Posted on 12/20/2001 1:34:03 AM PST by mdittmar
Prosecutors are preparing to charge American Taliban John Walker Lindh with violating a recently passed federal law that makes it a crime to provide support to terrorists, U.S. officials told NBC News’ Pete Williams. The Justice Department has apparently ruled out charging him with treason, given the demanding legal standard set by the Constitution and the difficulty of finding witnesses from the Taliban who would testify against Walker.
INSTEAD, WALKER is to be charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization. The maximum penalty for a conviction on that charge is life in prison, under the just-passed USA Patriot Act, “if death resulted from the offense.” By contrast, the maximum penalty for treason is death.
The 20-year-old Californian was captured earlier this month after a prison uprising during which CIA agent Mike Spann was killed by Taliban fighters.
Officials told NBC News that Walker could be formally charged within the next few days.
WALKER SPEAKS
On Tuesday evening, CNN broadcast excerpts of an interview with Walker in which he said he did not participate in the uprising, but was in a basement where many of his comrades were killed.
“I was in the basement the whole time,” Walker said in the interview, taped Dec. 2. “I didn’t see what was going on. I just heard.”
He called the uprising “a mistake of a handful of people” and said, “This is against what we had agreed upon, and this is against Islam. It is a major sin to break a contract, especially in military situations.”
Asked if the Taliban’s cause was the right one, he said, “Definitely.”
TREASON TOUGH TO PROVE
Some United States officials favor charging Walker, who goes by his mother’s last name, in a military court-martial, not a civilian court. But legal scholars say that would not be a good fit.
Gene Fidell, a military law expert, said a court-martial is only for a member of the U.S. military or someone who has committed a war crime.
“Apparently there’s no indication Mr. Walker committed what are known as ‘war crimes,’” Fidell said.
As for treason, proving that charge against an American citizen like Walker is particularly difficult because the Constitution requires either two eye witnesses to testify or Walker to confess in court that he fought against the United States.
The last person convicted of treason was Tomoya Kawakita, a Japanese-American sentenced to death in 1952 for tormenting American prisoners of war during World War II.
For now, Walker is in military custody on a Navy ship, and prosecutors have not yet decided where in the United States to take him to face charges.
“He is being given all his rights, which are far more than the rights the Taliban or the al Qaida extended to anybody living there,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Administration officials say the president is keeping close tabs on the case.
WALKER DENIED LAWYER
The White House said Wednesday the U.S. denial of a lawyer for Walker was appropriate because he is a “battlefield detainee” governed by the Geneva Convention.
Walker’s fate has been a growing side story to America’s war in Afghanistan, with a debate breaking out over how he is to be treated after leaving his home country to join up with the Taliban.
Some legal experts questioned Walker’s treatment, insisting he was entitled to a lawyer under the U.S. Constitution.
His family has demanded he be allowed to see an attorney. His parents, Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker, have attempted to portray their son, who converted to Islam at the age of 16, as a misguided idealist rather than a hard-core Muslim extremist.
“He is being treated as someone who fought against the United States in an armed conflict, and that’s why he is classified properly as a battlefield detainee, and he’s being treated well,” said Fleischer.
Walker has told U.S. authorities he was a member of al-Qaida, the militant network led by Osama bin Laden that Bush blames for the Sept. 11 attacks, Pentagon officials said.
Yes. Since Johnny is now or is becoming such a hot political potato, turning him over to the Afghanistan government would be the wisest step. Otherwise, we could be said to be protecting him from the charges against him in that prison uprising. I imagine the Bushies are not entirely happy to make a decision, any decision, in this case.
What is likely to happen, I think, is that an illusion of justice will be created, to split and divide the hard line opposition such as ourselves. By illusion of justice I mean the same treatment that had been given to all the SLA and Weatherman members who are all free and even on government payroll as we speak. Dues process, blah, blah, blah, trial, blah, blah, blah, "the system works" to quote OJ Simpson and the many who are completely satisfied if not with the outcome of that trial then with the process that led to it. The system works!
Johnny Jihad should have been obliterated, without a trace, nacht und nebel . Now, we got this @$$hole, on a ship, being "well treated". One hopes little Johnny's treatment includes round the clock interrogation.
This trial, IF it is not a military tribunal is going to rival OJ's for the leftist spin and opportunity to go on the screaming face shows.
It has now become virtually impossible to make him disappear, which is a shame. If we are going to use this as a test case, lets get to it. Let's clean out the leftover Xlintoon influence at Justice as well while we are at it. Rumsfield is a good AG, but he has scrap backing him up. We need a speedy trial and quick justice, either at the end of a rope (preferred) or at the recieving end of several 62 grain SS109's at the aft end of the flight deck.
