Mohammed Dawood Sentenced

The first person to be convicted at Guantanamo has been sentenced. Incredibly he will only serve nine months of the seven year sentence- the rest will be suspended. Mohammed Dawood, who the media continue to refer to as David Hicks, is an Australian convert- before receiving Al Qaeda training in Afghanistan and meeting with Osama Bin Laden, he received training from the KLA and fought with Lashkar-e-Toiba.

He was schooled by al-Qa’ida in weapons familiarisation, landmines, tactics, basic explosives, guerilla warfare, ambush, camouflage and surveillance. He then moved up the ladder to urban tactics training and surveillance of the US and British embassies in Kabul.

He was leaving the area, to do who knows what, when 9/11 took place and he returned to Afghanistan to fight for Al Qaeda. That he has been given such an incredibly light sentence is preposterous- he will also be allowed to serve his sentence in an Australian prison before his release. I wonder how much the surveillance program of him will cost once he's out of prison? And how much of Australia's limited intelligence resources will be tied up?

The younger Hicks, a former kangaroo skinner from Adelaide, acknowledged that he trained with al Qaeda, fought U.S. allies in Afghanistan in late 2001 for two hours, and then sold his gun to raise cab fare to flee to Pakistan.

And while the war against Islamist terror continues, the USA continues to release enemy combatants.

"I think that David Hicks is very fortunate. He's getting a second chance," said the tribunals' chief prosecutor, Air Force Col. Moe Davis.

He's getting a second chance sure- but to do what? How can we know that he isn't going to return to fighting- as many other Gitmo detainees have? Is there a reason that the US is letting Al Qaeda terrorists free while we're still at war with Al Qaeda? It makes no sense whatsoever.