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Home Front: WoT
'American Taliban' Father Urges Clemency
2006-01-20
That is one painful looking zit on that fearsome jihadi...
After years of silence, the father of American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh said Thursday he has asked President Bush to grant his son clemency, adding that the then teenager never raised arms against the United States. "In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man embarked on a spiritual quest," said Frank Lindh, swallowing back tears at times during a speech at the Commonwealth Club, a nonprofit organization.
The "decent and honorable young men" became a jihadi. He joined the Taliban, where as a dues-paying member he was authorized to beat women on the street with whips if they showed an ankle.
John Walker Lindh, now 24, was captured by American forces on Nov. 21, alongside the Taliban. Frank Lindh said his son thought he had been rescued by U.S. soldiers until he was taken into custody and tortured.
What made him think they would rescue him? The fact that he ran out of ammunition? What made him any more important that all the other dead jihadis around him?
Charged with conspiring to kill Americans and supporting terrorists, the younger Lindh avoided a potential life sentence in 2002 by pleading guilty to lesser charges of supplying services to the Taliban in violation of U.S. economic sanctions and of carrying weapons against U.S. forces.
He was rooted out at Qala-i-Jangi, where the hard boyz from the siege of Konduz had been shipped. They decided to unsurrender and Dostum's guys shot them to shreds. Johnny Jihad was one of very few survivors. By rights he should have been a corpse.
Last year John Walker Lindh asked President Bush for a reduction in his 20-year sentence, repeating a September 2004 request the government rejected. Until now, his parents have mostly maintained a public silence about the case, hoping to avoid a media barrage that could be detrimental to their son.
No doubt enough time's gone by that the usual suspects think they can garner some sympathy for him from the short attention span crowd...
But on Thursday Frank Lindh shared baby pictures and other photos of his son during the presentation and said he is proud of his child.
Frank would no doubt be prouder of him if he'd been caught breaking and entering or mugging little old ladies...
Lindh said he decided to break his silence because he hoped the story of his boy's journey from bucolic Marin County to harsh Afghanistan battlefields will help gain him a reprieve.
Let me think......umm, no.
Posted by:Steve

#19  We should have arranged for him to meet with God - how much more spiritual can you get.
Posted by: DMFD   2006-01-20 23:29  

#18  The Angry Fliegerabwehrkanonen----Right on. Mike Spann lost his life to these worthless jihadis. At Konduz, the Northern Alliance had thousands surrounded, with US airpower overhead. Too bad that they did not take them all out there, but some deal with Pakistan was struck and some aircraft or helos came in and hauled out some Pak officers or some folks like that. I read it in blogged dispatches from a reporter on the scene at the time. Those jihadis were brought down to the castle at Mazar-i-Sharif. The Afghans didn't frisk them too well and they had weapons hidden in their robes. The rest is history.

John Walker Lindh deserves no clemency. He is a piece of rat-sh*t that is lucky to get the treatment he deserves now. Mike Spann's family will never get their husband and father back. Lindh's dad can stop the tears thing and admit that his lack of being a good father figure helped propel his son into the hole he is in now.
Posted by: Al Aska Paul   2006-01-20 22:12  

#17  I've the cynical feeling that all this isn't concern for the 'wayward' John Walker; it's about easing the blow to his old man's narcissism.

BTW, Lindh wasn't at Gitmo. He's now at a medium-security prison in Victorville, CA.
Posted by: Pappy   2006-01-20 20:05  

#16  "In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man embarked on a spiritual quest," said Frank Lindh, swallowing


geez...can't he stop it, even for an interview?
Posted by: Frank G   2006-01-20 19:45  

#15  Tw's got it. A lot of this is about dress-up and play angry anti-mommy. And yes THE SILK IS SMOOTH AND I CAN SEE 1 ONE OF THE SEVEN PILLARS!

Opps... sorry.
Posted by: 6   2006-01-20 19:10  

#14  I should also note that a patriotic, red-blooded, RED STATE American CIA hero named Johnny Michael Spannlost his life in part because of Johnny Taliban's refusal to provide answers during an interrogation session.

Posted by: The Angry Fliegerabwehrkanonen   2006-01-20 18:33  

#13  Lindh said he decided to break his silence because he hoped the story of his boy's journey from bucolic Marin County to harsh Afghanistan battlefields will help gain him a reprieve.

Everybody makes choices, and whether for good or bad we all typically have to live with what happens as a result. Seems to me that this isn't quite sinking into Daddy Jihadi's little head.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2006-01-20 18:29  

#12  If I'm not mistaken, isn't Johnny Taliban's daddy a member of the Brokeback Molehill club?

Fine job here pops; you marry, father a child or two, and then abandon your wife and kid[s] to sample the sausage.
Posted by: The Angry Fliegerabwehrkanonen   2006-01-20 18:29  

#11  one word: Nofrickingway
Posted by: USN, ret.   2006-01-20 17:20  

#10  Taliban Johnny Should have been hung by his pimply, pencil neck until fully dood! Dad can hang along side if he'd like.
Posted by: Besoeker   2006-01-20 13:42  

#9  Asking for clemency on a plea agreement? Better luck trying for an appeal because of legal malpractice, as in "my poor innocent sonny boy believed the crap his attorney told him....he had NO IDEA that he was actually going to have to SERVE the whole sentence...." Throw in some bs accusations of mental cruelty ("they made me eat non-halal chicken pilaf!") and some Koran desecration, too, while you're at it.

Hey, don't laugh. Get an airhead judge in Cali to sign off on it, and it's a possibility.
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2006-01-20 13:23  

#8  Hey, if you can't achieve spiritual enlightment doing 20 years of hard time, then you can't achieve spiritual enlightenment period.
Posted by: WhitecollarRedneck   2006-01-20 12:25  

#7  Yes I am sure Jihad Johnny had a really rough life growing up in Marin county. It's to bad that JJ hasn't had any falls while in custudy. How about you send sonny boy back to Afghanistan and let them try the little bastard? How about for good measure we throw daddy in jail with his son?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2006-01-20 10:38  

#6  Johnny Jihad wouldn't need to have sunshine piped in if daddy had shown little Johnny how to get laid (by females, that is) once in a while.
Posted by: ed   2006-01-20 09:30  

#5  Johnny became Islamic partly as the result of disgust at his father who left his mother to live with another man.

Since being at GITMO, Johnny has reportedly, given a lot of intel to us.

If he has turned to our side, he might make a good double agent.
Posted by: mhw   2006-01-20 09:06  

#4  Not a spiritual questor, but a young man who likes to play dress up and soldier, and lord it over the wimminfolk. Accepting consequences are critical to achieving enlightenment, Father dearest.
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-01-20 09:02  

#3  Just be happy he wasn't hanged like he deserved to be.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck   2006-01-20 08:30  

#2  Screw you Pops. Consider yourself lucky you can visit him. Your filthy mixed up spoiled brat should have been shot for treason.


Posted by: JerseyMike   2006-01-20 08:30  

#1  Ah, yes. The "mixed up kid" defense.
Sorry. Try harder, pops.
Posted by: tu3031   2006-01-20 08:27  

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