If you don't know me by now ...

After reading this, the operative phrase in Downer's third-paragraph quote is "from what I have heard". Downer has chosen not to hear any bad news about Hicks, and the media have chosen not to ask about his lazy information-collecting habits, or his credibility on any other thing on which he may choose to comment.

If the Yanks don't have the wood on Hicks by now, they never will. Who's going to rely on six-year-old hearsay? A good defence counsel should be able to windschuttle this testimony (are there several reliable witnesses and unimpeachable physical evidence for every instance? If not, no charge!). More access to visitors and phone calls may be the best way to gather the so-far missing evidence, not the silent treatment and unreliable torture/deprivation.