1 What got me was when Terry Hicks told his son that he never had to apologize for "following his beliefs." Pardon me? If he believes his parents deserve to be chattel slaves he doesn't need to apologize? Sorry, but he'd damnwell better apologize to me, because a suckass philososphy is a suckass philosophy. I'd give the bastard life, just on general principles.

2 Somehow I just can't work up much empathy for this family. Poor ol' daddy hasn't seen his son in 5 years .. kids haven't seen their daddy in no telling how long. I guess those Afghani mercenary wages paid good child support. Nope, no empathy but lots of disgust.

3 Check out Tim Blair for snippets of Hicks' loathesome anti-Semitic letters. Now he's whining like the Marin Al Qaeda. He's lucky he's alive. Did no one tell the creep that if you run off to join a war, bad things might happen? Let him take his medicine.

4 There is a lesson here for the soldier. Prisoners eat, shit and take up more time than they are worth.

5 At least we can see where the nuttiness comes from in that family.

6 First, have some compassion for a father whose nearly-worst nightmare comes true. Parents rationalize things like this; it's what they're meant to do. The rest of the world isn't thrilled with (or perhaps hates) the kid. He probably deserves at least one or two advocates. Second, as long as we're criticizing the kid, we might as well at least understand what he did. He joined up with the Taliban, who contrary to media reports are not fundamentally terrorists. There is a distinction between the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Technically the Taliban are a group of fundamentalist religious scholars. They took over in Afghanistan during a power vacuum there, and bin Laden, who grew up in a fundamentalist household himself, decided they were pretty cool. Of course, it probably didn't hurt that bin Laden was forbidden to re-enter just about every other country where he'd once been welcome. The Taliban themselves weren't too well-liked. The vast majority of the world wouldn't even talk to them. Being fundamentalist, they were terrible businessmen, so they had to rely on support from, shall we say, unconventional means. In this case: 1. Pakistan, who really didn't like them all that much but didn't feel like having a chaotic nation next door. 2. Opium. Nothing says "pure and moral" like making money off of the opium trade. 3. Bin Laden. He didn't actually give them all that much, but keep in mind they were REALLY, REALLY poor. He basically bought them Toyota pickup trucks and crude weapons. Even after meeting bin Laden, the Taliban didn't really have it out for America. 95% of them probably couldn't have pinpointed America on a map. They were religious scholars. If it wasn't in the Koran, it wasn't important. So this kid, who obviously was drifting in life -- his wishy-washy dad probably didn't give him a rudder -- finally stumbled upon some certainty. Made a few friends. Found some meaning and purpose in his life. I'm not a moral relativist, i.e. I don't excuse people for doing dumb things based on their history. However, I do think that before condemning them you might as well least know what their offense is.

7 You lot are all a bunch of laffs honestly!!! U dont hav a clue wot ur on about?? ...i think u anti muslim lot hav a thing for story makin eh??? ....so creative...i admire u all!!!

8 Check this site out. http://fairgofordavid.blogspot.com/

9 Regardless of his location when detained, it remains a fact that this guy had been imprisoned and kept without trial for *years*. Can you imagine the outcry of he'd been an American citizen? Surely if there is enough evidence that he is guilty of some crime then he should have been before a court by now? If there isn't enough evidence then what the hell is he doing still sitting in a jail in Cuba? Either he's done something that deserves indefinite imprisonment or her hasn't. It's time his 'crimes' were examined in a valid court. This is *not* justice.

10 This skinhead wants to enslave women and stone men and women for adultry, keep sex slaves as sanctioned by the Koran the toilet book, absolutely rule on mankind and deny humanity their human rights, and then kill jews and others who he deems inferior and a threat. What he is getting is too soft. Let him go on trial and get life for his fascism and murder. How many Afghanis has he killed? Would this skinhead fascist like to confess?