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CHICAGO (AP) — A 29-year-old Illinois man who idolized American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh has been arrested after attempting to detonate what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse, officials said Thursday. Michael C. Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested Wednesday and charged in a criminal complaint with one count of attempting to murder federal officers or employees and trying to detonate a weapon of mass destruction. Federal officials said the case has no connections with the major terrorism investigation under way in Colorado and New York. "This alleged plot drives home...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A 29-year-old man has been arrested on charges that he allegedly planned to bomb a federal courthouse in Illinois and kill employees there. Federal officials say the case has no connections with the major terrorism investigation under way in Colorado and New York.

It has now become an annual ritual, as predictable as an eclipse: Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker come out before the media to extol the virtues of their son, Suleyman al-Faris, also known as Abdul Hamid. Don’t recognize the names? Perhaps you may remember him by his real name — John Walker Lindh (”Jihad Johnny”), the American Taliban. This year is no exception, and Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker want to talk again to anyone who’ll listen, in an effort to get their son out of federal prison. This year, the story has been picked up by Amy Goodman and...

Nuradin Abdi was convicted in 2007 of planning to blow up an Ohio shopping mall. Iyman Faris was convicted in 2003 of planning to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge. Christopher Paul was convicted in 2008 of conspiring to use explosives against targets in the U.S. and Europe. All three terrorists worshiped and socialized at a small mosque in Columbus, Ohio, and, according to David B. Smith, an attorney for Faris, were part of a larger group of jihadists and extremists who frequented the mosque. The FBI now is investigating reports of links to that same mosque by Muslim-convert Abdulhakim Muhammad...

If it's December, it's time for the left to throw another shameless pity party for convicted American jihadist John Walker Lindh (aka Suleyman al-Faris, aka Abdul Hamid). Every Christmas season for the past four years, the Taliban accomplice and his parents have asked President Bush to pardon him. This country should save its tears and mercy for the defenders of freedom. The farther we move from the September 11 attacks, the cloudier our collective memory of Lindh's case becomes. Sympathetic journalists have rewritten the history, embracing him as a naive young hippie-dippie from Marin County, Calif., who was just caught...

If it's December, it's time for the left to throw another shameless pity party for convicted American jihadist John Walker Lindh (aka Suleyman al-Faris, aka Abdul Hamid). Every Christmas season for the past four years, the Taliban accomplice and his parents have asked President Bush to pardon him. This country should save its tears and mercy for the defenders of freedom. The farther we move from the September 11 attacks, the cloudier our collective memory of Lindh's case becomes. Sympathetic journalists have rewritten the history, embracing him as a naive young hippie-dippie from Marin County, Calif., who was just caught...

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- The parents of American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh are asking President George W. Bush to set their son free before Bush leaves office next month.

He's a gentle man, lean and soft-spoken, careful to begin his lecture with an explanation of principles like the right to counsel. The passion in Frank Lindh builds only when he describes the details of what happened to his son, John Walker Lindh, the bearded young man who was tagged as the American Taliban. In the waning days of George Bush's administration, the senior Lindh is asking the president to commute the rest of his son's 20-year sentence, now seven years along. It's almost certainly a hopeless quest. Bush is not a man prone to second-guess himself. ... In retrospect,...

The father of John Walker Lindh, who has spent nearly seven years in federal prison for serving in an Afghan army, told a room full of law students at University of San Francisco on Wednesday his son has been used as a scapegoat for the faults of the U.S. government. Frank Lindh of Marin County spoke for the fourth consecutive year about how he believes U.S. troops in northern Afghanistan in 2001 illegitimately captured his son, known as an "American Taliban," for fighting as a Taliban soldier just after the Sept. 11 attacks. Frank Lindh said he believes his son...

War On Terror: After 9/11, Pakistan promised to close its radical madrassas as part of anti-terror reforms. Now we learn they're not only still open, but also recruiting and brainwashing American boys.All told, 600 American children are being indoctrinated into jihad in 22 madrassas across Pakistan. A U.S. filmmaker stumbled on them while tracing the path of the London suicide bombers. He discovered they attended the same radical Islamic schools. A congressional delegation has confirmed his findings. One particularly radical school in Karachi freely displays a banner at its main gate urging Muslims to join the Taliban. At least 80...

