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How to treat a traitor
The Meridian Star ^ | January 31, 2006 11:09 am | Craig Ziemba

Posted on 02/16/2006 10:52:48 AM PST by presidio9

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 talked of his son's conversion to Islam and journey that led him to Yemen, Pakistan and eventually to Osama Bin Laden's band of merry men. While choking back tears, he said, “In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man embarking on a spiritual quest.” He also showed baby pictures of his boy, said he was proud of him, and asserted that he did no wrong. Frank Lindh furthermore complained that the American troops who captured his son treated him badly by cuffing him with plastic ties and leaving him stripped naked with all of the other Taliban prisoners.

I seriously doubt that another father named Johnny Spann was moved. His son Michael was a Central Intelligence Agency officer who was killed by Taliban prisoners during the uprising at Mazar-e-Sharif shortly after interviewing the Taliban traitor John Walker Lindh. That deadly revolt was the reason prisoners had to be strip-searched and restrained.

The difference between Michael Spann and John Walker Lindh couldn't be more dramatic. One loved America enough to travel halfway around the world to give his life in her defense while the other hated our country and our way of life so much that he wound up on the same battlefield working with those who declared holy war against the United States.

Contrary to Frank Lindh's recent assertions, our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion doesn't include the right to bear arms against your countrymen in war. If some jihad-preaching cleric promised John Walker Lindh 72 virgins in paradise for killing Americans, he shouldn't try to hide behind his American citizenship when it didn't work out.

Decisions have consequences. John Walker Lindh made his choice when he became an enemy combatant, and he should stick with it. If he feels Allah is calling him to fight with those who have vowed to destroy America, then perhaps he should ask Allah - and not President Bush - for help.

Those who hate America's freedom, democracy and Judeo-Christian heritage are free to leave. But I suggest that those who join the battle against our troops not ask for mercy when they lose.

Breathes there the man with soul so dead

Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land S

If such there breathe, go, mark him well

For him no minstrel raptures swell S

Living shall forfeit fair renown,

And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust from whence he sprung,

Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

- Sir Walter Scott

Craig Ziemba is a military pilot who lives in Meridian. His second book will be available next month at Meridian Bible Bookstores.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Miscellaneous; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: americantaliban; antiamericanism; constitution; enemycombatant; janefonda; johnwalkerlindh; servedinforeignarmy; sidingwiththeenemy; taliban; timeofwar; traitor; treason; unamerican; vietnamwar
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To: .cnI redruM
"Well, if they don't prosecute Al Gore for sedition, is it really fair for the US government to beat up JWL?"

That's like saying, "since OJ Simpson got a pass on murder, all killers should get a pass on murder."

Using one failure as an excuse for the next failure is not a workable approach.

21 posted on 02/16/2006 11:12:51 AM PST by Bonaparte
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To: Bonaparte
Man, those sarcasm tags are totally on the firtz....
22 posted on 02/16/2006 11:13:38 AM PST by .cnI redruM (Spreading liberal beliefs is as wrong as spreading AIDS.)
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To: presidio9

Don't know who that is, but he sure needs a shave and a haircut.


23 posted on 02/16/2006 11:19:51 AM PST by ASA Vet (Those who know don't talk, those who talk don't know.)
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To: presidio9
Actually, at the time, I would have gladly seen Jane Fonda swing for treason. Seems a little late, now, though, although I still can't stand her.

But just because the government can't get it right sometimes, does that mean they can't get it right occasionally? No, it doesn't. Lindh did not deserve what he got, he deserved much, much more. He should be grateful.
24 posted on 02/16/2006 11:20:15 AM PST by chesley (Liberals...what's not to loathe?)
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To: presidio9
The Jersey Lilly: Langtry Texas

What we need is another Judge Roy Bean.
He'd know what to do with Little Taliban Johnny

Tall Tree!
Short Rope!


25 posted on 02/16/2006 11:22:12 AM PST by Fiddlstix (Tagline Repair Service. Let us fix those broken Taglines. Inquire within(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: presidio9

so his father runs off with another man and now he does not know why his kid is all screwed up?

This "father" is feeling guilty for himself.


26 posted on 02/16/2006 11:32:01 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: presidio9
How to treat a traitor

Can I make a suggestion...?


27 posted on 02/16/2006 11:45:33 AM PST by AmericaUnited
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Comment #28 Removed by Moderator

To: presidio9
How to treat a traitor...

"¡Ayyyyyyyy, piñata!"

29 posted on 02/16/2006 11:54:06 AM PST by RichInOC (...oops, did I say that out loud? Bad Rich. BAD Rich.)
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To: jocko12

Off with his head.


30 posted on 02/16/2006 12:08:01 PM PST by ANGGAPO (LayteGulfBeachClub)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

"Correct. He's fortunate that 20 years was all he got."

I'm outraged that 20 years is all he got. He should have gotten 20 seconds in front of a firing squad.


31 posted on 02/16/2006 12:17:24 PM PST by BadAndy (The DemocRATs are the enemy's most effective weapon.)
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To: presidio9
How to treat a traitor?


32 posted on 02/16/2006 12:20:25 PM PST by Bon mots
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To: Bonaparte

Hehe...


33 posted on 02/16/2006 12:22:00 PM PST by Bonaparte
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To: hang 'em; ASA Vet

34 posted on 02/16/2006 1:17:59 PM PST by presidio9 ("Bird Flu" is the new Y2K Virus -Only without the inconvenient deadline.)
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To: peyton randolph
Frank Lindh furthermore complained that the American troops who captured his son treated him badly by cuffing him with plastic ties and leaving him stripped naked with all of the other Taliban prisoners.

Muslim girls are for precreation and muslim boys are for recreation, why would he complain? Fag dad and the nut didn't fall far from the nut bowl.

35 posted on 02/16/2006 1:54:01 PM PST by USS Alaska (Nuke the terrorist savages - In Honor of Standing Wolf)
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To: presidio9
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1980, didn't the United States help the Taliban by giving it arms to fight the Soviet Union?

No, it didn't. The Taliban didn't exist until after the Soviet withdrawal.

When the Taliban took power and there was a split among the ranks, the Taliban was our "friend" and the Northern Alliance was our "enemy."

When was that? Never that I heard of.

However, Lindh did have a defense to the charge of treason: when he fought against American forces, he was no longer a U.S. citizen, since he had been deprived of citizenship, by act of Congress, when he joined the Taliban.

36 posted on 02/16/2006 4:20:01 PM PST by Christopher Lincoln
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To: presidio9

You left out a few lines of the poem and I didn't know it was written by Scott.


37 posted on 02/16/2006 4:34:44 PM PST by OldEagle (May you live long enough to hear the legends of your own adventures.)
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