MIAMI — The Pentagon filed a war crimes charge against Australian David Hicks on Thursday, making the former kangaroo skinner the first target of new military commissions designed by the White House and endorsed by Congress to try terrorism suspects imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.
The indictment charges Hicks with a single count of providing material support for terrorism, dropping an accusation of attempted murder proposed by the chief prosecutor a month ago, when the charges were drafted for consideration through a complex judicial chain of command.
The revised charge was approved by the commissions' newly appointed convening authority, Susan J. Crawford, a 30-year Pentagon legal veteran who serves as a sort of attorney general for the commissions.
The charge against Hicks followed by five days a visit to Australia by Vice President Dick Cheney, who was urged by Prime Minister John Howard and other politicians to end Hicks' five-year legal limbo.
Hicks, 31, has become a political liability for the Canberra government because Australians, like most allies in the war on terrorism, consider the Bush administration's practice of jailing suspects indefinitely without charges a human rights violation.
Howard, facing an election this year, told Cheney he wanted Hicks' case "brought on as soon as humanly possible and that there be no further delay."
Cheney told reporters that the Australian detainee was "near the head of the queue" of detainees to get his day in court.
On Monday, Hicks' civilian attorneys went to the Federal Court of Australia in a bid to force that government to demand that the detainee be brought home to face trial. They accused Australian officials of failing to assist a citizen overseas. Justice Brian Tamberlin said Wednesday that he would rule later on whether the court had jurisdiction in the matter.
European governments demanded custody two years ago of their citizens detained at Guantanamo, and all have since been transferred to their home countries. In all, 390 onetime prisoners have been transferred or released, including two men sent to Afghanistan and three to Tajikistan in departures announced Thursday.
According to the procedure set up by the military commissions, Crawford was obliged to refer charges to military commissions for trial if they met three criteria: that there are reasonable grounds to believe an offense has been committed, that the accused committed it, and that the charge specifies an offense, said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.
