Whatâ€™s an innocent man doing with this weapon?

David Hicks has welcomed a US court decision to clear him of terror related charges.

David Hicks is now a free man and has been cleared of a terrorism conviction. Source: News Limited

A SELF-PROCLAIMED 'loudmouth' former Guantanamo Bay prison guard says Australian David Hicks will never get back the years he spent at the infamous detention centre, and he will never forget the torture he endured.

Brandon Neely, an outspoken American who guarded prisoners at 'Gitmo' in 2002, said the same government which told him Hicks was a "ruthless killer" 13 years ago has now admitted he was innocent.

Hicks, 39, had his 2007 terrorism conviction struck down on Wednesday by the US Court of Military Commission Review.

He is a free man, but can we ever really call him "innocent"?

THE PHOTOGRAPH AUSTRALIANS WILL NEVER FORGET

Hicks aims an RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade launcher. Picture: AFP Source: News Corp Australia

In 1999, Hicks was pictured cradling a grenade launcher on his right shoulder.

At the time, he was training with the Kosovo Liberation Army and the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan. Two years later, when planes crashed in to the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, Hicks travelled to Afghanistan.

He wasn't heavily involved in any conflict and his only real involvement is thought to have been the guarding of a Taliban tank near the Kandahar airport. He was captured a short time later and turned over to US forces before being shipped to Guantanamo.

He was accused of providing material support to terrorism, and admitted to training with al-Qaeda and meeting Osama bin Laden. That testimony would form part of a controversial guilty plea that many, including Neely, said was delivered under duress.

Hicks entered what is known as an Alford Plea, a guilty plea where a defendant admits that the evidence the prosecution could use would likely persuade a judge or a jury to find him guilty. Hicks's lawyers said he accepted the plea bargain because he was desperate to be released from Guantanamo. Neely agreed.

"There's a saying that goes: the best way out of Guantanamo is to plead guilty to something you didn't do," Neely said.

Former Guantanamo Bay prison guard Brandon Neely said the Hicks' ruling is long overdue. Source: News Corp Australia

Despite today's ruling, Hicks may never be considered "innocent". Associate Editor at The Australian, Chris Kenny, who was on the staff of then-foreign minister Alexander Downer during the majority of Hicks's incarceration, wrote this week that the former chicken-processing worker was "decidedly no innocent abroad".

"He was on the battlefield in Afghanistan with Taliban and al-Qaeda forces who were at that time engaged in what was, effectively, a war against the West," Kenny wrote.

"His terrorist training was extensive, including the operation of high-powered sniper rifles, shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles, urban warfare tactics and surveillance techniques. Having converted to Islam, Hicks became a committed jihadist who wanted to 'go fighting in the way of God against the friends of Satan'. And there was no doubt about who the enemies were."

Today, former Prime Minister John Howard echoed those sentiments.

"The US verdict is about the legal process in that country," Mr Howard said in a statement.

"Nothing alters the fact that by his own admission, Hicks trained with al-Qaeda, met Osama bin Laden on several occasions - describing him as a brother. He revelled in Jihad."

David Hicks at the launch of The Justice Campaign in 2011. Picture: Tracey Nearmy / AAP Source: Getty Images

In an interview with news.com.au, Neely said Hicks was innocent but looked guilty.

"I believe David was in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

"I have spoken to David many times over the years since his release and I consider David a friend and I hope now that he can finally find some peace in his life. Even though today David's name is finally clear it will never make up for the years he spent at Guantanamo and the torture he endured."

HIS ARRIVAL AT GUANTANAMO

Guantanamo Bay is picturesque at sunset but a tough place for prisoners. Picture: Michelle Shephard / Toronto Star Source: AP

Neely said he was one of two guards to have greeted Hicks when he arrived at Guantanamo Bay. He said he was covered in sweat and not at all like the person who had been described.

In a video created for the launch of The Justice Campaign — a website dedicated to "transparency and fairness for David Hicks" — Neely said the Australian was terrified.

"We were told he was extremely dangerous. When the buses arrived that day and the detainees started to get off the bus they were all wearing orange jumpsuits, blackout goggles, earmuffs, handcuffs with a belly chain and leg shackles.

"David was the second detainee to get off the bus that day. Myself and my escorting partner took control of him and started to scream at him to move. We placed him on his knees and pushed his head down. Once we got David inside the tent, we removed his goggles. They were so full of sweat that we had to dump them out. Just imagine a half glass full of water that you dumped out."

The abandoned "Camp X-Ray" detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Picture: Mladen Antonov / AFP Source: AFP

Neely said false information about Hicks had circulated, particularly in Australian media, about the day Hicks arrived.

"There has been a big myth that when David got off the bus that day he said he would kill an American soldier," Neely said.

"I will tell you right now from my mouth, the man who took David off that bus, through a processing station and into his cell that day at Camp X-Ray, that is a flat out lie."

He said Hicks was quiet and wanted to see his family.

"That was his main concern even though he was in a cage."

A RULING 13 YEARS IN THE MAKING

David Hicks was all smiles in 2011 at the launch of his book at Walsh Bay, Sydney. Pic. Melanie Russell Source: News Limited

Hicks spent five years at Guantanamo Bay between 2002-2007 before accepting the plea bargain. It meant he could return to Australia soon after because the majority of his sentence was suspended.

The US Court of Military Commission Review vacated that conviction overnight based on a ruling last year that found "material support to terrorism" was not a legally viable war crime for conduct that occurred before 2006. Hicks' lawyers in Australia were reportedly woken in the middle of the night to hear the good news.

A Pentagon spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Myles Caggins, said the government would not appeal the ruling.

Random House Australia published Hicks' biography, titled Guantanamo: My Journey, in 2010.