| Australian Prime Minister John Howard will push for the trials of two Australian terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay during meetings with U.S. officials next week. David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib ``should be brought to trial as soon as possible,'' Howard said in an interview on Melbourne radio station 3AW. ``Progress is being made, but I would like that accelerated.'' Hicks and Habib face charges before a U.S. military tribunal involving their training and involvement with al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Australian government has said. Howard plans to meet President George W. Bush and Cabinet members in Washington next week to discuss terrorism and Iraq. Australia provided troops to U.S.-led efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. It still has about 850 troops serving in and around Iraq. Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in 2001. Habib, an Egyptian-born Sydney resident, was found on the Afghanistan- Pakistan border in October 2001. |