John Walker Lindh's lawyers and parents appealed to President Bush for the fourth time Tuesday to commute the Marin County man's 20-year prison sentence for aiding the Taliban in 2001, saying the nation has grown less fearful since then and that others convicted of similar charges have been treated more leniently. "John Lindh had no involvement whatsoever in terrorism or criminal activity," his mother, Marilyn Walker, said at a news conference.... "Others have received a lot less in the way of a sentence even when they were convicted of a lot more," the lawyer said. Bush has not responded to...

The concept of mercy spans testaments and faiths, and any system of justice requires the embrace of mercy for leavening and legitimacy. In this case, justice has been served by Lindh's time in prison. Now Bush is uniquely positioned to grant mercy, for while many will long argue over the effectiveness of his war on terror, none question his commitment to it. By giving Lindh a commutation, Bush could prove that his war is, as he often and properly asserts, not against Islam but against those who seek to harm America. Lindh never sought to harm his country; he has...

The war on terrorism reached into the Buffalo community Friday evening, when federal agents raided several houses and a store in Lackawanna and accused five men of Yemeni descent of operating an al-Qaida cell. The normally quiet neighborhood of modest homes and narrow streets was overrun by gun-toting police and FBI agents who ended a year-old probe with the arrests of the five men, all accused of providing material support and resources to the al-Qaida network. Disbelieving residents poured into the streets as darkness fell, and authorities searched apartments and cars before taking the suspects into custody, then cordoning off...

Excerpt - Don't blame Hewlett-Packard Chairman Patricia Dunn, her new lawyer said Wednesday, for the convulsions the company's board have suffered in the wake of its troubled investigation of boardroom leaks. "She's neither a lawyer nor is she an investigator," said James Brosnahan, the Morrison & Foerster litigator whom Dunn hired this week. "And she's not the kind of person, frankly, who would advise people to do something illegal." Dunn has come under scrutiny for her role in directing the troubled probe -- The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that she closely supervised it -- and she's the latest figure...

Frank Lindh, the father of a man now serving 20 years in prison for “aiding” Taliban forces, will speak to CU-Boulder students on matters of human and constitutional rights Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Museum Collections W100 at 7:30 p.m. John Walker Lindh was apprehended November of 2001, and on Feb. 5, 2002 he faced 10 charges, including conspiracy to murder Americans. As part of a plea-bargain deal, John pled guilty to possession of weapons and serving the Taliban army. As a result, all other charges were dropped. John is currently serving a sentence of 20 years without the possibility of...

TRUTH in the David Hicks affair remains as elusive as ever after fresh allegations this week from inside the US military that the Guantanamo Bay commissions are so seriously flawed that a fair trial is impossible. The most damaging blows yet to the commissions -- still supported by the Howard Government -- came from three US Air Force prosecutors involved in the trials who have quit the investigation in protest. One, John Carr, said the process appeared to have been rigged and that the first four cases -- including Hicks -- had been been "handpicked" and would not be acquitted....

I bring you my boo-freakin'-hoo moment of the day, courtesy of Esquire writer Tom Junod's nauseating profile of John Walker Lindh a/k/a "Suleyman al-Faris" a/k/a "Abdul Hamid a/k/a "Hamza." Junod laments an order forbidding Lindh/al-Faris/Hamid/Hamza from speaking Arabic and describes his typical day in prison: At seven o'clock in the morning he goes to work in the library. It is not a job that most other inmates want, but it suits Hamza, because all Hamza does is read and study. He reads and studies so much that people have to stop him from reading and studying, and sometimes his only...

