Guantanamo Detainee Described as Lost Soul Seeking 'a Way Out'

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, March 28 -- When Australian David Hicks arrived at this island prison as it opened in January 2002, the U.S. government painted him as one of the world's worst terrorists, someone who would do immeasurable harm and needed to face justice. In the five years since, while nearly 400 other detainees have gone home, Hicks has languished in a tiny cell, often wondering, his defense team says, why he has been targeted as one of the chief enemies of the United States.

Hicks's guilty plea on Monday to one count of material support for terrorism was the first step toward concluding his case, one that ultimately amounted to charges that he trained with al-Qaeda and worked with the Taliban after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But the U.S. government dropped allegations that he fired a single shot in the direction of U.S. or allied forces, and a pretrial agreement could limit the amount of prison time he serves to a few years.

This case so far has been less about who Hicks is or what he did than about starting the Bush administration's military commissions resolving an international issue with a close ally. Commission officials have praised the case as showing a transparent and fair system; human rights groups have painted the commissions as a sham with still-unwritten rules.

Lost in the process, in part, is Hicks. His attorneys describe Hicks, who is charged with war crimes allegedly committed in late 2001, as a man who has been terribly affected by years in this detention facility with little human interaction. In recent months he has lived in the highest-security area, growing his hair long so he can cover his eyes to keep out the light while he sleeps and reading up on fishing and organic gardening.

The 31-year-old from Adelaide, Australia, has been described by his attorneys as a lost soul who at one point worked as a kangaroo skinner in a meatpacking plant. U.S. officials allege he moved toward extremism in the late 1990s when he went to Albania to fight for the Kosovo Liberation Army. Between 1999 and 2001 he allegedly converted to Islam, moved to Afghanistan and trained at various al-Qaeda camps. He later allegedly helped the Taliban by guarding a tank in Kandahar and moving briefly to the front lines of the war against U.S. forces and the Northern Alliance. Hicks was caught while fleeing by taxi to the Pakistani border.

When prosecutors read his aliases in court here, such as Abu Muslim Australia, Hicks chuckled. Just over 5 feet tall, he stood shoulder-high to his defense attorney and spoke in a deep tone.

His defense team and his family members say he pleaded guilty to avoid a flawed military commission and to ensure that he can leave the Guantanamo Bay prison with a definitive sentence.

"He just wants to get back and try to get a normal life," said Hicks's father, Terry, during a break in the proceedings Monday. Speaking to Australian ABC-TV in Washington on Tuesday, Terry Hicks said his son was part of a political game: "As far as I'm concerned, this was a way out for David regardless of whether he was guilty or innocent, and we'll never ever know now."

George Edwards, an international human rights lawyer and adviser to Hicks's defense team, said Hicks is not the terrorist the U.S. government has made him out to be.

"He's a pawn in a big political game, and he's being used by the Australian government to bolster their chances of staying in power," Edwards said. "If he gets home by November, that will be a feather in the cap of Prime Minister John Howard. It's a rush to injustice."

The military commission this week has drawn considerable interest from the Australian media, with the nation's major outlets making up half of the news contingent here. Correspondents have been doing live television shots for an Australian audience 14 hours ahead of East Coast time, and one wrote a feature about the souvenirs one can buy at Navy Exchange stores here -- such as stuffed-animal iguanas and magnets that say "Kisses from Guantanamo Bay."

Mark Coultan, a Sydney Morning News correspondent covering Hicks's case, said that in Australia the story is not just about terrorism but also politics. Public opinion there has shifted dramatically because of a feeling that Hicks has been unfairly treated, he said.