The Alternative Liberal Party (ALP) Government of Kevin Rudd has been quick to follow in the footsteps of the Howard government in relation to David Hicks, making sure that a control order was placed on him for his release from Yatala Prison in South Australia by 29 December 2007.

David Hicks has not had his time in court, has been silenced by the US government until the end of March 2008, and there are now arguments about Hicks profiting from telling his story, because as a convicted criminal he is not supposed to profit from his crimes.

The main trouble with this argument is that Hicks has not been convicted of any crimes in Australia, and is not likely to be either, because there is no case against him which would stand up in any Australian court.

It is also necessary to understand that whatever Hicks is able to tell of his story, it is all coloured permanently by his 5 1/2 years incareceration in the torture chambers known as Guantanamo Bay, the off-shore concentration camp and gulag run by the United States government.

During the period of incarceration the acts of torture are designed to reduce people's thought processes to total acquiescence and subservience, and to damage them irreparably so that they will NEVER be able to be normal members of society again.

We now have the new Australian government behaving no differently from the previous government in its blame game and ensuring that people should think Hicks continue suffering for his "crimes".

And the previous government, which has learnt nothing from its defeat at the recent polls, has people like Christopher Pyne and Alexander Downer mouthing off about the criminality of Hicks. They both, of course, come from the same state as Hicks, South Australia, so feel they have a right to continue defending the indefensible.

Also, not to forget the years in opposition of the current government which gave total acquiescence to the Howard government's "war on terrorism"!

So, we are in for more of the same, and I don't feel I can look forward in 2008 to a more enlightened government running the country and our lives.

As we say in Yiddish, "OI VEY!!".