David Hicks
 

So Hicks comes back on a G5 at a reported (but hard to believe) cost of $500,000. I note that it was a US aircraft. I'm sure there are Aussie operators that could have handled this job. Brickbats to the Feds on this !! Then we have reportedly 40 cops from SA needed to take him from Edinburgh to Yatala. Ditto the SA Govt!!.

Both exercises seem to me a profligate waste of taxpayers' money and a gross overreaction to a relatively simple and straightforward task.

Wonder how much danger money the flight crew got paid for that one...

Yeah, its not like he's a convicted terrorist or anything! Sit him down the back with the UM's, I'm sure the hosties could whip out the cufflinks & keep him quiet!:}

An answer........ maybe
 

Not wanting to be the conspiracy theorist, but a bit of research might answer why.


Read this first, - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/31/na...3En/Ow9xORcmMw
then:


Put the rego N90AM in here - http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinqu...um_inquiry.asp


Note the company name and address.


Put the address (street and city) into google. A bit more research should bring you to here - http://www.atlanticaviation.com/locations/teb.html


Spoooooky!


But I’ll leave you intelligent chaps to make up your own mind.


S64


*Apologies I couldn't get the hyperlinks to work

I've been at this game for a few years now, and I STILL haven’t seen the inside of a G-V or IV for that matter!
Maybe I should go to Iraq, get caught, and in a few years, G-V here I come!
- The TV report giving a running commentary of the approach to land was BRILLIANT :ok:
I quote: "He's now parallel to the runway, at about 500 feet above the ground, coming down at a great speed"
Didn't know a G-V would be flying a low level circuit and DESCENDING when on downwind....
All in all an utter waste of taxpayer money (and News viewers time)

I may not be intelligent enough to figure out what was so spooky...but I do know how to spell descending!
:}:ouch::suspect:

Harvey Gee. me old.:ok:

$0.5 mill is about right.

Yes there are local aircraft that can do it but I can think of a dozen reasons why I would not let mine out for this task. I suspect they could not find any local takers.

I suspect that there were some very good security reasons why the steps taken were, and why.

Simple yes, but then the guys who did the 911 gig weren't rocket scientists either.

The thing that has me stuffed is how he managed to get out at all and is somehow now some sort of local hero.

He pleaded guilty to assisting terrorism.

Many hope he rots in hell when he finally gets there...

He certainly seems to some sort of pin up for the journo's at fairfax. I haven't spoken to anyone at all who thinks he's a hero, just a d!ckhead. I must be moving in the wrong circles.

I have some sympathy for anyone who has been "played" through a rotten legal process. If you want me to confess to something, just lock me up and tell me there is no way I'm getting out unless I "confess" - thats whats been done to Hicks, at the very minimum.

As for Hicks himself, I suspect that he is no better, and no worse, then some of the loony army recruits I remember from my infantry days (a very long time ago). They joined up with romantic ideas about being a "warrior poet" fighting from freedom against the forces of evil, which they were happy to share with their conscripted colleagues. All usually went quite well with these types for about two weeks.........then reality set in, bigtime. I remember the RMO (Who thankfully had psychiatric training) talking one of these guys down from his position, stark naked and holding a loaded rifle, on the roof of the barracks.

I put Jihad Jack Thomas in this category, as I know of him from people who grew up with him, and Hicks action of trying to bug out from Kabul, selling his rifle and heading for home, sounds to me like the actions of someone for whom "jihad" has suddenly lost its appeal.

.......but what the heck would I know?

Hicks had form. The scary thing is the media lie is starting to get traction, even my wife is believing that he was harshly done by. There was a time when mercenarys were executed on the battlefield whenever they were captured.

Hicks was caught in the field of battle supporting the wrong side. This will come down to whether you believe Kelly was a hero or a cop killer.

Prehaps he could be asked to repay the cost of his trip home, just like other people who get assistance from the Australian embassy are ? No passport until it's repaid.

After all the fuss they did need to put on a bit of a show. How would it have looked if they walked him off a 330 with a couple of suits on either side. Doesn't exactly justify his 5 years without trial and dangerous freak status if he's treated like a normal crim.

I think Hicks should have stayed in Australia rather than venturing off on his Jihad adventures. He could have been a Nominee for an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. He'd still be in jail and it would have been cheaper, would've suited his living on the edge dreams too.

Morning OzBD,

Cop killing a$$hole from my P.O.V.

I'll second that ABX.

Amen! Amen! guilty as charged!

Kelly? Crook, scum, hanging too good for 'im!

Now I've got that off my chest, I'll try to raise the tone a little. Hicks has been made a bit of a poster boy for the lefty luvvies who are lapping this up as part of their self hatred and general loathing of modern Western (read 'US') society. Similarly there are some who are incandescent with rage that the bloke wasn't shot when captured. Frankly my own natural reaction is that the bloke is a stupid prick who should have been taken 'round the back of the sheds and given a thumping years ago :ouch:. The truth, as always, is a bit more complicated.

* * * Caveat - I'm not a barrister or solicitor, I've just done some reading. If I've misrepresented the facts or if my understanding of the law is crook I apologise and am happy to be corrected. * * *

If he's a belligerent in an ongoing war, and he has been captured (by hook or by crook) in the warzone, no matter what the status of the war. He was captured by one side (and the whole Northern Alliance prisoner selling business muddies the waters a little) and detained as a combatant / belligerent. Now here are some tricky bits .....

1. Let's agree that the war in Afghanistan is still going between the legitimate government and the Taliban & Al Qa'eda.
2. He was not arrested by a police force.

Surely these 2 facts mean that his continuing detention is perfectly legal? Let's forget the nature of any criminal trial, trumped up charges, torture, Gitmo 'hell hole' etc. Probably irrelevant. He's a captured belligerent during an ongoing war. He can stay locked up.

Over to y'all again. Cheers

I had to laugh when the news reporter, looking all serious when he started to quote the details of the Hicks saga, you know, what time he left, arrives, etc.

But then he blew it all when he said Hicks was travelling in a Gulfstream "Gee-Vee", as it then became very obvious he knew absolutely nothing about civil aviation.

As he continued on, in the serious tone, I couldn't stop laughing!!

Cheers...FD...:ugh:

No he wasn't, he was grabbed by the Northern Alliance as he was heading for the Pakistan border and sold to the Americans. He has never fired a shot at Americans or Australians either.

In fact, what Hicks was doing was not even a crime in Australia at the time.


.....But don't let the facts stand in the way of a good argument:yuk:

YesTAM,

Perhaps you could cite your sources for us? I'd be most interested to read up on that. :ok:

Thanks.