In a prime example of not leaving well enough alone, the father of John Walker Lindh has now publicly asked President Bush to grant his son clemency. John Walker, you may recall, was the American citizen captured while fighting alongside Taliban forces against our troops in Afghanistan. Rather than taking a bullet to the chest or being beheaded (as Islamic jihadists do when they capture Westerners), John Walker Lindh plea bargained a sentence of 20 years in a medium-security prison. Now his father says that sentence was too harsh. In a speech to the Commonwealth Club last week, Frank Lindh...

John Walker Lindh aka John Walker aka Suleiman Ferris aka Abdul Hamid aka The American Taliban is a person that I will mostly likely to be associated for some time to come. I am sure on my obituary there will be a bombastic note that I was “the journalist who “discovered” Lindh after the battle at Qali Jangi” (the afghans have that dubious honor) Many have told me that Lindh’s story was a big deal back in the States. I will never know, I was in Afghanistan covering combat operations with in the ongoing war against the Taliban for CNN...

'Jihad Johnny' Linked to Flt. 63 Shoe Bomber America's Tailban traitor "Jihad Johnny" Walker and Flight 63 shoe bomber Richard Reid were recruited to do Osama bin Laden's dirty work by the same extremist Muslim group currently operating all over the globe to build an anti-Western army to fight jihad, one Mideast expert contended Friday. "The French newspaper La Provence reported Tuesday that Reid had been an acolyte of Tabligh-i-Jamaat," reports Islamic scholar Steven Schwartz in the New York Post. "U.S. media disclosed last week that Walker had been recruited by a San Francisco cell of the same group." Schwartz ...

Frank Lindh, the gay father of John Walker Lindh, dubbed the "American Taliban" after being found in Afghanistan in late 2001, lashed out at the mainstream media and politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington during a fiery, and at times, emotional speech before the Commonwealth Club last week. Breaking a self-imposed silence about his son's case, Lindh gave the speech in order to reach out to the American public, which he said has been brainwashed by lawmakers, government officials, and sensational news coverage into thinking his son is a traitor to his country and an ally of...

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. John Walker Lindh, now 24, was captured by American forces on Nov. 21, 2001, alongside the Taliban. Frank Lindh said his son thought he had been...

Osama Bin Laden, reputed leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, has filed suit in the U.S. Federal Court for the District of Columbia seeking $100 billion in compensation for what he alleges were illegal wiretaps carried out by the Bush Administration. “These illegal invasions of my private phone conversations with my friends have caused me both tangible and intangible harm,” Bin Laden said. “I am worried. A great many of my friends have not returned my calls. My fundraising efforts have been hampered. The list goes on and on.” Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), co-author of the McCain-Feingold Suppression of Free...

JOHNNY TALIBAN WANTS OUT Here's a name we haven't heard in awhile. John Walker Lindh...the 'American Taliban'...the kid from California that was captured in 2001 fighting for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan...wants to be released. If you remember, he was given a relatively light 20-year sentence for his actions. But now he wants out. They want President Bush to commute his sentence. The odds of that are about oh...slim and none. Little Johnny Walker is lucky he wasn't lined up against a wall and shot. You know, that's what they used to do a long time ago to people who committed treason....

Suleyman al-Faris, aka Abdul Hamid, aka John Walker Lindh, is asking for mercy. Via the San Francisco Chronicle: American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh has asked President Bush again to reduce his 20-year prison sentence by an unspecified amount, Lindh's attorney said Tuesday. Lindh, now in his early 20s, wrote a first-person account to the Justice Department's pardon attorneys arguing why he believes Bush should reduce his sentence. Lindh's attorney said the document could not be publicly released under U.S. government restrictions intended to prevent Lindh from disclosing national secrets. National secrets? Don't worry. The New York Times will no...

American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh has asked President Bush again to reduce his 20-year prison sentence by an unspecified amount, Lindh's attorney said Tuesday. Lindh, now in his early 20s, wrote a first-person account to the Justice Department's pardon attorneys arguing why he believes Bush should reduce his sentence. Lindh's attorney said the document could not be publicly released under U.S. government restrictions intended to prevent Lindh from disclosing national secrets. Lindh, a native of Marin County, Calif., who is now imprisoned in southern California, was captured in Afghanistan weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He pleaded...

