European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse H o David Hicks in 2001 australian Detainee sentenced to 9 months by Michael Melia the associated press Guantanamo Bay naval Cuba an australian who complained of his treatment at the prison at Guantanamo was convicted of supporting Ter but will spend less than a year in jail at Home in a Deal that requires his silence about alleged David who has spent More than five years at Quantana was the first of hundreds of foreign terror suspects held at the isolated prison in Southeast Cuba to be a Case that also marked the first War crimes conviction since world War Al he was tried by a military Tribu Nal under a system created by president Bush after the attacks that has been widely criticized As a violation of the prisoners right to Challenge their confinement in australian prime minister John Howard said the verdict vindicated what his government had said that Hicks was a danger Ous but his Terry called the Light sen tence amazing Given that the americans have been touting David As the worst of the somethings not it shows How weak the evidence is in this he Hicks had faced a maximum sentence of life in he entered a guilty plea monday but he was not formally convicted until the judge accepted his plea at fridays a panel of officers flown to Guantanamo for the sentencing Hicks deliberated for two hours before approving a sentence of seven the maximum Al Lowed under the plea after they left the the Marine corps Ralph revealed All but nine months would be asked if the outcome was what he was told to Hicks it the plea Deal will Send Hicks to a prison in Australia within 60 his sentence begins imme but Guantanamo com Manders said there would be no change in his detention conditions before his marines building amid bombings humor helps engineers keep their wits about them As they work on outpost near fal Lujah by Sandra Jontz stars and stripes Iraq their humor is but it sustains their sanity in the combat Sand Box that is look alive were about ready to go in the devils butt gunnery Richard Thomas barked late thursday night As his Convoy of combat engineers and transportation sup port company marines from combat logistics battalion 6 prepared to enter the volatile City of on the outskirts of the tension in Thomas humvee was Palpa ble As the Convoy navigated from the Asphalt hardball roads that tapered to pot Hole Ridden dirt streets and through the City of Blind Corners and narrow i dont like this where weve been hit Thomas in earlier thursday the marines and soldiers working and living at out Post 3 in Karma had taken Small arms fire and what some suspected was a rocket pro pulled grenade attack that fell just shy of the no one was under the nearly full combat engineers of engineering Engineer ing combat logistics battalion busily hammered plywood flooring into place and helped unload Concrete Texas barriers until a nearby Boom momentarily halted their several referring to an improvised explosive a 14year scrambled to Check on the safety of his Security marines posted outside the a land mine planted in the Middle of the Road leading to the outpost had it was Between two vehicles of an ele ment of the army 3rd 509th infantry which operates out of no that was meant for reverberated among the Marine who spent sever Al Days working at op3 and earlier had driven the very same Road into the it must have been planted after we got Here in Hopes wed use the same route Thomas that was meant for he added repeating the words his marines had they resumed their the company has been extremely Busy since arriving in fal Lujah roughly a month the engineers were called in to reconstruct and fortify an iraqi army bar Racks that had been blown up earlier that morning when a suicide truck Laden with chlorine and detonated inside the fal Lujah government Center and they still talk about the March 18 insurgent attack that brought Down a four Story downtown hotel with ground level an attack that killed two iraqi soldiers who used upper Levels As an observation the engineers first worked to pull the dead from the they the instability of the building proved too risky to recover any so they set explosives and blew it burying the in Between the engineers missions run a versatile their work includes raising the ground level of op3 to take it out of a swamp using explosives to level an abandoned House insurgents used to hide snip building protective barriers and stringing sniper refurbishing Camps with suit Able living conditions and building Roadway obstacles to keep insurgents from having easy escape said the company command ing Walt the Job is the Best of two worlds for Steve of i love to build and i love to blown things he at the team of 38 combat engineers constructed a second floor in the onetime mansion now used As the army 3rd Battal 509th infantry regiments command Cen on its they Tore Down three Bun kers made of of thin plywood and rebuilt them using sturdier lumber to withstand said staff James the construction the marines work primarily indoors during Gerral cat Squirrel so named because he can climb really hops atop a Concrete Texas Barrier and guides in a Marine who will hoist the Concrete protective Barri Cade from a flatbed Harvey and other Abr employees provide much of the hauling and logistical support for deployed the Day and use the nights darkness for out Side i like building swinging a Hammer and making life better for the said Brian of you fortifying their Little of the 38 marines at the there is Only one female Jillian you grow some thick skin and try to act like one of the she you they laugh a in spite of the humor helps keep them they weve lived to see another Tho Mas grunts As the Convoy pulls into the Gates of Camp of thank in still email Sandra Jontz at a Crane lifts a Shower trailer so Marine combat engineers could photos by Sandra and or Pes Nam ears could stall near command Headquarters at outpost 3 in Karma on
