Ex-Guantanamo inmate to run in Australia election

Australian Mamdouh Habib speaks to the media
in Auburn February 2, 2007. REUTERS/Ed Giles
So far this story makes the US look pretty silly if not worse.

And what if he wins? That means Australians elect terrorists to office? Highly unlikely.

An Australian once detained in Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of helping al Qaeda said on Friday he would stand for election to the New South Wales state parliament.

Mamdouh Habib, released in January 2005, was held in Guantanamo Bay without charge for almost three years after he was arrested crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan three weeks after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"We're here in Australia, this has nothing to do with Afghanistan," Habib told a news conference in Sydney called to announce he would run as an independent in the March 24 contest.

"This has nothing to do with terrorism -- we have no terrorists in Australia. If you want to talk about terror then talk to the U.S.," he said.

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