Keep the Faith for Freedom
MAY GOD BLESS AND PROTECT THIS HONORABLE REPUBLIC
Greg
"If Haupt's overt acts - assisting his saboteur son to get a job, a place to live, and an automobile - were sufficient to sustain a treason indictment and conviction, and if Fonda's overt acts - broadcasts, photo ops, lies, meetings, press conferences - could have been sufficient to sustain a treason indictment and conviction, then what about Taliban John's overt acts that are described above: terrorist training, terrorist combat, terrorist travel, terrorist rebellion, and perhaps complicity in terrorist murder of an American?
It is his opinion that Jane Fonda should have been brought up on these charges too, and I can't help but agree.
Hmmmm.....Hypocrite.
I don't seem to remember anything in his campaign literature or stump speeches that said he would circumvent the law or the Constitution to enable the punishment of enemies of this Country. Granted, it would be nice to just make it up as you go for individual circumstances; see Chicoms, Iraq, Cuba, or any other dictatorship.
Perhaps you have forgotten what country you live in?
Let me refresh your memory. We don't convict on what we want, deserved or not...see OJ golfing in Florida. All the pieces need to be in position to do it the right way.
If we don't do it the way we have sacrificed for over 200 years our best and bravest to defend, what are our moral foundations? From where do we get our moral certainty?
Our laws and legal system may not be the best, but they're the best on this planet!
Supporting evidence, please! You say Dunkin Donuts are the best, I say it's Krispy Kreme!
Wrong yourself. There is a Constitutional requirement that at least two witnesses must testify to the same overt act.
Longest lived government on the planet designed, operated and supported by the governed peoples.
If it wasn't the best we could have, we would have changed it before now in favor of a better system. We, unlike dictatorships, monarchies, communist regimes, et al. have the right to modify our government and our laws as we see fit.
I also modestly include some bias...but what can I do...I love this land.
Surely you don't hold this knuckle-head responsible for what the Taliban did?
Treason was deliberately created to have as high a standard of proof as possible in order to avoid turning political dissent into treason as the King was wont to do.
" Pete Williams
Pete Williams has been covering the Justice Department and the U.S. Supreme Court for NBC News as a correspondent, based in Washington, DC., since March 1993.
Prior to joining NBC, Williams served as a press official on Capitol Hill for many years. In 1986 he joined the Washington, DC staff of Congressman Dick Cheney of Wyoming as press secretary and a legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. While there, Williams was named Government Communicator of the Year in 1991 by the National Association of Government Communicators.
A native of Casper, WY, and a 1974 graduate of Stanford University, Williams was a reporter and news director at KTWO-TV and Radio in Casper from 1974 to 1985."
His closeness to Cheney is why I suggested he might be sending up a trial balloon as a favor to the Bush Administration. But then I listened to the Williams report, and he did not say "Treason charges were ruled out", and he did not say "a decision had been made." It was more like a "maybe" to any possibility.
Now that Ari Fleischer has said no decision will be made this week and probably not next week, I think President Bush is reconsidering the lighter charge. The lighter charge definitely was not well received.
Doubt it. Especially first-time offenders.
Mercy is a significant feature of our justice system. We're different from the Taliban.
I thought maybe it was just me wanting the book thrown at him (I mean, I get a lot of flack here on FR for saying I think he's guilty of treason and should be prosectured)--but awhile ago on Fox, John Gibson talked about the tons of letters he's been getting from mothers of 18, 19, and 20 year old sons who are in the military, some of them over there where the likes of Walker could conceivably fire on their sons. These men--who are the same age as Walker--did the right thing in their lives, while Walker did the shabbiest of things. For the sake of those men, and those who have lost lives or limbs, he must at least be tried for his crimes. I hope someone properly pops that balloon, if that's what it was.
John Walker is not a knuckle-head, or a misled kid, or anything of the sort. He considers himself Taliban. He is a trained, cold-blooded killer. He is convinced the Taliban is right and justified to kill our fellow American citizens. He has the 'courage' of his convictions, or so we keep hearing.
And just what are those convictions? He believes killing you and me would be justified. I don't have to hold him responsible..he himself is proud of the side he took, and is unrepentant to boot. HE made his bed and must now sleep in it. So yes, in my view, he is just as responsible as the rest of them.
Come to your own conclusions as to what kind of person he is. He doesn't deserve to be called an American.
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