I run Gnome under Debian 5.04 and when I right click on directories on hard disks, I am given an opportunity to delete them or when I right click on Trash, I am given an opportunity to empty it, however this is not the case when I try the same on the files contained in the USB stick and the only option I have is to empty all directories and sub directories before removing them which is far too slow.

Is there a way to solve the problem?

I have done "man shred" but it does not seem to work well on EXT3 files.

Thank you for your help.

You can select a file of directory and hit delete on the keyboard, but I don't believe you can't delete things using right click.

Can you delete them from the command line :

There is NO UNDO for that command !

If you show hidden files in Nautilus then there is a .Trash folder. Delete it.

Sorry for the delay.
Your answer is good, there is no reason to criticize it.
Deleting from the command line did not work well but your suggestion to select a directory and hit "delete" on the keyboard works very well.
Thank you for that.
I only use the USB sticks for some backups and I don't see the need to find what I could do wrong with the command line.

Does the shift key plus delete key simply remove the file instead of trash can it?