This story shows how serious the government is about dealing with terrorists. A man who took up arms against his own people is allowed to cop a plea to two charges, letting him escape the consequences of eight others, including possible complicity in the death of CIA agent Mike Spann. We’ll never know for sure, because he’s dodged that charge completely.
So much for Dubya’s commitment to “bringing terrorists to justice.”
So the pig-felching asshole who betrayed every American will get less time in prison than many who have committed only property crimes. “Brought to justice,” yes sir, Mr. President.
Walker-Lindh, is getting off with a virtual slap on the wrist. Yeah, I feel really “victorious.” Thanks a heap Mr. Asscroft. :mad:
So I’m confused. Did he ever admit to trying (or even wanting) to kill Americans (including the disputed “confessions”)? I’ve had a difficult time separating out fact from fiction, but all I could tell was that he went orthodox Muslim and fought for his beliefs in Afganistan long before the US got there. (and who’d’ve thought we’d be there) As far as I can tell, he doesn’t even come close to the hijackers, or OBL.
The only evidence I heard was Ashcroft announing to as many potential jurors as he could that Lindh was a terrorist.
These charges are bullshit anyway.
–White House officials said President Bush personally approved the arrangement.
And why the hell is Bush meddling in court matters?
If the CIA was a worth a damn these days, we would have never heard of JWL. He’d be in some shallow unmarked grave in Afghanistan, not a psuedo-celebrity waiting to make the book deal.
See, the federal prosecutor offers any settlement deal. The judge has nothing to do with it. And the prosecutor is an employee of the Justice Department. Which reports to the President. So why shouldn’t Bush be involved?
The deal is also contingent on Walker cooperating with the government on investigations into Al Qaeda activities and providing other information on terrorist activities. I have to imagine that any Federal prosecutor worth his or her weight in spit included provisions that if Walker is uncooperative, the charges may be reinstated.
So, American citizenship can’t end without death or imprisonment?
Nobody ever asked JWL if he wanted to be an American or not, he was born into it. When he was an adult in the eyes of the law, he decided that he would rather be a citizen of Afghanistan, a nation that at the time was not an enemy of the United States. See anything wrong so far? Of course not. Several years later, Afghanistan and the US went to war. JWL served his country, Afghanistan, by joining in its military and fighting against the invaders. He was taken as a POW, and instead of being released at the end of hostilities as required, he was brought up on charges.
Has JWL done anything that an average Taliban soldier hasn’t? Yes, he may have fired on, or possibly even killed, American servicemen, but this was a WAR. He was serving his country in the manner required of him.
Which side he fought on is rather irrelevent. He was a soldier, and should be treated with the respect due to him.
Many people who spied for other countries and gave up secrets of the US, even ratted out our spies, have gotten similar sentences. Considering that he merely trained with the Taliban and fought against non-American troops, that seems an appropriate sentence length in comparison.
Bullshit! He didn’t renounce his American citsizenship in favor of Afgani citizenship. He carried arms (including grenades) to use against his own countrymen.
IF he had actually renounced his American citizenship, you might be correct (correct, I said, not right). But he was not a POW as soon as it was discovered that he was and American citizen (in no way is the sonofabitch an “American”). He was a criminal guilty of treason. They should have buried the bastard right there without bothering to shoot him first.
So you admit he may even have killed Americans and this is no problem for you? What the hell does FDISK stand for, Fucking Dipshit In Sympathy with Killers? If you are an American, shame on you. If you are not, shut the fuck up! :mad:
Yes, I do. It doesn’t matter if JWL wanted to be an American citizen or not; he was, and if he didn’t like it, tough shit. He could have walked into any US embassy and given up his citizenship before moving to the country openly harboring the man responsible for some of the worst terrorist violence against the US (yes, I know this was before 9/11, but before anyone makes a point of it, OBL was behind numerous anti-US terrorist acts in the 90s). Once the US was actually at war with the Taliban, the onus was on him not to fight against the US. Still bound by treason laws as a citizen, he was at that point guilty of treason.
DesertGeezer, Fang: He renounced his citizenship when he entered the armed services of a foreign power. Let me remind you, when he moved to Afghanistan they were not at war with the United States, and I daresay that war was not reasonably forseeable.
I certainly do not like the idea of American servicemen being killed, but I have no more problem with JWL fighting than I do with any other Taliban soldier. I don’t like it, but I ACCEPT IT, because soldiers die in war. He was doing his duty as an Afghani soldier, just as American soldiers were doing their duty when they killed Taliban soldiers.
Oh, and DesertGeezer, FUCK YOU for questioning my patriotism because I want to stand up for treating enemy POWs in a dignified and proper manner.
milroyj: His plea has no real bearing on whether or not he is actually guilty. He may have just decided that he preferred a certain 20 years in prison to an almost certain life term (or several).
DesertGeezer, I’m as conservative as they come, and maybe I’m supporting the President and AG too much here, but lay off. Lindh was/is an American citizen, and has every right to carry a gun, just like the rest of us. That he managed to pull this off in Afghanistan is to his credit as a right to bear arms American. As for his joining the Taliban, they have pretty much the same principles as my Christian denomination, merely the guts to carry out their social policies, unlike my fellow congregation members. Sure, there is a lot of talk about putting the baby killing doctors out of their misery, but its all talk.
And other than spouting off like a twenty year old idiot and carrying a gun, what evidence was there that he actually agreed to participate in a plot to kill Americans? None. While I tend to agree with Ann Coulter that the public generally perceives him to be a liberal and his execution would have properly frightened liberals into some semblence of orderly silence, he really has to be viewed as the fundamentalist conservative he is.