Retreat
This is Sam and Major at Tambar Springs; during the drought when I wondered what on earth I had done. It's rained since and the place is now thick with grass and looks fantastic, with frogs croaking into the night and the scrape of the windmill as it turns. We've come a long way, only to huddle mordor like in the mornings; amidst strangers, faced with disbelief. The kids aren't too excited about the country; there's nothing much for them to do; while the sound of the birds and the sun rising through the trees is beautiful to me; Sam took up the television and was more concerned about missing his favourite shows than admiring the local scenery.
The heat showered us into a cringing retreat. I wasn't so worried about what would happen, but it was a fool's courage. There were enemies all around. The fingers could fly across the key boards but all around the pygmies were looking for an opportunity to attack. That was why he wanted to be safe, to hide.
There's much to do. I based out 1200 words on the war artist George Lambeth; writing lyrically about an exhibition at the Australian War Memorial that I hadn't seen. Taking in steps; manipulating truth. The core compromises were bringing me unstuck. I was nervous and frightened; could see them lined up along the fence; gargoyle like. Hunting in Packs has been published in the local paper and looks good; think I'll do global warming next. The idea is to run counter to the tenor of the paper; stir up the letter writers. The South Sydney Herald has always operated in an impossible narrow left perspective; bleating about social justice but often doing more harm than good; but not just that; even within the left they failed to put much of a range of views; we've all got religion and we're all going to die. If that's not thought disordered, nothing is.
THE BIGGER STORY:
smh:
THE Australian Government did not request that a gag order be put on David Hicks, the man who negotiated the deal on behalf of the US says.
Brigadier-General Thomas Hemingway said the gag order was his idea. "I thought it appropriate, given all the rhetoric that was floating around, that … he would agree not to talk to the press or other media for a while."
Hicks's defence team decided to go over the head of the prosecutors because they would not offer what the defence team considered a light enough sentence during plea bargain negotiations.
They approached the convening authority, Susan Crawford, who can approve a reduction in sentences.
General Hemingway is the legal adviser to the authority and negotiated the deal with Major Michael Mori, Hicks's military defence counsel.
The general said he inserted the order on his own initiative.
"I never received any direction of any kind from your government in Canberra or from the embassy in Washington DC."
The one-year period has prompted accusations that the gag was timed with the federal election in mind. General Hemingway said he had originally proposed a two-year ban. The Federal Government has denied requesting the gag order.
The Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, has conceded Australia would be unwilling to send Hicks back to America even if he breached the order. The draft agreement also tried to ban Hicks's family from speaking on his behalf.
The general agreed to the relatively short period of nine months' jail, with the rest of the sentence suspended, because Australia had laws that could control Hicks's movements after release.