'American Taliban' (Johnny 'Jihad' Lindh) tortured: dad

News.Com.AU ^ | January 20, 2006 | Adam Tanner

[yankeedame]

American Taliban' tortured: dad

From: Reuters By Adam Tanner by San Francisco
January 20, 2006

THE father of an American jailed for fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan said this morning his son had been tortured and unjustly punished amid public hysteria over the September 11 attacks.

"The maltreatment and imprisonment of John Lindh was – and is – a human rights violation," Frank Lindh told the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. "It was based purely on an emotional response to the 9/11 attacks, not on an objective assessment of the facts of John's case."

A 24-year-old Californian dubbed the "American Taliban," John Walker Lindh was captured in 2001 and jailed for 20 years under a plea deal. US troops ousted the Taliban after they refused to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

At times fighting back tears, the father accused US forces of torturing his son. He showed a photo of his son's body strapped to a stretcher at a military base in southern Afghanistan.

"I do not want to dwell today on the military's mistreatment of my son, but I will say categorically that he was treated in a way that is shameful to our nation and its ideals," said Lindh, an attorney at Pacific Gas & Electric .

"John Lindh did not need to be tortured to tell the American forces where he had been and what he had seen," the father said. "I cannot fathom why the military felt it necessary to humiliate him in this way."

Reviled by many Americans as a traitor, Lindh agreed to a plea deal in which he was spared a possible life prison sentence and all terrorism charges against him were dropped.

In exchange, he pleaded guilty to two charges of aiding the Taliban and carrying explosives. Now in federal prison in southern California, John Walker Lindh is appealing to US President George W. Bush to commute his sentence.

Frank Lindh said he was proud of his son.

"He was extremely unpopular in the United States and probably still is because of the way his case was portrayed by the government and by the media," he said. "People will come to realize that what happened in his case was wrong, that the torture was wrong, that the torture was wrong."

[reagan_fanatic]

At times fighting back tears, the father accused US forces of torturing his son. "Look at what they've done to him" the Father sobbed. "Off-air programming instead of cable, shampoo but no conditioner and his index fingers caught in a Chinese finger trap. What has America come to??"

[Beagle8U]

"If little Johnny behaves himself, he'll be out in about 7 years. That's not a lot of time for taking up arms against the United States."

No time off for good behavior in Fed prison, you get 20, you serve 20.

[Focault's Pendulum]

The whole family seems to be dumber than a barrel of hair.

You're doing a grave injustice to the barrel...not to mention the follicles.

[PeterPrinciple]

He showed a photo of his son's body strapped to a stretcher at a military base in southern Afghanistan.

yep, that is torture to these idiots.....

[Publius6961]

"The maltreatment and imprisonment of John Lindh was – and is – a human rights violation," Frank Lindh told the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. "It was based purely on an emotional response to the 9/11 attacks, not on an objective assessment of the facts of John's case."

Sorry to break the news to you, you dumba$$...

The little [censored] found in a firefight against US military on the wrong side, looking and acting exactly like the other knuckle-draggng killers should have been shot on the spot.

Be lucky that he's alive (not if most of us had anything to say about it)...

[MinuteGal]

This hopelessly brain-twisted father is repeating right up to this moment the mistakes he made in rearing his little spoiled, brain-twisted son.

I hope the line doesn't continue with brain-twisted grandchildren.

Leni

[Lucky2]

The only thing the US did wrong was not shoot him first and ask questions later.

[hauerf]

Leftie dad is right. Someday the little wanker will be recognized as an American hero equal in stature to Benedict Arnold.

[Publius6961]

Where is the evidence that Lindh was tortured? I've never seen a shred of it.

Classic case of changing the subject. The little a--wipe should do every second of his 20 years and consider himself lucky.

Just to get these lame distractions out of the way, I don't care if he was tortured. I wish he had been not only tortured, but then executed... in other words, just as dead as the American soldiers who died in that firefight.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yep, and burned his body.

[Chode]

screw that little fag
Never Forgive...
Never Forget!!!

11/25/01 RIP

here you go...

http://freejohnwalker.net/
Contact us: talltree1@aol.com

John Walker Lindh
Inmate # 45426-083
FCI Victorville
P.O. Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301

[TADSLOS]

At times fighting back tears, the father accused US forces of torturing his son. He showed a photo of his son's body strapped to a stretcher at a military base in southern Afghanistan.

The photo in question:

Note the complete absence of any signs of physical torture. He was restrained as a result of being an enemy combatant and as an additional precaution after being in the prison compound where the riot/attack occured that killed Mike Spann. Frank Lindh and his traitor son can rot in hell.

[weaver]

Lindh's father should be glad he at least KNOWS where the kid is and that he's more or less safe now.

[Publius6961]

Sorry to ignore your post. I don't wish to learn anything about this sack of **** except that he's dead or still in prison.

How about giving us a report on the US soldiers who were killed in the firefight that captured him, or in the prison riot that followed?

Those are the names I would rather read about.

[MissEdie]

Boo-freakin' hoo you miserable scumbag!

[NRA1995]

Strapped to a stretcher? Well, at least no one let Nurse Ratched perform electroshock on him.....

[robowombat]

Actually, as the article makes clear Lindh is in prison and I suspect he will spend a lot more time there. The redacted newspeak article does discuss the Kunduz uprising and the death of CIA Field Agent Spann, for whom Mr. Lindh or whatever calls himself was complicit since he is certain to know it was in the wind. i may be wrong but I don't think there were any US casualties when Mr. Jihad was captured. Realizing that they had a potential intelligence asset to exploit he was tucked away in a CONEX until he could be interviewed. He was belligerently uncooperative so he was sent off to enjoy the company of his fellow turban turners at Kunduz.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Classic case of changing the subject.

I'm not trying to change the subject.

What I'm saying is, we ought not to concede Lindh's dad's assertion that his son was tortured- a charge which he has failed to substantiate.

The little traitor was not tortured. When his lawyer dad (who knows exactly what he is doing, btw) asserts that his brat was tortured, his father is in fact trying to change the subject, and many here at FR are falling for it. If it becomes widely accepted that Lindh was tortured, and again, he wasn't, it will lay the political groundwork for the little scumbag to become a cause celebre, a la Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier, etc., and to walk out of prison the next time a pardon-happy Dimocrat occupies the White House. If Lindh's dad could prove torture, he'd be doing it in court. He can't prove it, because it didn't happen, so he's trying to establish it in the court of public opinion.

Whether Lindh deserves torture is another issue. He wasn't tortured. If anything, the little bastard was coddled.

And I agree that traitors should be executed.

[jmcenanly]

ping

[jmcenanly]

No worse than what any American goes through after a traffic accident.