U.S. Taliban Fighter Pleads Guilty to Charges - CNN

Yahoo News ^ | 7/15/02 | Reuters

[the bottle let me down]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - John Walker Lindh, an American captured by U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan ( news - web sites), has agreed to plead guilty to aiding the Taliban fundamentalist movement and carrying explosives, CNN said on Monday.

CNN said the plea deal was announced at a hearing at U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, where Lindh's case was being heard.

Lindh had originally pleaded not guilty to a 10-count indictment charging him with conspiring with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network, blamed by the United States for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

[Bob Evans]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

[Gurn]

Have to ask about your handle. Great song, and Emmylou Harris recently (i think) did a great re-make. Was the song your inspiration?

[the bottle let me down]

The link to the CNN story.

[the bottle let me down]

Yes. I just like Merle's music.

[Phantom Lord]

I heard one of the charges he plead guilty to was "carrying explosives during the commition (sp?) of a crime."

What juristiction over a 'criminal act' that is criminal in the US does the US have over anyone, including a US Citizen have when the 'crime' was committed in a foreign country?

[the bottle let me down]

By joining the Taliban/al Queda, he joined a conspiracy to commit a crime--terrorism against the US. As part of that crime, he carried explosives. Given that his first crime was joining an anti-US conspiracy, I don't see a problem with the US asserting extra-territorial jurisdiction.

[BrooklynGOP]

He'll be out in 15 years :(

[Wright is right!]

This is really awful news if you're CNN or any other network except Foxnews. It means the guy will get his due and the story will disappear as another opportunity for the media to bash the US.

Michael

[Phantom Lord]

Did he actually have explosives on his person? Or are they reclassifying ammunition as explosives? And if so, what is that going to mean to the rest of us as far as legal jeapordy through our ownership of ammunition?

[KantianBurke]

I'm thinking 5 years. Then he'll author a best selling autobiography and get whitewashed by academe. Life is gonna be good for this jerk. :<

[justanotherfreeper]

He'll be out in 15 years :(

Or maybe 5! I'm not happy about this -- the guy should have gotten the needle for treason! Does anyone know if he has to serve every day of the 20 years, or if he's eligible for parole in two weeks? Wonder what the wife and child of the CIA person he helped kill thinks about this.

[TheBattman]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS...............

Oh boy - now he will server 3-5 years and be free to get right back in his anti-USA activities. Lots of Muslim contacts in prison, so he will be primed and ready to go back to war when he gets paroled.

I still say this problem should have been taken care of on the battle field. They had no business bringing that traitor scum back over here. He forfieted any and all rights as a US citizen when he chose to join the army of an enemy state and actively paricipate in a war against the US.

Unfortunately, I think we all knew to expect this limp wristed treatment when they brought him back....

[Bob Evans]

(:^>

[the bottle let me down]

Did he actually have explosives on his person? Or are they reclassifying ammunition as explosives?

I don't know. I'd guess that he was carrying greandes when he was captured, or that in talking to the press he said that he'd received explosives training. But that's a guess.

[Phantom Lord]

If memory serves me right, until his pleading guilty, explosives have never been a part of any of the charges against him. Though it is well known he was armed with a fire arm.

[gridlock]

Lots of Muslim contacts in prison

The adherants of (Pr)Islam do to belong to the same religion as Johnnie Talibani. (Pr)Islam is more like a racist gang than a religion, kind of like a darker version of the Ku Klux Klan carrying Korans. I don't think that little Johnnie will get a very warm reception from them.

[the bottle let me down]

Then he'll author a best selling autobiography

Under the terms of the deal, the government gets any of the profits from stuff he publishes. Look for an "as told to" with profits going to his parents.

[airedale]

They are consecutive sentences not concurrent? If so he'll stay in the slammer for a lot longer then the 3 to 5 years he'd serve if they were concurrent.

[Free the USA]

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