“In retrospect, his son’s biggest enemy was bad timing.”
Treason is treason and timing has nothing to do with it. He should have been executed.
AMEN! I’ll agree to his sentence being commuted when Mike Span’s sentence is commuted. You’re right, that POS should have been excuted.
I remember when he was his arrested, I sat dumbfounded at his poor father, talking about him saying, ... he was pleased he was searching for himself, learning about a religion that he respected, but he thinks he might need a kick in the pants... a kick in the pants yeah a kick in the pants
that is what he thought his punishment should have been...a kick in the pants.
... In retrospect, his son's biggest enemy was bad timing."
In retrospect Jihad Johnny's biggest enemy was his father who hired a blow-hard Hollywood lawyer who thought he could try the case in the media instead of working a quiet deal behind the scenes. That cost his son ten years at least, and eliminated any possibility of future clemency.
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.”
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.