Why U.S. accepted plea bargain ANALYSIS: Trial would pose risks for government...secrecy

SF Chronicle ^ | 7-16-02 | Marc Sandalow

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Washington -- By reaching a plea bargain with a man accused by the attorney general of fighting "side by side with tyrants," the government swiftly eliminated the risk of bringing unwanted attention to the underside of the U.S. war against terror.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

U.S., Lindh play it safe, agree to plea bargain
LEGAL VIEW: Ordinary outcome for an extremely odd court case -San Francisco Chronicle
Reynolds Holding
The prosecution of John Walker Lindh, by any measure a case of extraordinary legal importance, came to an end Monday in a very ordinary way: with a settlement forced by circumstances that made the proceedings too risky for either side...

U.S., Lindh play it safe, agree to plea bargain
COURT DEAL: Marin Taliban avoids life -San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Epstein
In a surprise twist that his lawyers called an effort to give John Walker Lindh "his future," the Marin County man known as the American Taliban pleaded guilty Monday to charges that will send him to a federal prison for as long as 20...

[bok]

Lindh should have been HANGED for treason.

[Illbay]

Despite the inevitable haranguing on this and similar threads, this was a good deal. This was a stupid kid who got in way over his head. Forty years sounds like it's more than adequate. With respect to the Spann family, there's little evidence Lindh had anything to do with Mike's death.

Meanwhile, we don't give the radical Left a chance to grandstand, and eke out valuable intelligence information.

It's time to move on to more important topics, like how to destroy terrorism that directly affects America.

[Leisler]

Lind was questioned by Span. Span was a federal agent. Lind a US citizen. Lind told the others that Span was CIA. Lind instigated, if not led, the revolt. Conspiring with others to kill a federal agent is a death sentence crime. Hence the total swallow down of the goverments offer by Lind and his lawyers. It was this or death/life.

On another theme, Lind is now on the Rosenburgs/Hiss was a hero path. Watch the spin and invention in the press. I predict sob story NYTimes sunday feature, 60 minutes hand holding with his parents, Missy Lind and his mother, et al...

[PLK]

Too much news emphasis on Walker Lindh would have become a distracting sideshow."

Yeah, exactly why we should be using military tribunals for these traitors. This Duke professor was probably one of the same elite academics screaming that a tribunal would violate Jihad Johnny's civil rights. I could just scream!

Did you see Mike Spamm's wife on Fox last night? My heart breaks for her and their children. He was a true hero.

[Illbay]

My three-year-old grandson will be finished with college before Lindh gets out. That sounds right to me.

[PLK]

Spamm's = Spann's

big typo, sorry

[SC DOC]

He should serve his time in a non-segregated confinement with the general prison population after the government has leaked that he has given them significant information about the Taliban. Heh heh heh.

[PGalt]

A firing squad and let him rot where he drops in Afghanistan should have been Johnny Jihad's fate. Sympathy for the criminal is TREASON to the victim(s)...the Spann family, WTC families, your family, my family.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I suspect Jihad Johnny will be required to wear a burka by his new prison pals when they play "Pin the Tail of the Taliban" ...

This image from the CNN show" People in the News" shows a bearded and bedraggled John Walker Lindh being interviewed in Afghanistan Dec. 2, 2001. Lindh, now clean shaven with short hair, has admitted his association with the Taliban and may face 20 years in jail; another step in his journey that began with visits to evangelical San Francisco mosques when he was 16 years old. (AP Photo/CNN) - Jul 16 12:09 AM ET

[CatoRenasci]

I agree that he should simply be placed in the general population in the hardest prison in the federal system. And the new 'jack ruby' should have his sentence commuted.

[Always Right]

No matter how strong the evidence, the high-profile trial threatened to expose intelligence sources or secret information gleaned from Taliban prisoners. It was also certain to shine a spotlight on the harsh treatment of prisoners under American control in Afghanistan.

No, it was only certain to give Lindh's attorney massive air time to spew lies. The deal was OK, not because there was anything to cover up, but because the left would have a field day feuling the lies and spreading anti-American propaganda. Not that this deal is gonna stop that.

[norton]

The only hopeful note in this is that future troopers might be strongly inclined to make certain that any "american taliban" they uncover during normal operations do NOT make their way into custody.

[norton]

The only hopeful note in this is that future troopers might be strongly inclined to make certain that any "american taliban" they uncover during normal operations do NOT make their way into custody.