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Jason Leopold’s Exclusive Interview with Ex-Gitmo Prisoner David Hicks; Will Durst on Obama’s Budget Battle

Jason Leopold of Truthout.org talks about his interviews with Australian David Hicks, who was inmate 002 at Guantanamo, and the impact of his story on Leopold; Please note clarifications below; Will Durst rants about Obama’s budget battle. The Hicks story is powerful and tragic, and covering it produced a strong emotional response in journalist Leopold. You can read the story here and the interview transcript here. Hicks, who trained at Taliban camps in Afghanistan (intending to fight in Kashmir), was trying to leave Afghanistan when he was sold for bounty to the Americans. He was tortured in Afghanistan and on two US ships, then shipped to Gitmo on its opening day in 2002. The case against him was weak and circumstantial, and he was only charged after Dick Cheney made a deal with the Australian prime minister. Hicks plead guilty and was sent to Australia where he is out of prison, but is still subject to the plea agreement until 2014. At 1:04:46, Will Durst comments on Obama’s budget battle.

Clarifications

We have received a very helpful email from Aloysia Brooks, the wife of David Hicks, regarding the podcast and some incorrect info I had posted here in the show description.

David was never in an al Qaeda training camp–he was in Taliban training camps preparing to fight in Kashmir. And while he has been released from prison in Australia, he is still subject to the terms of his plea agreement until 2014.