Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Become a terrorist - get a private jet!
Bringing Mamdouh Habib back to Australia from the US military prison on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has confirmed.
Mr Ruddock says details of Mr Habib's repatriation are still being finalised and it remains unclear when he will be released from Guanatanamo Bay.
Mr Habib has been imprisoned at the military detention centre by the United States for more than three years.
Mr Ruddock says for security reasons it is not possible for Mr Habib to fly to Australia on a commercial flight.
Mr Ruddock has told Southern Cross Radio the cost of chartering a flight could be high.
"Back of the envelope cost that I've heard of is that you could be looking at something like $7,000 an hour and it takes something like 40 hours to get him back," he said.
"They are the sorts of things that are being said."
People claim that Mr. Habib may still be a security risk. Firstly, if he is truly a terrorist I am surprised that nobody found anything to charge the guy with during his three-year stint in Guantanamo. Secondly, Let's be realistic - he is a portly little guy who has spent the last three years in an isolated prison cell without any outside-world contact aside from the occasional chat with his lawyer. Just how dangerous can he be? With two sets of handcuffs and some heavy sedatives, you could probably check him in as oversize baggage!
That $300k could probably make a meaningful difference to a few people if spent on education, healthcare, the environment - in fact, just about anything except chartering a private jet to fly suspected terrorists back into Australia.
This entire situation is just plain wrong. In the name of justice, I hope that the inflight movies are all shit.
