American Taliban Fighter Says Followed His Heart

Reuters ^ | 12-03-01

[Oldeconomybuyer]

KABUL (Reuters) - A 20-year-old American who fought for the Taliban and survived a bloody prison uprising in northern Afghanistan said his heart drew him to the hard-line Islamic movement.

A Pentagon official said on Monday U.S. military forces had in their control a man who claimed to be an American who came into their possession in the Mazar-i-Sharif area, near where the prison uprising took place.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

This image made from television footage made in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan Saturday Dec,1 2001, shows man, at right, claiming to be an American Taliban volunteer calling himself Abdul Hamid. The man was among survivors of the fortress prison revolt driven from tunnels there flooded by the northern alliance. Man at left isunidentified. (AP Photo/APTN)

John Walker (AKA Abdul Hamid) and his parents are fricking idiots!

[Dallas]

This punk should be the poster child for birth-control....

[order_of_reason]

Well, for a traitor like that, perhaps a convienient "accident during transport of prisoners" will make him a DEAD idiot.

[borntodiefree]

OK, now comes the question, is he tried in the military tribunal or is he tried in the civilian courts?

[homeschool mama]

Such a nice boy...The kind you'd want your daughter to bring home.

[MissAmericanPie]

He "followed his heart", now he can follow the bullet which is the just reward for joining a foreign army against your own nation.

[vikingchick]

Did you see this? Mommy lives in Fairfax, and daddy's in San Rafael. I saw the punk interviewed on the local news last night, and he's got this fake, American/Pakistani accent going on.

[classygreeneyedblonde]

Brainwashed

[KSCITYBOY]

Try him for treason and then a nice sweet firing squad! He is a classic example of liberalism.

[PaxMacian]

With treason in his heart he followed the heretical slayers of peaceful christians preaching the word to battle with his own countrymen. I want to see him swinging from a tree! Nothing less will suffice!

[GuillermoX]

Typical for todays parents: "MY little Johnny? He's such a sweet boy, there's NO WAY he did anything wrong!!! It's YOUR fault, not his!!"

[GotMojo]

The dude next to him looks like a stoned Cornelius from Planet of the Apes!

[SuziQ]

Marilyn Walker said she was shocked by her son's support for the Taliban and bin Laden. ``If he got involved with the Taliban, he must have been brainwashed,'' she told Newsweek. ``He was isolated. He didn't know a soul in Pakistan. When you're young and impressionable, it's easy to be led by charismatic people.''

Hey lady, GET A CLUE! His brainwashing didn't start in Pakistan! How did he get over there in the first place? Who paid his way?

This boy sounds like the product of clueless parents not too concerned about what he did or where he went. I'm not letting the young man off the hook, but he sounds like the prime target for 'cultists' in which category I would place the Taliban. They welcomed him and gave him acceptance and a home which is more, apparently, than his parents did! But he knew the score, he apparently thought the attack on America was just fine, which smells like treason to me! I'm sure the Special Forces guys who took him in had to restrain themselves quite a bit.

Of course, if it turns out that this guy was PLACED in that madrassah in Pakistan by our intelligence forces, then I'll request a 'congressional perk' and reserve the right to "revise my remarks".

[jpl]

This guy's name is John Walker? Now I'll never be able to enjoy a good scotch whiskey without thinking of this idiot.

[AnnaZ]

He was later transferred along with hundreds of other prisoners to Qala-i-Jangi fortress west of Mazar-i-Sharif, where a revolt broke out a week ago. The uprising was violently put down by U.S. warplanes and Northern Alliance ground forces.

I guess quoting blackmotoristRodneyKing, an obvious first choice in riot-quelling technique, didn't have the desired effect.

[Terry Mross]

Now let's put a bullet in his heart.

[B Knotts]

OK, now comes the question, is he tried in the military tribunal or is he tried in the civilian courts?

For some reason, this dilemma calls to mind (for me, at least) Mark Twain's recounting of an extraordinary case in the Chincha Islands:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/calbk:@field(DOCID+@lit(C197D0050)):

"Gentlemen, I'm not stubborn and I'm not unreasonable. I'm always willing to do just as near right as I can. How long will it take?"

"Probably only a little while."

"And can I take him up the shore and hang him as soon as you are done?"

"If he is proven guilty he shall be hanged without unnecessary delay."

If he's proven guilty. Great Neptune, ain't he guilty? This beats my time. Why you all know he's guilty."

But at last they satisfied him that they were projecting nothing underhanded. Then he said:

"Well, all right. You go on and try him and I'll go down and overhaul his conscience and prepare him to go--like enough he needs it, and I don't want to send him off without a show for hereafter."

This was another obstacle. They finally convinced him that it was necessary to have the accused in court. Then they said they would send a guard to bring him.

"No, sir, I prefer to fetch him myself--he don't get out of my hands. Besides, I've got to go to the ship to get a rope, anyway."

[mgc1122]

My heart says to put a bullet in his ear. Today.

[TADSLOS]

Marilyn Walker said she was shocked by her son's support for the Taliban and bin Laden. ``If he got involved with the Taliban, he must have been brainwashed,'' she told Newsweek. ``He was isolated. He didn't know a soul in Pakistan. When you're young and impressionable, it's easy to be led by charismatic people.''

"You rode with these boys and crossed the line, Jake. Deets, find a good tree to hang these fellas with". - Woodrow Call, Lonesome Dove

[onedoug]

He'll get off like Jane Fonda did. Congress has not declared War.