More egg in US's face as court throws out cases against detainees

Not surprisingly, the local and international media have much to say about the decision by US military court judges to throw out two cases against persons detained in Guantanamo Bay.

Australian reports, including those of The Australian , The Age and the ABC report on the implications for David Hicks. His local lawyer and his father are both reported as saying that DH will not appeal , as the resolution of the issue could take longer than the balance of the sentence he is currently serving here.

US and UK reports, including the New York Times, Washington Post, L A Times, CNN, Guardian and the BBC, variously describe the Bush administration's embarrassment and explore how it might remove the egg from its face.

For a summary from an Australian perspective Leigh Sales, ABC reporter and author of Detainee 002, a very good book about the Hicks case, on tonight's PM presented a report which, like her book gives a good overview of the situation. She is emphatic about the implications for DH:

This development has no implication for David Hicks. By pleading guilty, he implicitly acknowledged he considered the military commissions fair and workable, so he has limited grounds for appeal. In any case, he only has around seven months left to serve in prison and it's unlikely any legal challenge to his detention would move faster than that.

Which is not to say that DH might not have some redress in future after serving his sentence if the whole Guantanamo structure is dismantled.