The so-called "American Taliban" is asking the president again to commute his sentence. Lawyers for John Walker Lindh have renewed a Petition for Commutation, asking President Bush to commute Lindh's 20-year prison sentence. Lindh had originally asked President Bush to shorten his sentence in September of last year, saying his case should get another look after another U-S born Taliban suspect - Yaser Esam Hamdi - was released. In an appeal to the president filed yesterday, Lindh's lawyers say other defendants who have recently pleaded guilty to similar charges have received much shorter sentences. Lindh grew up in Marin County,...

Portrait of a WahhabiBy Stephen Schwartz FrontPageMagazine.com | June 30, 2003 On Thursday, June 26, I testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, chaired by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz).  My topic was “Wahhabism and Islam in the U.S.”  I outlined the outrageous degree to which Saudi-funded Wahhabi extremists, who are supporters of terrorism, have come to dominate Islam in the U.S. My testimony was not greeted with enthusiasm by James Zogby, the phony civil rights leader who heads the “Arab American Institute." Zogby, a Lebanese Christian once known for his moderate camouflage on Israel, but...

CYNTHIA McKINNEYPOSITION: Democrat Congresswoman from GeorgiaDONOR: Abdurahman Alamoudi AMMOUNT: $2000 on September 11, 2001 DETAILS: Alamoudi, President of the American Muslim Foundation, is a well known radical mohammedan activist known for publicly praising terrorist organizations. He worked closely as an informal advisor and affiliate of several Clinton administration officials (source). At an October 2000 rally in Washington, D.C. Alamoudi spoke to a radical islamic crowd announcing ""I have been labeled by the media in New York as being a supporter of Hamas. Any supporters of Hamas here? (cheers) Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas ... I...

It might seem odd to compare and contrast two news stories from last week – the resignation announcement of Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Paris death of Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat. But an examination of the two demonstrates the degree to which the "news" media’s compass of objectivity is so terribly misaligned. To read the coverage, you’d think Ashcroft was the tyrant, and Arafat the liberator. On November 10, the New York Times front page put the two stories side by side in the top left-hand corner. Reporter Elisabeth Bumiller told readers the "polarizing" Ashcroft was resigning after a...

To all good people of countries other than the US- WE are now officially a rogue nation- please don’t blame the citizens of the US as we have been taken over by Nazis. Trust us, we are more frightened than you. There is no possible way that Bush is the most popular president ever. There is no way that he won this election. It is a lie, supported by fraudulent elections and corrupt government officials. There is no popular support for Bush, only Bush freepers on the net paid for by homeland security to convince other nations and naive US...

You all took turns laughing because I am an extreme left, but I laugh at you because you people proved me right. You delete remarks for no other reason but you don't like the thoughts expressed, (though mine was left for assument) inactivate my account, and preach free speech for all. My words weren't for the purpose of starting a war, only to say, "hey, what do you think about this?" I didn't get one intellgent arugment. Name calling yes, insults yes, nothing thought provoking. So you cane prove me right yet again, and delete this post and inactivate my...

Following is the full English transcript of Usama bin Ladin's speech in a videotape sent to Aljazeera. In the interests of authenticity, the content of the transcript, which appeared as subtitles at the foot of the screen, has been left unedited. Praise be to Allah who created the creation for his worship and commanded them to be just and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind. To proceed: Peace be upon he who follows the guidance: People of America this talk of mine is for you and concerns the ideal way to prevent another Manhattan, and...

http://www.donfeder.com/ A PURPLE HEART FOR JOHNNY JIHAD? By Don Feder Last week, John Walker Lindh petitioned the president to commute his 20-year sentence for fighting with the Taliban, imposed in 2002. It’s a shame that this pampered child of Marin County is sitting in a cell for something as trivial as treason. Under a plea bargain, Walker Lindh (AKA: Abdul Hamid, AKA: Sulayman Al-Lindh) pleaded guilty to supplying services to the Taliban regime and carrying explosives for Afghanistan’s former rulers. Which is like to saying that Benedict Arnold supplied services to George III. Johnny Jihad trained in an al-Qaeda camp...

