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Feature: Major Michael Mori
February 15, 2004
Reporter :Karl Stefanovic

Major Michael MoriIn Rob Reiner's movie A Few Good Men, a US Marine at the Guantanamo Naval Air Station in Cuba dies after a hazing incident. Two young Marines are charged with the murder and a Navy lawyer, played by Tom Cruise, is brought in by a legal ace, played by Demi Moore. She shames the lazy lawyer into living up to his father's heritage and the Cruise character wins the case, fighting for truth, justice and the American way.

You could imagine Major Michael Mori playing the Tom Cruise character. In fact, he took reporter Karl Stefanovic to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to talk about the case against his client, David Hicks. It was, after all, Abraham Lincoln who resolved in the Gettysburg Address that America "should have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

In the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, Major Mori criticised the military commission that will decide David Hicks' future. He said the commission "will set a bad example in which the unfair process of rules could be used to try US soldiers in the future ... so you're worried other countries might turn it around and use these rules on your own soldiers in different countries. I think that's one of the primary reasons for fighting for David Hicks to get a fair trial, to ensure US soldiers in the future get a fair trial."

Michael Mori is a lawyer for the Marines and the US Navy and has a passion for the law and justice, particularly for his Australian client. "Look, I'm not saying let David Hicks go. I'm saying take him to trial. Not too many defence lawyers would say take him to trial" � in Australia, if necessary, he says, "so if he violated international laws, it's just as valid in Australia."

Aged 38, Mori grew up in Boston, where he joined the Marines in 1983 and had a four-year stint. After he got out, he went back to university, did the officer training program for the Marine Corps as a lawyer and wound up as a lawyer on active duty with the Marines in 1995.

Perhaps that's why he's so passionate about the law and justice — he got his degree the hard way. "America's always had a proud tradition of ensuring fairness and due process. Now's not the time to sacrifice those values."

David HicksNot one for the limelight, Major Mori was a bit apprehensive about holding his first media conference a few weeks ago, but he felt he owed it to David Hicks. "I was nervous, but I thought it was really important to come out and ensure people knew the defence's position in regards to the rules of the commission process and that they weren't fair."

Mori pulls no punches when he talks about the system he has to work under. "I've been assigned to represent David Hicks in a new system that's just been created and part of that is to ensure David Hicks is tried in a fair system. The system is not fair and that can not be hidden."

He quotes an example of how unfair it is. "Two members of the team (Defence Secretary) Donald Rumsfeld appointed to set up the military commission are now members of the review panel which will oversee it. How will they be impartial?" he asks.

Major Mori doesn't believe David Hicks is a terrorist, despite accusations that he trained with the Taliban in Afghanistan. In fact, he's hoping that he will be the Marine who helps set Hicks free from his cage in Guantanamo Bay. As the Marine hymn goes, he hopes "to fight for the right and freedom and to keep our honour clean."

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