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| Down Under |
| Hicks 'al-Qaeda's 24 carat golden boy' |
| 2007-02-23 |
| DAVID Hicks was al-Qaeda's "24 carat Golden Boy" and was willing to undertake suicide missions, including crashing a plane into a building, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate has claimed. In a 148-page document written for US government terrorism investigators, British former inmate Feroz Abbasi wrote that Hicks wanted to "go back to Australia and rob and kill Jews". Abbasi's account also made the claim that Hicks wanted to crash a plane into a building and details the Australian terror suspect's behaviour in al-Qai'da training camps in Afghanistan. The claims made by Abbasi, who was released from Guantanamo Bay in 2005 and has never been charged, are detailed in next week's Time magazine. In a signed statement made on October 20, 2004, Abbasi - who was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 after being caught carrying a hand grenade in his underpants - repudiated his written account of Hicks in its entirety, describing the allegations made against the Australian as "ludicrous in their content (yet believed by dense investigators)". According to Time, Hicks was nicknamed "Golden Boy" because he was so clearly al-Qaeda's favourite recruit. Abbasi wrote in his original statement that Hicks, a former kangaroo skinner and father of two who converted to Islam, wanted to "go out with that last big adrenalin rush". "He once told me in Afghanistan that if he were to go into a building of Jews with an automatic weapon or as a suicide bomber he would have to say something like, 'there is no God but Allah' ect (sic) just so he could see the look of fear on their faces, before he takes them out," Abbasi wrote. "I can only speculate as to why he likes capturing defenceless animals ... All these factors can only point to the reasons why he wanted to hijack a civilian plane and plough it into a civilian building." Australian authorities have long maintained that Hicks received the highest level of terrorist training of any caucasian who attended al-Qai'da training camps in Afghanistan. Hicks, 31, from the northern Adelaide suburb of Salisbury, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 and has since been held in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He is yet to stand trial under the US military commission process. US judge Susan Crawford will soon decide whether to recommend charges of attempted murder and providing support for terrorism. By his own account, Abbasi first met Hicks while jogging around the al-Farooq training camp near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. He claims the Australian was allowed to break rules while undergoing training and avoided routine punishments. "We had to stand next to a shooter and catch his bullet shells as they were ejected from the rifle before they hit the ground. Golden Boy Hicks thought it was childish and stupid and absolutely refused." Attorney-General Philip Ruddock declined to comment last night on the claims made by Abbasi. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #5 here...pull my |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-23 13:50 |
| #4 Is that that a hand grenade in your underpants, or are... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-02-23 12:26 |
| #3 Abbasi - who was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 after being caught carrying a hand grenade in his underpants Clearly a bold, risk-taking kind of man... but not too bright. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-23 12:08 |
| #2 I'm in Oz at the moment and some of the support for this tool is nauseating...usual suspects though. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2007-02-23 12:07 |
| #1 Oooooops. There goes pops Father of the Year award... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-02-23 11:57 |