting all the signs of being in prolonged detention in the most primitive conditions.
"He has got a bad back, his eyesight is failing - and you would expect that from a person who has been in solitary confinement for 16 months, eight months of which were without sunlight.
"He's locked up for 23 hours a day in a steel cage. AdvertisementAdvertisement
"He is despairing, he has a sense of hopelessness."
Mr McLeod said Hicks had "pretty much" given up hope of being tried in Australia.
"Anybody else would be at breaking point, how David has managed to hold himself together in the face of this situation really beggars belief," Mr McLeod said.
"He is in a situation that would break most people, and I think he's really reaching that point now."
Mr McLeod described Hicks' initial place of detention inside Guantanamo Bay, called Camp X-Ray, as "an absolute and utter disgrace".
"Where he is being held now, in Camp Delta, is not much better," he said.
Mr McLeod was due to return to Australia on Thursday.
© 2005 AAP