Crickey! An Aussie faces U.S. terror charges!!!

And he's not even one of those Australian's by way of Riyadh....he's a real bloomin' Australian.

His name is David Hicks (OK, it was Mohammad Dawood, but now it's David Hicks again, since he's purportedly given up Islam...at least for Lent) and he's a kangaroo skinner by trade. There's actually a huge need for kangaroo skinners in Afghanistan, especially in June, right after the annual "running of the roos," in Kabul.

Anyway, Hicks has been charged with "providing material support for terrorism," which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He is the first Gitmo detainee to be charged under the new law for military commissions (detainees will be charged and tried in secret by military tribunals).

The U.S. military also wanted Hicks tried on attempted murder charges for battling coalition forces with the Taliban, a charge that carried a maximum sentence of death, but Susan Crawford, the head of the military commissions dropped both the attempted murder and siding with the enemy charges and charged Hicks only with providing material support for terrorism.

This past Fall, Congress passed a law thatoutlined the rules under which such detainees can be tried. it's designed to both protect classified information. The military tribunal provides detainees fewer rights than either civilian or open military courts do, but proponents argue that non-citizens aren't guaranteed every Constitutional right.

Once such formal charges are filed, a preliminary hearing will be scheduled within thirty days.

Australia's John Howard has asked that charges not be filed against Hicks by the U.S. so that he can be tried and punished in Australia.

NAMBLA's mouthpiece (the ACLU) among other organizations have vowed to challenge the new law in court.

Military Manual Allows Both Coerced and Hearsay Testimony to be Used Against Terror Suspects

According to a recent report, the Pentagon has drafted a manual for upcoming detainee trials that would allow suspected terrorists to be convicted on both hearsay evidence and coerced testimony and imprisoned or put to death.

According to a copy of the manual, a terror suspect's defense can’t reveal classified evidence that could be used in the person's defense until the government has had a chance to review it.

The manual, sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday and scheduled to be released later by the Pentagon, is intended to track a law passed last fall by Congress restoring President Bush's plans to have special military commissions try terror-war prisoners. Those commissions had been struck down earlier in the year by the Supreme Court.

As required by law, the manual prohibits statements obtained by torture and "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" as prohibited by the Constitution. However, the law does allow statements obtained through coercive interrogation techniques if obtained before Dec. 30, 2005, and deemed reliable by a judge.

Nearly 400 detainees suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban are still being held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while about 380 others have been transferred or released.

The Defense Department is currently planning trials for at least 10 suspects. Under the law, only individuals selected for military trial are given access to a lawyer and judge; other military detainees can be held until hostilities cease.