I notice *smile* doesn't seem to have any roles for Hicks in his organization, but it feels good to pressure your mates to find him a job....
Hicks needs a 'fair go'
March 2, 2008 - 2:25PM
Adventurer and businessman *smile* Smith has approached his friends to try to get a job for self-confessed terrorism supporter David Hicks.
Mr Smith also has urged the former Guantanamo Bay inmate to tell his story to the Australian public and is appealing for Australians to keep an open mind about him.
"I've said to him that he should tell the full story to the Australian people," Mr Smith said today.
"He wants to do that and he's going to do that but he's not ready to do that yet.
" ... I'm asking Australians to listen, to have an open mind, not just believe the Americans and when he tells the story, then make up their own minds."
A gag order imposed on Hicks as a condition of his plea deal with the US military commission that last year found him guilty of providing material support for terrorism, expires at the end of this month.
Mr Smith said he met Hicks while he was in Sydney recently, but preferred not to reveal the exact location.
The Sunday Age newspapers today reported that Hicks had been given special dispensation to leave South Australia and had been staying with a female friend at Abbotsford, in Sydney's inner-west, for the past fortnight.
Hicks reportedly returned to Adelaide this weekend, but neither the Australian Federal Police nor his father Terry Hicks would today confirm that.
Mr Smith said reports he was mentoring Hicks were incorrect, but the 32-year-old former chicken processor had asked him for some career advice.
"He wants to get a job and so he's asked me the best way to get a job and I've given him some advice on how I think he can get a job and I've also asked some business people I know whether they will employ him," Mr Smith said.
He said Hicks was interested in "a job out of doors or in the environment".
Mr Smith would not reveal the identities of those business people he had asked, but said most had not yet responded although some had refused "because their whole information about David Hicks is from what the media have told them".
"My advice is that he should tell the full story to the Australian people because one thing I will say is what the Americans have told us about David Hicks and what the previous government has told us I believe is wrong," he said. "He's convinced he won't get a fair go from the media in this country but I've said I think he will get a fair go.
"But he believes that the media have said such bad things about him that they'll never be able to change their view."
Hicks, who admitted undertaking military combat training in al Qaeda-linked camps and fighting for the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan, was freed in December after serving the last months of a suspended seven-year sentence in Adelaide.
He had spent five years at the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
Mr Smith said the very fact that Hicks had been allowed to travel within Australia showed he was not a threat to anyone.
"I think he's been very badly treated," he said.
"The fact that he's been allowed to travel on a public airline to Sydney and that he's only reporting to police twice a week ... shows that the authorities do not believe he is any threat and I agree with the authorities.
" ... I'm asking Australia to listen to David Hicks's story when he tells it and then make up their own minds."
Mr Smith campaigned for a fair trial for the South Australian during his five-year detention at Guantanamo Bay.
Hicks needs a 'fair go'
March 2, 2008 - 2:25PM
Adventurer and businessman *smile* Smith has approached his friends to try to get a job for self-confessed terrorism supporter David Hicks.
Mr Smith also has urged the former Guantanamo Bay inmate to tell his story to the Australian public and is appealing for Australians to keep an open mind about him.
"I've said to him that he should tell the full story to the Australian people," Mr Smith said today.
"He wants to do that and he's going to do that but he's not ready to do that yet.
" ... I'm asking Australians to listen, to have an open mind, not just believe the Americans and when he tells the story, then make up their own minds."
A gag order imposed on Hicks as a condition of his plea deal with the US military commission that last year found him guilty of providing material support for terrorism, expires at the end of this month.
Mr Smith said he met Hicks while he was in Sydney recently, but preferred not to reveal the exact location.
The Sunday Age newspapers today reported that Hicks had been given special dispensation to leave South Australia and had been staying with a female friend at Abbotsford, in Sydney's inner-west, for the past fortnight.
Hicks reportedly returned to Adelaide this weekend, but neither the Australian Federal Police nor his father Terry Hicks would today confirm that.
Mr Smith said reports he was mentoring Hicks were incorrect, but the 32-year-old former chicken processor had asked him for some career advice.
"He wants to get a job and so he's asked me the best way to get a job and I've given him some advice on how I think he can get a job and I've also asked some business people I know whether they will employ him," Mr Smith said.
He said Hicks was interested in "a job out of doors or in the environment".
Mr Smith would not reveal the identities of those business people he had asked, but said most had not yet responded although some had refused "because their whole information about David Hicks is from what the media have told them".
"My advice is that he should tell the full story to the Australian people because one thing I will say is what the Americans have told us about David Hicks and what the previous government has told us I believe is wrong," he said. "He's convinced he won't get a fair go from the media in this country but I've said I think he will get a fair go.
"But he believes that the media have said such bad things about him that they'll never be able to change their view."
Hicks, who admitted undertaking military combat training in al Qaeda-linked camps and fighting for the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan, was freed in December after serving the last months of a suspended seven-year sentence in Adelaide.
He had spent five years at the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
Mr Smith said the very fact that Hicks had been allowed to travel within Australia showed he was not a threat to anyone.
"I think he's been very badly treated," he said.
"The fact that he's been allowed to travel on a public airline to Sydney and that he's only reporting to police twice a week ... shows that the authorities do not believe he is any threat and I agree with the authorities.
" ... I'm asking Australia to listen to David Hicks's story when he tells it and then make up their own minds."
Mr Smith campaigned for a fair trial for the South Australian during his five-year detention at Guantanamo Bay.