Posted on 09/29/2004 4:42:39 PM PDT by mjp
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Attorney General John Ashcroft on Wednesday opposed an appeal to commute the 20-year prison sentence of John Walker Lindh, an American captured in Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban.
Lindh's attorney, James Brosnahan who negotiated the sentence in a plea bargain in 2002, said it was the best deal he could get at the time. But he said the deal should be reconsidered after the government agreed to release another U.S.-born Taliban soldier, Yaser Esam Hamdi, from detention without charges.
Ashcroft rejected the idea, saying Lindh received all the safeguards of the judicial process and the outcome was fair.
"Lindh was fully adjudicated and had his opportunity in court to state his position, and the system operated to provide a punishment for his activities, which were clear and unmistakable," Ashcroft told reporters in the Netherlands.
"It's not really helpful to compare one case to another case. In each case the system operates. Justice was done in his case, and I believe we try to be consistent and effective in providing justice," he said.
Ashcroft was in The Hague to tighten security cooperation with the Dutch government and to meet with European Union justice and interior ministers convening for a two-day conference.
Brosnahan made the request Monday. Speaking in San Francisco, he argued that Lindh fought 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.
Hamdi, who has been held for three years without trial, will be required to relinquish his U.S. citizenship and will be sent to Saudi Arabia, where he grew up.
"Comparable conduct should be treated in comparable ways in terms of sentencing," Brosnahan told reporters. Only President Bush can commute Lindh's sentence.
(Excerpt) Read more at thewbalchannel.com ...
In war, "wrong place at the wrong time" gets you killed. He just got twenty years. He's lucky.
See ya traitor, have fun with your islamofacist "brothers" in the hole.
we should let me free at Ground Zero. Make it a public event and if he can get out of New York alive, then he can go free....
I am pretty sure he wouldnt survive....
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jmspann.htm
Johnny Micheal Spann
Captain, United States Marine Corps
Central Intelligence Agency Officer
An American Hero
I Remember!
I think the political term for this idea is "a non-starter".
Someone needs to ask John Kerry what he would do about this request. My guess---free they guy and give him a cash bonus.
That scumbag should be allowed to walk out of prison the day Mike Spann can walk back into his wife's arms. How dare he ask for a lighter sentence.
Taliban Boy should rot in Hell.
He grew up here in our history and tradition, was protected by our laws.
He's a deliberate traitor and is lucky he hasn't swung from a rope.
While Kerry in his heart might want to commute the sentence, no way he would announce it prior to the election. In case no one noticed, the traitor has been wrapped in the flag as a war hero.
Kerry I am talking about. Unclear post sorry
He needs a firing squad a traitor pure and simple and who knows if he shot any of our people.
That traitor did not get enough time.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. The libs in Manhattan would probably consider him a hero and a victim of Bush's evil schemes.
the libs might, but someone else might take exception to that....
To the contrary, he's already had way too much time. His time should have ended months ago - on the end of a rope or in front of a firing squad.
Lindh should be executed as a traitor.
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