Last week, John Walker Lindh  petitioned the president to commute his 20-year sentence for fighting with the Taliban, imposed in 2002.  It’s a shame that this pampered child of Marin County is sitting in a cell for something as trivial as treason. Under a plea bargain, Walker Lindh (AKA: Abdul Hamid, AKA: Sulayman Al-Lindh) pleaded guilty to supplying services to the Taliban regime and carrying explosives for  Afghanistan’s former rulers.Which is like to saying that Benedict Arnold supplied services to George III. Johnny Jihad trained in an al-Qaeda camp – where he learned to fire an AK-47 and rubbed elbows...

Filed at 2:14 p.m. ET SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- John Walker Lindh asked President Bush on Tuesday to commute his 20-year prison sentence for aiding the Taliban. His lawyer, James Brosnahan, said Lindh was a young man in the wrong place at the wrong time. He said that Lindh was fighting alongside the Taliban in a civil war against the Northern Alliance, that he is not a terrorist and that he never fought against U.S. troops. Brosnahan said the sentence should be reduced because Yaser Esam Hamdi, another American citizen captured in Afghanistan on suspicion of aiding the Taliban, is...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 - Lawyers for John Walker Lindh, the young American captured in Afghanistan after joining the Taliban and now serving a 20-year prison sentence, called on the Justice Department on Friday to review his case in light of the department's announcement this week that it might soon free another American captured with the Taliban. "We hope that the government gives Mr. Lindh the same reconsideration they have extended to Mr. Hamdi," the lawyers said in a statement, referring to Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American-born Saudi who is expected to be released soon to return to his family in...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 12 — Several men believed to be American citizens have been taken into custody here during the past few weeks on suspicion of being linked to Al Qaeda, senior Pakistani officials said today. The Pakistani officials said most of the men had been picked up along with other suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members in joint American-Pakistani raids in the country's remote tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan. They said they believe that the men form a disjointed network of disaffected Westerners who converted to Islam and have been drawn to militant causes, fighting alongside Al...

Full Title (didn't fit in thread title): NEWSWEEK: Al Qaeda Chief Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Wanted American Terror Suspect Gadahn to Join Plot to Blow Up Fuel Stations Near Baltimore Captured Chief Says the Islam Convert Not Eager to Participate in 'Martydom' Operations, But Was Willing to Help NEW YORK, May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Captured Al Qaeda chief Khalid Shaikh Mohammed -- "KSM" to his interrogators -- wanted American-born terror suspect Adam Yahiye Gadahn to join a plot to blow up fuel stations outside Baltimore, according to a May 2003 classified FBI document obtained by Newsweek. Gadahn, one of the seven...

<p>TAKOMA PARK, Md. — On the northeast border of the District of Columbia lies a little town that time forgot, except for when it finds itself in the headlines for a brand of activism reminiscent of the 1970s.</p> <p>Takoma Park (search) is an eclectic community of 17,000 that is known to long-time residents as the "People's Republic of Takoma Park."</p>

On September 11th, 2002, suspected Sniper John Allen Muhammad walked into the Camden, New Jersey State Motor Vehicles office, to register the now-notorious "blue Caprice" he'd just purchased. Though the car had not yet converted been into a rolling sniper's nest, what happened in the next several minutes leaves little doubt that Muhammad had something sinister in mind. The registration transaction began at 8:52 am. At 8:58 am., while Muhammad was still standing at the counter, someone (now believed to be fellow suspect, Lee Malvo) phoned a bomb threat at the Motor Vehicles office on the 1st Anniversary of what...

