Posted on 01/19/2006 2:52:23 PM PST by madprof98
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 rescued by U.S. soldiers until he was taken into custody and tortured.
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.
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. 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.
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.
The kid's lucky he didn't get a black bag and a noose!
The kid is lucky he's not one of my sons.
"What is torture to a 20 yr old kid from Kalifornia, No Eminem CDs?"
LOL Exactly. No latte or frozen yoghurt for you, young man, for like a year.
His dad obviously has the same lame sense of timing that he does. Must be hereditary.
Spiritual quest? Chalk up another life ruined by the Death Cult of Islamic Koraniacs then.
"I hope he slips in the shower and dies in prison"
no i strongly disagree with you. i hope his soap slips out of his hands every day in the shower for the rest of his life.
The gaul of these lefties is amazing. Our founding fathers would have strung him up that day and if they father said a peep, they would have searched for another rope.
nah, too much whip cream on the latte
I agree, he shouldnt be let off the hook. I mean, what the hell was he doing with Taliban fighters if he wasnt raising arms against the US??
He's still a Moslem. I doubt he'd give us anything useful.
He went to a foreign country to bully the locals and enforce one of the most brutal regimes ever, while collaborating at high levels with people who want to murder innocents in the US and around the world in great numbers.
Every single breath he takes he should thank the US Government he wasn't lined up against a wall and shot.
I wouldn't cast aspersions on all Muslims because of this kid, but I would be curious as to how he made his way to Afghanistan, with no background or language, and got himself involved in the Taliban - an accomplishment that apparently the CIA was incapable of. Al Qaeda has been a known entity since the conviction of the 1993 WTC bombing culprits... they may have worked on getting some moles into Afghanistan...
20 years from now it won't shock me if this kid is a tenured professor at an Ivy League school or a member of Congress. John Kerry deserved to go to the big house as much as this punk and look where his treason landed him instead.
Maybe he was just a 'Molly Pitcher Wanna-Be? LOL!
Her real name was Mary Ludwig Hayes. She was born in 1754 in New Jersey. She earned her nickname by bringing pitchers of water to the troops. She fought in the Battle of Monmouth. She died in 1832.
And the poor suckers in the Red States (if any are left) will be paying his megabuck salary.
Welcome to FR, ralice.
And the old man too. Capital corruption of a minor.
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