John Walker Lindh Is Guilty

American Taliban John Walker Lindh's father wrote a piece in the Sunday New York Times. Frank Lindh writes that his son was apprehended "unarmed and wounded." He also writes that his son "had no involvement with terrorism."

Item: In a statement of fact signed by Lindh and his attorneys, John Walker Lindh stipulates:

"6. In or about late May or June 2001, the defendant agreed to attend a training camp for additional and extensive military training. In or about June 2001, the defendant traveled to the al-Farooq training camp, a facility associated with Usama Bin Laden, located several hours west of Kandahar, in Afghanistan. In or about June and July 2001, the defendant remained at the al-Farooq camp and participated fully in its training activities, including courses in weapons, orienteering, navigation, explosives and battlefield combat.

"7. Having sworn allegiance to jihad, in or about July or August 2001, after completing his training, the defendant traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan to assist the Taliban. In or about July or August 2001, the defendant carried an AKM rifle issued by the Taliban while he traveled, together with approximately 150 non-Afghani fighters, from Kabul to the front line in Takhar, in northeastern Afghanistan. Between about September and November, 2001, the defendant ... fighting group was divided into smaller groups, and rotated in one to two week shifts in the Takhar trenches, opposing Northern Alliance troops.

In short, Lindh admits to having trained in a camp run by Osama bin Laden and having fought with the wonderful Taliban — apparently the Taliban, with its mistreatment of women and slaughter of Muslims not even worth mentioning, is not a problem for Frank Lindh.

In 2002, Frank Lindh compared his son to Nelson Mandela — which shows how little the lawyer's words can be trusted. While Frank Lindh writes that his son is "intelligent, spiritual and good-natured," he also expects readers to believe his son was so clueless that did not understand that he was training under and fighting for the man who ordered the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And Lindh apparently thinks his son had no responsibility in warning U.S. forces about the prison attack that led to the death of CIA operative Johnny Mike Spann.

Spann's father disagrees, as he wrote in this piece in 2006 on his website www.honormikespann.org.

The site also quotes one-time CNN journalist Robert Young Pelton's letter, "The Truth about John Walker Lindh." (Pelton recommends a book on Lindh written by Mark Kukis.) Wrote Pelton, Lindh the Younger was "exactly the kind of person that fly aircraft into buildings, blow up American troops in Iraq and kill innocent Muslims on their 'spiritual journey' to paradise."

Email Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@sfchronicle.com. To find out more about Debra J. Saunders, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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