A Junior al-Qaeda . . .: . . . right here at home There are a lot of Baptist churches along rural Virginia's Route 615, just south of Appomattox-"where America reunited," as the county welcome sign puts it-but there's only one Sheikh Gilani Lane. A gate and a guardhouse prevent the public from driving very far down it. What lies beyond, however, isn't a closed-off community of rich retirees. Instead, it's a trailer-park compound of black Muslims, or "The Muslims of America," according to a green billboard by the entrance, where an armed guard keeps a wary eye on the ...

 DefenseWatch  "The Voice of the Grunt"  Special Report: Protect Home Base First  ARTICLE 02 October 30, 2002Examine Gunman's Possible Ties to al FurqaBy Christian M. WeberIn the Middle East today, we see a young generation of Muslims being trained to hate Israel and the West while cherishing the thought of martyrdom. It is easy to see the brutal path that has been chosen for these children. However, for those not schooled in this path of destruction, the road to terrorism usually takes on one of two forms.The first form includes Islamic extremists, such as Osama Bin Laden, who rose...

Federal authorities are investigating whether accused snipers John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo had ties to a growing sect of militant American Muslims committed to waging holy war against the United States. Law-enforcement authorities yesterday said investigators want to know whether the suspects — now awaiting separate murder trials in Virginia — were involved with Jamaat al-Fuqra, a militant Muslim group with documented ties to international terrorism that has been linked to 13 slayings and 17 firebombings in the United States and Canada. The al-Fuqra network, through an offshoot group known as the Muslims of America, has established a...

Sniper suspect John Muhammad fits the profile of a disaffected outcast who becomes increasingly radicalized under the influence of Islamism, say terrorism analysts and investigators, who suspect he is connected with the radical Islamist group, al-Fuqra. According to Christian M. Weber, contributing editor for Soldiers for the Truth, an organization headed by Col. David Hackworth, Muhammad seems to follow the model of John Walker Lindh, Richard Reid and Jose Padilla, men exposed to Islamism who become disenchanted with the movement's pace and progress and who take the road to jihad. "As one traces John Muhammad's life from his conversion to...

Al-Qaida's operational approaches Posted: October 4, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Tom Marzullo © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Have you ever wondered how the dispersed terrorist groups manage to operate so discretely and persistently in the West? In considering the unconventional nature of al-Qaida and the other groups aligned against us, it can be immediately noted that the larger, more spectacular attacks are few and far between. What follows is an analysis and discussion of only one of the methodologies used to create major attacks that will be mounted against the United States. If you read one of the recent revelations that...

He sits, fidgeting impatiently at the agonizing crawl of the primitive modem, the glare of his mother's computer burnishing his cheeks. He's too small for the chair he swivels in, and is thin and awkward after the classic model of the thin and awkward fourteen-year-old boy. He is mostly, but not completely, friendless, and will transfer to a new school in the fall, where a classmate will later remember him as "invisible." His parents have begun to clash more intensely than ever, casting a weary pall over the household. Obsessed with hip-hop, he feels spectacularly out of place amid the...

<p>July 4, 2003 -- LOS ANGELES - A bigoted church arsonist beat up American Taliban John Walker Lindh inside a prison chapel, federal authorities said yesterday.</p> <p>Robert Dale Morrison, 29, repeatedly slugged Lindh on March 3 inside the chapel of the federal lockup in Victorville, Calif., said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Stacy.</p>

Federal prisoner charged with assaulting John Walker Lindh Thursday July 03, 2003 LOS ANGELES (AP) An inmate was charged with attacking ``American Taliban'' John Walker Lindh at a federal prison, prosecutors said Thursday. Richard Dale Morrison, 29, was charged Wednesday with a misdemeanor count of assault for allegedly striking Lindh on March 3 at the Federal Correctional Institute in Victorville, according to Cindy Lozano of the U.S. attorney's office. Lindh's lawyer has said his client was tackled by an inmate who hit him while screaming obscenities before running off. Lindh suffered a bruised forehead. Morrison could receive up to...

<p>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An inmate has been charged with attacking so-called American Taliban John Walker Lindh in an incident at the federal prison in California where Lindh is serving a 20-year sentence for his involvement with militant Islamic fighters in Afghanistan.</p>