SubscribeThe judge asked Walker to say, in his own words, what he was admitting to. "I plead guilty," he said. "I provided my services as a soldier to the Taliban last year from about August to December. In the course of doing so, I carried a rifle and two grenades. I did so knowingly and willingly knowing that it was illegal."A paragon of innocent youth that lost its way. Fuck him.
Quite simply, in my opinion, Lindh was a terrorist, a member of what we call al Qaeda, and a man who chose to stay with killers even though he was afforded numerous opportunities to separate himself from his murderous associates. Twenty years in jail may be a blessing compared to how many of his friends have been dealt with since...
Frank Lindh cannot be blamed either for the emotions behind his need to reinvent history or for doing what he can to get his son out of jail. But he is lying. His son did not “love America”: He fought for bin Laden, against us. His son is not “honest”: He lied to his parents and others. His son is not a “decent” young man: He trained to be a murderer. His son went to kill strangers in a stranger land. A spiritual quest? What part of grenades and AK 47s can be described as spiritual? What part of patriotism is eating bin Laden’s food, listening to Usama’s droning hate-filled speeches against America, and sitting obediently within strangling distance of our greatest single enemy?
To think that the American public is that stupid is an insult. John Walker Lindh was an Arabic-speaking member of bin Laden’s terror legions. He called it Al Ansar (the correct term); we call them al Qaeda. He was never a member of the Taliban. Why? Because Lindh only spoke Arabic and English. He would have been useless in a combat situation among Pashto- or Dari- speaking troops. I have seen Taliban ID cards and spent time with bin Laden’s “055 Brigade, “al Ansar” members and al Qaeda. Lindh was exactly the person we were trying to kill in Afghanistan and now around the world. He was an educated, idealistic young Muslim who chose murder of innocent people as his path in life. He is no different that Mohamed Atta, Zarqawi, or thousands of other terrorists that come from nice middle class families.
Turn him over. Turn him over, turn his cohorts over, turn any hostage they hold over, destroy all the terrorist camps. There's no need to negotiate. There's no discussions. I told exact -- told them exactly what they need to do, and there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty. Turn him over. If they want us to stop our military operations, they just got to meet my conditions. And when I said no negotiations, I meant no negotiations.
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and ended up fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
With all due respect to this guy's father, I opposed and oppose the war in Iraq, but the Talban... those bastards got what they richly deserved. As for Lindh, if you lie down with dogs don't cry about fleas.
I supported the war against the Taliban - and still do. Afghanistan was the only "war on terror" that needed to be fought. Pity the Bush administration lacked the resolve to fight and cut and run from Afghanistan to purse their neo-con stupidity in Iraq.
posted by three blind mice at 5:44 AM on January 25, 2006