Copyright © 2007, Maurie Gee

As David Hicks is charged for supporting terrorism and attempted murder (although he never actually fired a weapon), and whose conviction is assured after five years of gentle coercion at Guantanamo and the recent introduction of hearsay evidence into law, John Howard and his very Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, are relaxed and comfortable in the moral vacuum within which they reside.

Indeed, didn't our PM declare Australia to be the greatest nation on earth on John Howard Day? And didn't we look up from our breakfast cereal -- not of sugar-coated letters and numerals, but tiny little sugar-coated flags -- and cheer?

No, we didn't. Because we were sickened.

And so was the venerable Terry Lane. Here is another of his Perspective columns for The Sunday Age, 4 February 2007:

ON AUSTRALIA DAY, the Prime Minister looked out over the harbour from Kirribilli and declared that ours is the greatest nation on Earth.

And why not? He didn't have to deal with Connex trains or buy a first home on an impossible mortgage. He probably doesn't care about the mighty mountains and great lakes that we don't have or the first-class education system that has gone missing.

He can be forgiven for thinking himself the most blessed of prime ministers in the happiest of lands.

But is this so? Last Sunday's newspaper had the following headline: "Canada: PM apologises".

Improbable, is it not? A prime minister apologises to a citizen. Not only does Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologise but he offers the citizen, Maher Arar, $11.4 million in compensation for "the role played by Canadian officials in the terrible ordeal that you went through in 2002 and 2003".

What Arar went through is pretty much the same ordeal as befell our own Mamdouh Habib.

A commission of inquiry, headed by Ontario Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor found that in 2002 American officials seized Arar, a dual Canadian-Syrian citizen, at JFK Airport, New York. They were acting on advice from Canadian agencies that Arar was a would-be terrorist — a claim that the O'Connor commission found was without foundation.

In fact, while Arar was being held in New York the Canadians told the Americans that they had made a mistake. Arar was not under suspicion.

Undeterred by the facts, the Americans then put Arar in a small jet and subjected him to the full "extraordinary rendition" treatment — that is, he was sent abroad to be tortured.

He was flown to Amman and then taken by van to the Palestine Branch prison in Damascus. He was subjected to beatings on the way and in Damascus began a nightmare of torture.

For 10 months he was kept in a basement cell that was about two metres high, 1.8 metres long and 90 centimetres wide. The cell contained two bottles, "one for water, one for urine". There was one small opening in the ceiling for light and, Arar told the commission, cats would urinate on him through the opening.

Arar was beaten regularly with electrical cable. "The pattern was three or four lashes with the cable, then questions, followed by more beatings," the report says.

Judge O'Connor was also commissioned to inquire into the Canadian security agencies, such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He found the police unco-operative and in his recommendations he writes: "I conclude that existing accountability and review mechanisms for the RCMP's national security activities are not adequate…"

He is concerned about the inability of "a complaint-based approach to provide a firm foundation for ensuring that the often secret national security activities respect the law and rights and freedoms". Sound familiar?

The US Government still has Arar on its terrorist list despite O'Connor finding no evidence that he is a threat, but he has been lucky. Had he been a citizen of the Greatest Nation on Earth he would still be in a Syrian dungeon or perhaps dead. He certainly wouldn't be getting an apology from his government, let alone compensation.

And can someone answer this question: why does the US Government use the torture services of one corner of the infamous "axis of evil" to do its dirty work?

The irony is that the Canadian Prime Minister is a right-winger whose election victory was aided immeasurably by advice from the Howard camp.

Speaking of numerals, 2007 adds up to 9, which signifies completion. Let's hope it means the completion of John Howard's reign of banal evil and the end of David Hicks' incarceration by what could only be described as a totalitarian regime.

-- Olney Garkle