'American Taliban' Lindh asks Bush to reduce 20-year prison term

AP via SFGate ^ | 4/4/7 | PAUL ELIAS,

[SmithL]

San Francisco (AP) -- The lawyer and parents of John Walker Lindh, the American-born Taliban soldier serving 20 years in prison after his capture in Afghanistan, called on President Bush on Wednesday to commute his sentence and set him free.

The renewed call to shorten the sentence was based on the relatively light term Australian David Hicks received Saturday after pleading guilty to supporting terrorism. Hicks, who had been imprisoned for five years at Guantanamo Bay and acknowledged aiding al-Qaida during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, was given a nine month sentence.

"In the atmosphere of the time, the best John could get was a plea bargain and a 20-year sentence," said Lindh's father Frank Lindh. "We love our son very much, he was wrongly accused when he was found in Afghanistan."

John Walker Lindh, 26, a Marin County native, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 by American forces sent to topple the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was charged with conspiring to kill Americans and support terrorists but pleaded guilty in 2002 to lesser offenses, including carrying weapons against U.S. forces.

Attorney James Brosnahan brokered the plea deal and said it was the best he could do amid the political climate immediately after Sept. 11.

[Pox]

NO!

[brothers4thID]

Should have been hung.

[K-oneTexas]

Not only NO but He** NO!!!!!

[mad puppy]

The only way he gets out early is if he agrees to be executed.

[dfwgator]

Bush to Taliban Johnny, “NUTS!”

[lonestar67]

I do think he should stay but I cannot understand why Hicks got such a light sentence.

[Terpin]

This kid is lucky he wasn’t shot. He should thank the feds for letting him off so easy.

[Rutles4Ever]

Amazing that he didn’t wait until 2008 to make this request. He could have gotten a ticker tape parade with a Democrat in the White House.

[garyhope]

Let him rot.

And I hope he’s somebody’s butt boy.

[StuLongIsland]

Set him free, he will be a regular on CNN, NY Times will do a front page magazine on him, and Nancy Pelosi might do the Monica Lewinsky / Bill Clinton reenactment with him.

[Owl_Eagle]

"In the atmosphere of the time, the best John could get was a plea bargain and a 20-year sentence," said Lindh's father Frank Lindh.

Hey Franco, just in case you forgot:

Owl_Eagle

If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.

[3AngelaD]

Screw him and his parents. He should have been tried and execute for treason.

[Theresawithanh]

"...he was wrongly accused when he was found in Afghanistan."

Uh-huh. No.

[Lurker]

called on President Bush on Wednesday to commute his sentence and set him free.

In this one case, I really wish the President had the power to triple the length of prison terms.

L

[Cicero]

I think Hicks got a light sentence in deference to our ally, Australia.

Also, I don’t recall all the details, but it seems to me that Lindh was implicated in that hospital prison escape in Afghanistan, in which a CIA officer was murdered.

[ElkGroveDan]

In WWII he would have been shot. He should be grateful that he’s alive.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

he was given nine months because he’s been in gitmo for 5 years and Australia says they are going to pick him up at Gitmo, take him back to Australia, and charge him with terrorism crimes which means he could end up spending many more years in an australian prison as well.

[McGavin999]

"We love our son very much, he was wrongly accused when he was found in Afghanistan."

He should stay in jail until his parents admit what he did was wrong and accept responsibility for screwing up their kid.

[jazusamo]

In remembrance of Mike Spann, President Bush had better not reduce this traitors sentence.

[chesley]

It’s not about what’s best for him. Let him rot!!

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Hillary would pardon him.

How many years was Scooter Libby sentenced to?

[stevie_d_64]

Yeah, sure...

Lemme put that in a book of Shiite that ain’t gonna happen...

I love the audacity of this kid...

[I see my hands]

"best he could do amid the political climate immediately after Sept. 11"

It's ok, John, after the next terror attack the political climate will again match your sentence.

[stockpirate]

John Walker Lindh is a traitor to his country, and should have been hung.

I wonder if he killed any of our solders in combat?

[rabidralph]

"We love our son very much, he was wrongly accused when he was found in Afghanistan."

Oh yeah, Afghanistan was at the top of my vacation list back in 2001.

