WASHINGTON - John Walker Lindh, the captured American al Qaeda fighter who has been charged with conspiring to kill United States nationals in the Afghan war, arrived in the US yesterday to stand trial.
Walker, aged 20, was taken by the FBI from Dulles Airport to a detention facility where he was to remain in FBI custody until his appearance before Judge W. Curtis Sewell in the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, overnight.
A convoy of vehicles carrying Walker could be seen on television. Flanked by two men grasping his arms, Walker, his head down, legs shackled and arms cuffed, walked slowly near the vehicles.
Walker, who goes by his mother's name, has been charged by the Justice Department with conspiring to kill Americans abroad and providing support to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Attorney-General John Ashcroft said that it was clear from Walker's own words that he chose to join forces with terrorists. "Terrorists did not compel John Walker Lindh to join them. John Walker Lindh chose terrorists."
In Cuba, US interrogators quizzed prisoners of the Afghan war about terrorist training while sailors hastily constructed more cells at the near-capacity detention camp to allow flights carrying more detainees to resume.
Officials postponed bringing other detainees from Afghanistan until investigators finish questioning the camp's 158 inmates to determine whether they should remain imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, sent to another country or be returned to their homelands.
President George W. Bush said he will propose a $US48 billion ($112 billion) increase in military spending next year, the biggest rise in two decades, to buy high-tech equipment for a wider war against terrorism.
Although the spending on precision weapons, missile defences, a military pay rise, unmanned vehicles and high-tech gear for troops could stretch the Budget, Bush said the Government would not stint on protecting its people.
"The tools of modern warfare are effective. They are expensive. But in order to win this war against terror they are essential.
"Whatever it takes, whatever it costs, this ... nation will win the first war of the 21st century."
A White House official said the proposed increase included $US38 billion for items such as the pay rise and weaponry, and $US10 billion in a "war reserve" to fund any expansion of the war on terrorism.
He said the $US48 billion increase would bring the total defence budget to $US379 billion.
"Our fight against terrorism began in Afghanistan, but it's not going to end there. We still face a shadow enemy ... Dangers and sacrifices lie ahead, yet America will not rest."
Bush's proposed 14 per cent rise in defence spending would be the largest since the roughly 17 per cent increases in 1981 and 1982, the first years of the massive Reagan-era military buildup.
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Walker home in US to stand trial
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