Parents Of American Taliban Attack Government, Want Son Set Free
by John McChesney
National Public Radio (NPR)
Morning Edition, December 28, 2007 · The parents of a young Californian who joined forces with the Taliban are again asking President Bush to commute their son’s prison sentence.
John Walker Lindh was called the “American Taliban.”
He has been locked up ever since he was captured in Afghanistan and is now serving a 20-year sentence.
But Lindh’s parents say others convicted of more serious crimes got lesser sentences.
Frank Lindh, Lindh’s father, said his son is a proxy for Osama bin Laden.
“The entire country turned on our son as if he were the terrorist, as if he had perpetrated the 9/11 attacks. It was this overwhelming and emotional response and it was like being in a vortex. It was a real nightmare for all of us in John’s family,” he said.
Frank Lindh is an attorney for the local utility company, and Marilyn Walker has been a stay-at-home mom for their three children.
John was their middle child. They have an older son and a daughter, who just began college this year.
Serious Charges Dropped
Both parents were raised as middle-class Catholics, as was John until he was attracted to the Muslim faith after seeing the Denzel Washington film about Malcolm X.
At 17, he told his parents he wanted to go to Yemen to study Arabic.
“I did with John research as best I could,” Lindh’s mother said. “I talked to people about the school he was looking into to attend. And I got encouragement that it was safe and the fact that many kids go abroad to study.”
But they didn’t know that he would go on to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, Lindh’s parents have been criticized for poor parenting from angry e-mailers and for their residence in affluent Marin County.
“All three of our kids have grown up here. The schools are good. The neighborhoods are friendly. It’s got a strong community sense. There are good family values in Marin. There are very wealthy enclaves in Marin, but most people who live here are just middle-income people,” said Frank Lindh.
He says people assume that their son was a terrorist fighting against Americans. But he said John was merely a foot soldier in the Taliban army in the fight against another Afghan Army, the Northern Alliance.
And all but one of the charges brought by the Justice Department against John Walker Lindh were dropped. He was not found guilty of terrorism; he was not found guilty of murdering CIA agent Johnny Spann. The judge told Spann’s father in court that there was no evidence of that. In the end, Lindh pleaded guilty only to violating a Clinton administration regulation that prohibited economic aid to the Taliban.
“Well, I was grateful that the deal was presented because John was facing three life terms, and at the time there didn’t seem to be any hope for mercy from a jury,” Lindh’s mother said.
Lindh’s trial had been scheduled on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in northern Virginia — near the Pentagon where many had been killed in the terrorist attacks.
Lindh’s parents and others supporting the commutation of his 20-year sentence say the sentence was out of line with others charged with similar crimes.
David Hicks, an Australian, pleaded guilty to terror charges and was sentenced to nine months.
Yasser Hamdi, who was with Lindh in the Taliban military, also got a lighter sentence.
Sentence Inequities
Jesselyn Radack, a former Justice Department ethics adviser, quit when Walker was denied a lawyer at his interrogation.
“The administration declared Hamdi an enemy combatant, litigated the case all the way up to the Supreme Court, and, then, after they lost, set him free,” she said.
Hamdi had spent less than four years in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But these three men share one thing — they all agreed not to sue the government for what they say were abusive interrogations.
And Lindh can’t even talk about it. After the plea bargain, the government bound him and his parents with a gag order.
Frank Lindh says such gag orders are necessary to keep convicted terrorists from communicating with each other.
“In the case of John Lindh, they’re not necessary for any legitimate purpose. It would be wonderful if you could interview John Lindh and find out what kind of person he is. But because of the gag order he’s not allowed to be interviewed, and we’re not allowed to tell you what we know or what we know from John,” he said.
Without a sentence commutation, even with good behavior, John Lindh faces another 13 years in prison.
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Don’t worry Frank Lindh, he will be released in 13 years. And yes, by joining THEIR fight, he was part of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Just because he wasn’t on one of the flights doesn’t make him any less guilty.
December 29th, 2007 at 9:54 amLet that anti-American, anti-Christian, bastard rot in jail. Word is is dad turned into a baloney smoker and moved in with a gay lover. Just more evidence of corrupt Californication liberalism.
