The Return of Mahmdouh HabibThis goes back in the archives a ways! Mahmdouh Habib, a former Gitmo detainee whose claims of torture included the rather bizarre one that his interrogators showed him pictures of Osama bin Laden having sex with his wife, is now
running for a seat in the legislature of West South Wales, Australia.
He got his
brief moment of fame in the US when Bob Herbert, the New York Times' worst regular columnist, picked up his story. Among other incredible tales of torture:
Mr. Habib said he was taken to a room with hooks on the wall and a barrel, set sideways like a roller, on the floor. His arms were stretched out, he said, and each wrist was handcuffed and fastened to a hook on the wall. By his description, the only way not to be left hanging was to stand on the barrel; an electric wire ran through it. Mr. Habib said he believed the interrogators in that room were Pakistani.
Those fiendish Pakistanis!
Anyway, you had to dig a little into the story to discover that miracle of miracles, Mahmdouh Habib had the signal honor of meeting both the Blind Sheikh who ordered the 1993 World Trade Center attack, and Osama bin Laden, who financed and provided the muscle for the 9-11 attacks. What a fortunate fellow, I'm sure he's no terrorist. And he can't be one, because there are no terrorists in Australia, according to him:
Mr Habib launched his campaign today for next month's state election on a human rights platform on which he opposes the country's anti-terror laws.
He said the laws were not necessary in a peaceful country like Australia.
"We have no terrorists in Australia," Mr Habib said in the Sydney electorate of Auburn.
"This country is a peaceful country, I believe Australia is the best country in the world.
"The terror laws are if you have terrorists, but we don't have terrorists, I believe."
Well, if anybody would know....
