AUSTRALIAN terror suspect David Hicks turned down a request by al-Qaeda to become a suicide bomber, a United States interrogator said today. American news program 60 Minutes II interviewed a Guantanamo Bay interrogator, identified only as Tom, who said Hicks had provided a good insight into what happened inside al-Qaeda terror training camps. Tom said the Adelaide man had been moving up through the al-Qaeda camps but his progress had come to an abrupt end when he was asked to become a suicide bomber. "He only backed it off at a point where he was asked to be a suicide bomber, where he was presented with training that would involve with running a terrorist cell, and sort of being prepared to strap on a bomb, or to drive a car bomb, or to crash a plane, something along those lines," he said. "He resisted. And so it caused a big problem between him and the other al-Qaeda guys."
| "Ummm... No thanks. I'd rather hang around until the Caliphate comes and have a jewelled turbans and some dancing girls. You guys go right ahead, though..." |
Hicks' father, Terry, who recently returned from the US, cast doubt on the timing of the interview, suggesting it was designed to create fear among Americans. Mr Hicks told ABC radio he had never been informed about these so-called interrogations. "This may be a put up thing and it may not be, I don't know," he said. "We haven't been told anything about these interrogations. As far as I'm aware, I don't think (his US-appointed defence counsel) Major (Michael) Mori is aware of this either because he would have passed on some sort of information." |