CANBERRA, Australia, Jan. 23 Australian Prime Minister John Howard has asked Washington to formally charge Guantanamo detainee David Hicks by mid-February.The Australian-born Hicks, 31, has been held without trial at the U.S. military prison since he was captured five years ago while fighting for the Taliban forces in Afghanistan.Howard told a news conference in Canberra we are unhappy that it has taken so long for him to be charged ...But he did not say what his government would do if the U.S. administration failed to lay charges within the requested timeframe.Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said Howard's decision had only been motivated by a public opinion poll which showed 56 percent of voters opposed the government's handling of the Hicks case.Copyright 2007 by UPI