[CinnamonBear]

Nah - I doubt that Jihad Johnny would ever be interested in the female sex - not that Nancy is, you understand. Elton John? Maybe!

[AU72]

He’ll have to wait for a ‘rat President.

[SE Mom]

No.

[prophetic]

Well if it were me I'd sure reduce his prison term immediately by 19 Years & 11 months -

I'd just simply have him executed by firing squad within a month and have his head impaled on a stake in front of the White House as a warning to all terrorists.

[trimom]

“could end up spending many more years in an australian prison as well.”

Doesn’t that just put a smile on my face?

These people are worse than just the enemy. They are our citizens......and traitors.

[Garvin]

[reagan_fanatic]

Screw you, Lindh. You’ll get nothing and like it.

[The KG9 Kid]

John 'Abdul Hamid' Walker-Lindh should have died face down in knee-deep sewage in that Afghani prison cellar where they found him.

His philandering homosexual father should have walked into the John Muir Woods up in Marin, drunk an entire jug of Prestone ® antifreeze, and then laid down for eternal sleep as a partial apology to all Americans for his part in bringing his rotten son 'Taliban Boy' into the world.

[bannie]

In WWII we were planning on winning.

I wish we’d do that again.

[madprof98]

He should stay in jail until his parents admit what he did was wrong and accept responsibility for screwing up their kid.

Not only is that not gonna happen, but I'll bet that within a few years we'll have a Hollywood film proclaiming him (and them) great American heroes. Just watch.

[ASOC]

Hicks had spent 5 years in the hellhole, err, cruel, ah, mildly annoying GITMO.

Since Hicks gained so much weight, it will take him years, yes, years to loose the weight. Thus, the lighter sentance.

[Garvin]

Johnny "Mike" Spann

[TheKidster]

If we hold our own border agents as political prisoners in deference to Mexico we certainly can’t free an actual criminal and traitor!
Since it makes more sense to let Campeon and Ramos out of prison and keep Johnny Taliban in prison I’m assuming Bush will let him go and transfer the border agents to Gitmo.

[ozzymandus]

I heard his lawyer and his father whining on the radio. It’s all Bush’s fault, and anyway, johnny taliban didn’t kill any Americans, according to them.

[TheKidster]

And I hope he’s somebody’s butt boy.

He’s probably digging that part of his prison stay if he’s anything like his “father”

[KarlInOhio]

On January 19, 2009, President Bush should invite him to the White House, thoughtfully discuss Lindh's life and where he went wrong, and then kick him in the groin.

Ha! No pardon for you. (Unless a Clinton is elected. Then you can check out the pardon price list and see if you can afford one.)

[weegee]

Axis Sally’s relatives should ask that she be pardoned (posthumously) since Rosie O’Donnell and Jane Fonda were never prosecuted for treason.

After all it wouldn’t be fair to a Nazi sympathizer to not prosecute a naked Communist who openly supported North Vietnam on enemy soil nor Rosie who (like Axis Sally) seeks to sour moral with lies (wild conspiracy theories).

Mildred Gillars was convicted of a radio drama, we aren’t even talking about her working for Nazi radio or dressing up as a Red Cross nurse and interviewing POWs to take their words out of context (as Michael Moore did in F911).

[SquirrelKing]

Free Scooter Libby, THEN consider what real criminals want.

[50sDad]

"Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
  Who never to himself hath said,
'This is my own, my native land!'
  Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd
   From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
  For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
  Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
  The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
  And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
  Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung."

Sir Walter Scott.

[Joe 6-pack]

Too bad they can’t arbitrarily tack on another 10 years every time he asks...

[Borges]

Rosie O’Donnell is an idiot but doesn’t rise to the level of Treason (as opposed to Fonda).

[91B]

He gets out when Mike Spann opens the door for him.

Not before.

[theDentist]

Bush: “OK, 19 years, 11 months. Restarting the clock from right NOW!”

[Tamar1973]

This kid is lucky he wasn’t shot. He should thank the feds for letting him off so easy.

Mr. Hicks is Austrailan. He didn't commit treason against the USA like Taliban Johnny did. To compare the two is outrageous (although I think Mr. Hick's sentence is a bit light).