Posted on 12/02/2001 2:09:35 PM PST by mdittmar
A 20-year-old American who fought with the Taliban and survived a bloody prison uprising near Mazar-i-Sharif last week has been taken into custody by U.S. special forces troops, Newsweek magazine said on its Web site on Sunday.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which is running the military campaign on Afghanistan , confirmed that a man claiming to be an American was in the control of U.S. military forces.
``Military forces in Afghanistan do have in their control a man who calls himself a U.S. citizen,'' Marine Maj. Brad Lowell, a Central Command spokesman, said.
``He was among the al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners; he was held by the Northern Alliance in Mazar-i-Sharif. He is injured and is being given medical assistance by U.S. forces,'' he told Reuters.
The man, described by Newsweek as ``a white, educated-sounding, apparently middle-class American,'' who identified himself only as Abdul Hamid, was taken into custody on Saturday at a hospital where he had been taken for treatment of minor gunshot and shrapnel wounds.
The special forces soldiers who detained Hamid took him aside for treatment and later left with him, doctors told the magazine. A Northern Alliance military source said the U.S. soldiers had taken Hamid to Mazar-i-Sharif, Newsweek said, adding that U.S. forces refused to comment on his whereabouts.
Hamid told Newsweek earlier he was a Washington, D.C., native but indicated he grew up elsewhere in the United States. He said he converted to Islam at age 16 and later went to Pakistan to study the Koran, Newsweek said.
Hamid said he came into contact with Taliban teachings while studying in Pakistan and traveled to Afghanistan six months ago to help ``because the Taliban are the only government that actually provides Islamic law,'' the magazine reported.
He fought with the Taliban at the siege of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan and surrendered along with hundreds of other fighters after the two sides negotiated a deal.
Hamid later was transferred along with hundreds of other prisoners to Qala-i-Jhangi fortress west of Mazar-i-Sharif, where a revolt ensued a week ago. The uprising was violently put down by U.S. warplanes and Northern Alliance ground forces.
Several hundred prisoners were believed to have been killed. A CIA officer was among those killed in the uprising, the first reported American combat death in Afghanistan.
Honorable causes are in the eye of the beholder. He may not be a conventional hero, or noble person (and as I repeatedly said he's misguided and should be punished), but his actions make him an exceptional individual. He's done something most wouldn't, or couldn't.
As far as people willing to die for Nazism being noble, yes they are. Here's why. Recall the uproar in the 80s when Reagan went to visit the SS cemetary at Bitburg (I was too young to remember that but I've read of it). Reagan was right to pay his respects, those people fought for their country, they legitimately believed they were on the right side...which, come to think of it, makes them better than this Taliban John Walker since Walker turned against his own country.
If they do that, they get to learn from me what the Second Amendment is all about. As far as I know, speech has not yet been criminalized.
Better watch out...this is where the Civil War started.
Here's my WAG:
Bubbly
Urine
Derivative
With
Ethanol.
Invariably
Skunky,
Exceedingly
Riced.
Right again ... are you sure you're only 18 ??? If only we had more like you ... (and less of him/her)
It's possible that he has picked up a educated Pakistani version of English, but do speak like that when stressed out after only 6 months of being there is strange. It's actually easier to learn a different language in that time than adjust the accent of your native tounge.
This guy has been over there longer than 6 months is my gut reaction.
I guess I didn't realize the Left had the lock on those concepts.
Secondly, please do not speak for your generation. You only know those you associate with. You may speak about the opinions of your friends, your co-workers, or your classmates, but you do NOT have the complete picture of those who are in the 20-something generation. Unless ALL the people you know in your age bracket are greater in number than the men in the USMC, your opinion is only that, an opinion. You are not the authority on attitudes of that generation, spread as they are over 50 states and many different demographics.
I suggest you find other people to hang around with. In fact, I suggest you talk to a military recruiter. You obviously are hungering to make your life meaningful, and I cannot think of a better way to accomplish this. Take 3 or 4 friends with you...it will do them good.
AS A SEPARATE POINT, I hope this guy is brought back to the US for interrogation. He was converted at 16, which means some Mosques are actively looking at converts among minors. I would guess that he has info on recruiting methods, inter-mosque connections, numbers of middle-class radical Islam sympathizers, and the like. His punishment, which should be severe, should be delayed until every last ounce of information is extracted from him.
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