And so, the lone Guantanamo detainee who has admitted guilt will be in Australia within 60 days and free before the end of the year. Meanwhile, about 385 others who have not been accused of a crime may remain in detention until the cessation of hostilities in the "war on terror" -- a distant abstraction, not an actual event.
In the plea deal, Hicks was required to affirm that he had not been "illegally treated" while in U.S. custody, but those words are meaningless. Hicks earlier alleged that he was brutally abused when he was turned over to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. But in the Bush administration's view, that treatment was not "illegal" at the time unless, in the words of the notorious Justice Department memo, it inflicted pain equivalent to "serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function or death." Thus, in denying that he had been "illegally treated," Hicks in no way denied that he had been abused.
Moreover, in a highly unusual provision, the agreement requires that Hicks not speak to the media for a year. Gag rules are not imposed to prevent people from telling lies; they are imposed to prevent people from telling the truth -- in this case, how Hicks was treated after his capture and during his detainment.
What are we to make of this? How did the very first case brought before a military commission -- a system we were told was necessary because of the danger and impracticality of prosecuting arch-terrorists in U.S. courts -- result in a sentence of only nine months?
If Hicks is even remotely as menacing as the United States once asserted, then the government is grossly negligent to permit his release on these terms. But no one believes that to be the case. Instead, it is widely understood that the government made extravagant claims that simply could not withstand scrutiny. No wonder the administration has fought so vigorously to deprive Guantanamo detainees of the bedrock right of habeas corpus -- the right to challenge unlawful detention in court.
This week, the Supreme Court declined to review a challenge to the Military Commissions Act, which stripped federal courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus challenges filed by "enemy combatants." So justice for the detainees at Guantanamo will be delayed for at least one more year. Meanwhile, David Hicks -- once deemed among the worst of the worst -- will be home and free, an unwitting symbol of our shameful abandonment of the rule of law.