December 29th, 2007 at 10:49 amI got two words for the traitor’s parents. How about Fuck You.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:04 am13 years? That’s a short sentence for some one who:
-clearly spit on his own flag
-renounced everything that’s human
-bit at the hand that was feeding him
- was dumb, deaf, blind and ignorant about 9/11
-…….etc.
Just short for “being a traitor and a murderer”.
Don’t know what this is all about, him just being collaborating with the sheer evil that’s trying to take over the whole world, stupidly getting posed as and being mistaken for “no threat”, “a loving faith” and “respectful people” by leftarians, salon-socialists and other idiots.
Certain states in The U.S. use the death-penalty after only one murder to get rid of scumbags like him. This “sorry mistake of men-kind” can only be grateful to have another 13 years in detention. His “brothers” would have chopped his head off for far less…………..
December 29th, 2007 at 11:18 amRat-Boy-Taliban Boy.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:19 amFrank Lindh is the last person to spout off about family values. He claims he was or is a Catholic; meaning he is a Christian. If he were a Christian he would not be sleeping and having sex with men. He is a degenerate. And becasue of it, he brought his son up to be a traitor/degenerate like himself. He let Rat-Boy become a Islamist. And now;
you reap what you sow Mr. Lindh.
No wonder Rat-Boy is in prison.
He turned on his country THEN his country turned on him.
To Marin County (AKA San Francisco.) Welcome to the world every one else has to live in.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:28 amAnd people in hell want ice water.
The breeders should have raised their son instead of the village.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:35 amNPR it’s-all-Americas-fault story. Enough said.
December 29th, 2007 at 12:17 pmMercy was shown when Lindh’s sentence was set at 20 years.
Mike Spann is an American Hero, former Marine Captain and the CIA Interrogator interviewing the Taliban at Mazar-i-Sharif where Lindh was in prisoned after captured fighting with the enemy. Lindh participated in the uprising that led to Spann’s death. Mike Spann sleeps in honor at Arlington National Cemetary. When Spann goes home to his wife and children (Shannon [w] Alison [d], Emily [d] and Jake [s]) Lindh can be considered for a commutation of his sentence. Not a day before!
As for that rat bastard Lindh’s parents they are emblematic of the “enemy within” concern. That is they lack the intellectual integrity and grit to discipline the next generation in the values of American exceptionalism. They are their ilk live parasitically on the productive and patriotic that make America worth being proud of.
December 29th, 2007 at 1:21 pmLet him be the example for any other fool who is contemplating converting to Islam and turning against his or her country.
December 29th, 2007 at 1:45 pmAnother fine argument for taking no prisoners on the battlefield.
December 29th, 2007 at 2:05 pmHang the traitorous prick then let the parents cut him down and bury him. They will always remember how they not only failed their son but also their country. Wise the hell people!
December 29th, 2007 at 4:11 pmIf Clinton becames prez, the bitch will pardon him.
December 29th, 2007 at 7:31 pmFrank Lindh says people assume that their son was a terrorist fighting against Americans. But he said John was merely a foot soldier in the Taliban army in the fight against another Afghan Army, the Northern Alliance.
I have to say the People assume correctly since the Northern Alliance was fighting with the Americans against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
December 29th, 2007 at 8:02 pmAm I supposed to feel sorry for him? He inadvertainly set in motion Mike Spanns dath. Him I feel sorry for. There are better ways to disgree with the go’vt.
December 29th, 2007 at 8:03 pmIn his pictures, he looks insane. We don’t need anymore of these schizos on our streets. Pity poor poor parents–again probably from the 60’s
December 29th, 2007 at 10:36 pmEverything that comes from NPR is nothing but propaganda with an agenda of some kind or another. In years past, say WWII someone like Lindh would have been hanged on the battlefield.
No offense to the conservative red blooded American boomers out there but your generation has created more problems for this country than it has solved. Lindh’s parents are classic boomer liberals, making all manner of excuses to remove responsibility from their son.
They should be thankful he didn’t hang, which he should have.
December 30th, 2007 at 7:17 amAm I wrong or once you fight for a foreign army you renounce your citizenship?
He just “happened” to be fighting for one of our worst enemies. And what were the parents smoking? lketting their kid go to yemen to lkearn arabic? did they inquire as to why he was going? dipshits.
lindh at best is a traitor, he should be hanged.
December 30th, 2007 at 7:52 amWhy wasn’t he just blindfolded and shot at sunrise?
December 30th, 2007 at 9:51 am