For 'American Taliban,' spiritual journey began in suburbia

AP ^ | 12-03-01 | JUSTIN PRITCHARD

[Oldeconomybuyer]

FAIRFAX, Calif. (AP) -- The 20-year-old American who fought alongside the Taliban and was injured in a bloody uprising of prisoners in Mazar-e-Sharif has long been fascinated with Islam.

John Phillip Walker Lindh -- who gave his name in Afghanistan as Abdul Hamid -- apparently began his spiritual journey as a teenager in the wealthy, free-spirited San Francisco Bay suburbs of Marin County.

[aristeides]

Speaking of the USS Cole, wasn't this guy in Yemen in 2000? How do we know he did not participate in some way in the attack on the Cole and/or in the failed attack a few months earlier on the The Sullivans.

[aristeides]

That's an original thought! I bet it would be easy to persuade the Indian government to ask for his extradition.

[wayne_shrugged]

John Phillip Walker Lindh -- who gave his name in Afghanistan as Abdul Hamid -- apparently began his spiritual journey as a teenager in the wealthy, free-spirited San Francisco Bay suburbs of Marin County.

And some parents worry about the effect that Harry Potter might have on their kids?

Looks to me like fanatical Islam (or liberal left-wing extremism) might be slightly worse than Harry Potter any day. At least when I went to see "Harry Potter," I didn't end up looking like an extra from "Planet of the Apes."

[xzins]

"He is in control of U.S. military forces," Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, the deputy director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday in Washington.

Thought this line was interesting. He must have been one hell of a fighter.

(Typos make such interesting reading.)

Probably was there about the time of the Cole bombing.

[Yardstick]

Yeah, he's got counterculture hero written all over him. I could easily see him become the darling of the "white wine and quiche" set. And I agree that the CIA guy will be quickly forgotten -- I hadn't thought of that contrast until you mentioned it. The unfairness of that is really kind of poignant.

[Topaz]

Yes, I heard the report that John Walker was in Yemen a few years ago, but his father said something on Larry King about how he told his son at the time of the Cole that he thought it was horrible and his son told him that he did'nt have a problem with the bombing. Then his father went on to compare the converstaion between him and John to one that he had had with his own father during Vietnam.

I would guess that the parents created this monster.