Guantanamo Detainee Described as Lost Soul Seeking 'a Way Out'

"It's become a proxy about dissatisfaction over the war on terror and a feeling that his interests have been sacrificed for Australian foreign policy interests," Coultan said, referencing opinion polls in Australia that indicate that the public believes Howard has been pandering to U.S. desires. Howard is up for reelection this year.

The Australian public's shifting sentiment in part reflects efforts by the defense team to depict Hicks as a benign adventurer who stumbled into world events. Joshua Dratel, one of his civilian attorneys, portrayed Hicks as a wayward young man who wanted to join the Australian army but couldn't meet educational requirements because he dropped out of school before the 10th grade.

Marine Maj. Michael "Dan" Mori, Hicks's military attorney, has been instrumental in that quest, traveling to Australia and making comments that have irked officials in Washington. He and Col. Morris Davis, the lead prosecutor, have sparred over Mori's contention that the commissions are unfair.

The public spat between Mori and Davis spurred Susan J. Crawford, who oversees the military commissions, to urge all lawyers involved in the process to treat it with "the same sense of order and civility that characterizes court-martial practice." In a March 2 memo titled "Civility," Crawford wrote that she expects all sides to zealously represent their clients' best interests but also to keep decorum, "particularly when making public appearances or extra-judicial statements."

Mori's team filed a motion last week seeking to dismiss Davis from the case, alleging that the prosecutor is guilty of misconduct. Davis filed a response on Monday. "I did nothing improper," he told reporters at Guantanamo Bay.

Prosecutors have backed away from calling Hicks a hard-core terrorist, instead likening him to those who have been convicted in the United States of aiding terrorism, such as John Walker Lindh. Davis said he probably will not argue for more than a 20-year sentence, but it is unclear what, if any, sentence is part of a pretrial agreement. Both sides are now choosing which facts involved in the terrorism charge will be presented to the military commission panel that will decide his fate.

By contrast, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, has not been charged with a crime, though he has been in U.S. custody for years and has taken responsibility for numerous attacks on U.S. interests. David H.B. McLeod, an Australian lawyer on Hicks's defense team, said Hicks should not be the example of what Americans need to fear.

"If he's the worst of the worst and the person who should be brought before the commissions first, the world doesn't have much to worry about," McLeod said.