POWER OF ONE

David Hicks before his Guantanamo nightmare began.

Anti-war mum Cindy Sheehan slams Australian PM Howard

Australian Pime Minister John Howard was an illegal combatant waging a war of terror against the world, a prominent US anti-war activist told a peace rally in Melbourne today.
Cindy Sheehan, whose volunteer soldier son Casey, 24, was killed in Baghdad two years ago, called for an end to the Iraq war and for the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison, where Australian citizen David Hicks is incarcerated.
"Our governments are saying they (Guantanamo Bay inmates) don't deserve civil rights because they're illegal enemy combatants," Ms Sheehan told the rally.
"George Bush and John Howard and Tony Blair are illegal combatants, there's nothing about this war on terror that is legal.
"These people (world leaders) perpetuate the torture and the killing and they're still allowed to run free and live in society, except George Bush; he can't go outside unprotected he has to ride around in cars that are better armoured than the one my son was killed in."
Ms Sheehan was speaking at a protest rally outside the Australian Liberal Party offices in Exhibition street.
She told about 200 people the war on terror was immoral and eroded basic civil and human rights.
She said prisoners such as David Hicks – who has been incarcerated for four years after being captured training with the Taliban in Afghanistan – deserved to be treated with humanity and justice.
As for the soldiers, we must "get them the hell out of Iraq".