I've Met Osama 20 Times And He's Lovely"

Before 9/11, it was not illegal to hold views like these :

There is one thing I wish to explain about jihad the non-believers, Jews and Americans in the western world are determined to prevent it to come back again. Jihad is still valid today and will be for all time. The West is full of poison. The western society is controlled by the Jews with music, TV, houses, cars, free sex takes Muslims away from the true Islam keeps Islam week and in the third world.

The West lives in the dark in a narrow sort of living.

As a Muslim young and fit my responsibility is to protect my brothers from aggressive non-believers and not let them destroy it.

The Western World has mastered the art of propaganda.... global ignorance stresses me at times.

The Muslim world is ready for war but...it is not the answer.

I have told you about the non-Muslims they send a lot of spies here especially to Osama Bin Ladens Arab organisation which is where I am.

I have met Osama bin Laden about 20 times he is a lovely brother....the only reason the West call him the most wanted terrorist is because he got the money to take action.

After 9/11, such talk helps to get you tagged by the President of the United States as "the worst of the worst" and by Australian government ministers as a "murderer", and helps land you five years in Guantanamo Bay.

The above quotes are excerpts from letters written by convicted Australian 'terrorist supporter' David Hicks, who was released from Guantanamo Bay in April, after five years of being held without charge.

A special deal was cut between the then Australian prime minister John Howard and US Vice President Dick Cheney to get Hicks out of Gitmo. Howard needed Hicks released from Gitmo because he was, in early 2007, becoming an enormous election liability.

Many Australians had a problem with one of their own citizens being held by the US, without charge, for five years, and subjected to extended isolation and psychological and physical torture. Howard knew what was happening to Hicks, and admitted he could Hicks released any time he wanted. As he eventually proved.

On New Years Eve, David Hicks will be released from the Australian prison where he served a further nine months, after being convicted of supporting terrorism. He has been banned from talking to the media, and federal police are now pushing for Hicks to be placed under a curfew and monitored around the clock.

Go Here For More Background On The David Hicks Saga And Further Excerpts From His Pre-9/11 Letters