Posted on 09/28/2008 8:40:34 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
Father of the Year
Frank Lindh, father of jihadi jailbird John Walker Lindh, really ought to swear off public speaking. Every time he opens his mouth, something stupid comes out. Yesterday, after his son had pleaded guilty, the elder Lindh dared liken him to a statesman: “Nelson Mandela served 26 years in prison. He’s a good man, like John. Some day I hope—I hope that the government will come around even further and say that even 20 years is wrong for this boy.”
The Washington Post notes that Frank Lindh also said of the Marin mujahid: “Never, in all the interrogations . . . did John ever say anything against the United States—never once. Not one word. John loves America, and we love America. God bless America.” But the fanatic’s father told a different story back in December, when we noted this, from a Newsweek report:
When the U.S.S. Cole was bombed as it refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden in October of 2000, killing 17 U.S. sailors, father and son had an uncomfortable e-mail exchange. Frank says he was upset that the dead sailors were the same age as his son. John seemed to have a more casual view of the attack, which U.S. authorities blamed on operatives of Osama bin Laden. He suggested that the U.S. ship should never have been there in the first place, and that by docking in an Islamic country, had committed an “act of war.” The bombing, John implied, was a justified response. Lindh says he was “concerned” by his son’s views, but felt that since John was an adult, there was little he could do to change them. “It was clear he had developed a different point of view,” says Lindh. “My days of molding him were over.”
Then there’s this, from an earlier Newsweek piece:
When asked if he supported the September 11 attacks, [John Walker Lindh] hesitated. “That requires a pretty long and complicated explanation. I haven’t eaten for two or three days, and my mind is not really in shape to give you a coherent answer.” When pressed, he said, “Yes, I supported it.”
And of course John himself admits, in the “statement of facts” that he signed as part of his plea agreement (links in PDF form), that he “traveled to the al-Farooq training camp, a facility associated with Usama Bin Laden,” and “participated fully in its training activities, including courses in weapons, orienteering, navigation, explosives and battlefield combat.”
he should have been executed!
give him work release-let him be Bawney Fwank’s page.
Frank and his son, John, in New York City
"I don’t know that John’s reputation here in the United States can ever be restored. It was so badly damaged."
" I’m not really sure that John will be able to recover his reputation."
"he is really actually a noble person, a person of great integrity"
John in Yemen.
"John’s imprisonment is unjust. I ask that people write, politely and respectfully, to the President and request that he release John as a dedication to justice and human rights."
The guy deserves what he got. Give the guy his due, as has been pointed out here before, he was able to do with $3,000 and in one year do what no one in the entire intelligence community with unlimited resources of the US Govt could ever do, get next to bin laden
Otherwise, uhhhhh no.
I’m so sorry you let your son walk down this path and let him go into the mouths of wolves at such an impressionable age of 16. I’m sorry you think this America’s or Bush’s fault, but the fault lies at your feet Mr. Lindh. He was not an adult and you feel for Islam. You were supposed to keep him safe, even from himself.
When the U.S.S. Cole was bombed in October 2000, Walker was back in Yemen. In an e-mail exchange with his son, Frank Lindh said he felt terrible for the victims and their families. John’s reply suggested that the attack may have been justified because the Cole was docked in an Islamic country. Lindh dismissed the exchange as a “father/son debate, much like my dad and I used to have over [the] Vietnam war.” A month after the Cole bombing, Walker left Yemen for Bannu, a village in Pakistan’s northwest, to attend an Islamic school, or madrasah. Pakistan’s madrasahs specialize in teaching students to memorize the Koran. They are also reputed to provide thousands of soldiers for the Taliban.
He asked his father for money, and Frank Lindh sent him $1,200.
John said he had been sent to an Arabic-speaking al-Qaeda camp, where he learned to shoot a Kalashnikov. He saw Osama bin Laden several times. He answered the call to jihad and fought in Kashmir and Kunduz. Then he became a prisoner of war.
Mr. Lindh probably feels responsible for his son going off the deep end. It was his own homosexual affair that led him to divorce his wife and abandon his family. John Walker Lindh was a teen struggling to find himself in the midst of a family scandal and got sucked into the vortex of Islam. If daddy wasn’t obsessed with being a rump ranger, perhaps he wouldn’t have been so willing to fund the kid’s trips abroad to “study.”
“WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS SON” ?????? “WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS SON”
How about “WHAT HIS SON DID TO OTHERS, AMERICANS”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Damn his traitorous son and may he waste away and end his worthless life in prison.
Um, I feel strongly about this, can you tell?
Horse$hit! He got what his hand called for. He pled guilty, let him live with his decision.
How about his long-term relationship with terrorists, communists, and American haters?
If Bush would commute John Walker Lindh over Ramos and Compean, he would be best to leave office and run to that land in Paraguay.
Maybe he would be best to do that anyway.
Thanks. Not to mention his strong muslim sympathies as I pointed out.
I agree that the son needs to be punished. I just feel that the parents, particularly the father, are equally to blame in this case.
Will he demand that only bin laddie pardon him in o’bamas, name?
I agree with you that the parents set him up this way, but he wasn’t a young child, he could have figured out some truth by then, and he went WAY too far.
No, they are partly to blame, but not equally. (shaking head) I can’t agree with that.
However, they should feel great guilt, rightly so.
... In retrospect, his son's biggest enemy was bad timing.
No his biggest enemy was himself. He chose wrong. Wrong choice= death by hanging. Next story.
And given an official apology, a one million dollar reparations package, his own government issued copy of the Koran and a scholarship fund set up in his name to inspire other religious minorities oppressed by America.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.