Sydney - Anti-war protesters in orange jump suits marching in Brisbane's city centre Tuesday were stunned by the news of David Hicks' guilty plea to a charge of supporting terrorism at a US war crimes' tribunal at the Guantanamo military base. "We were actually saying the military trial is unfair, but we didn't know he was going to strike a plea bargain," demonstrator and Stop the War Collective spokesman Robert Nicholas said. "We are clearly saying that still, but we understand why he would want to plead guilty and get out of Guantanamo Bay."
There was a palpable air of disappointment among those who had campaigned to bring Hicks home at his decision to go ahead and achieve that outcome himself, by admitting to helping the Taliban in Afghanistan.
A promise President George Bush gave Prime Minister John Howard means the Muslim convert would serve any extra jail time in Australia. With five years already served, he could be back in his Adelaide hometown within the week.
Green Party leader Bob Brown was also glum at the surprise capitulation.
"This is a low day in Australian legal history," Brown said. "Hicks' guilt will always be in doubt; the Howard government's guilt in this affair will never be in doubt."
Relief and a barely concealed air of vindication showed among Howard's ministers. "I'm pleased for everybody's sake that this saga has come to a conclusion," said a beaming Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Howard, politic as ever, was careful to hide any satisfaction at the surprise outcome. "It's always been our view that Hicks should face justice, but we have been very concerned about the time that it's taken," the prime minister told parliament.
With a general election possibly only eight months away, and the Labor Party streaking ahead in the opinion polls, Howard had pulled out all the stops to get the former kangaroo skinner out of Guantanamo. He brought the matter up with Bush in a phone call last month and he set a deadline of mid-March for legal proceedings to begin.
Five years ago, few cared about the 31-year-old Hicks. His claim that he was in Afghanistan immersing himself in his religious studies impressed no one.
But being held without trial for so long began to rankle with Australians. The tide turned and the sorry fate of Hicks - in a tiny cell for 22 hours a day - became a cause that many embraced.
Bush promised Howard that Hicks would be among the first before a military tribunal. Indeed, he was the first and his guilty plea came the same day as his arraignment.
The Bush administration needed the sniff of victory in its legal pursuit of suspected terrorists. The guilty plea from Hicks showed the military commission could be made to work - and held out the prospect that Guantanamo could be emptied.
The guilty plea and Hicks' impending return to Australia excised the one-time rodeo rider from the coming election campaign. Labor leader Kevin Rudd had promised to bring him home regardless.
Rudd had branded the military tribunal an unacceptable jurisdiction for an Australian citizen.
"I'm no defender of Mr Hicks, of what he's done or alleged to have done," Rudd said. "At the same time I defend the legal rights and human rights of every Australian citizen and he will not be receiving a fair trial through this US military commission."
Labor has suddenly lost an issue to campaign on, and Howard's ruling coalition is thankful that a sticky issue is off the agenda.
Hicks' supporters claim he only pleaded guilty to escape the conditions of the Guantanamo military prison. But the fact remains that he accepted guilt.
Justice Minister David Johnston noted with satisfaction that pleading guilty was irrevocable and incontrovertible.
"When you plead guilty - as an old courtroom sparrer like myself knows - when you plead guilty you put yourself in the dock and you don't go home that night," he commented.
Having Hicks accept guilt, engineering his day in court, doesn't absolve the Howard government from the dishonour of allowing a citizen to languish without trial for five years. But it does show Howard as having the courage of his convictions.
He was resolute, didn't bow to public opinion and bring Hicks home. Most importantly for Howard, who at 67 is trying for a fifth term in office, the guilty plea means Hicks will be back in Australia for a likely election in November.
By then, protesters in orange suits will be a thing of the past.
