"Al-qeada pays big premiums to get people with US passports"
Do you have any evidence or have ever heard any report to the fact that the AlQuaida or Taliban forces that Johhny was with ever knew that he was an American? I sincerely doubt that they would have ever let an American in there. Johnny had to lie and say he was from Ireland. So your contention that Johnny was Osama's American trophy bride is phony. There is just no way that Osama's Afghanistan camps were some sort of lure to American Jihadists. "No American's need apply" was the sign on the door.
He was there at least twice, by his own admission, meeting with bin Laden.
You cannot possibly believe that an organization like bin Laden's wouldn't know everything there was to know about this kid within hours, especially since you could trace his travles through the mideast.
He's from MARIN COUNTY, dude, not Queens.
Call the boys back at the law firm and tell them that one won't fly.
They came out of the basement, soaking wet and shivering, clambering over the rubble and body parts. Saturday afternoon they sat and lay in the truck, waiting to be transported two hours away to a camp in Sherbagan. It is unclear what will happen to Abdul Hamid, who says he lost his U.S. passport in Kunduz.
Ok, here he says he "lost" his passport in Kunduz. Kunduz is in Afghanistan, the place the last group of al-Qeada's foreign fighters had holed up before the 'uprising' at the fort where Spann was killed. So, who do you think he "lost" it to? A common pickpocket? His own employers? In the battle? Perhaps, perhaps not, It may be that they took his passport, or that he gave it to them willingly. It may be that he lost it a long time before, and was used by someone else, modified or not. In any case, by his own admission, he claims he lost it in Kunduz. Assuming he was telling the truth here ( a big if) then apparently his fellow fighters were aware of his nationality. If they did not, why would he risk carrying an American passport? He's not the only westerner in al Qeada, not the only white guy ever caught in their service. He never kept his nationality secret in Yemen or Pakistan. No one is going to carry a passport that far, in the company of terrorists, and not have someone in his group look at it.
I sincerely doubt that they would have ever let an American in there.
You may doubt it but the fact is, they did. There were people there from all over the world, speaking different languages, including Russian. They were tested on their background, who vouched for them, what madrassas school they attended, etc. Don't you think they would ask for references? Even the mafia asks for references before they deal. And they WILL confirm them to see if you are who you say.
Johnny had to lie and say he was from Ireland.
Had to lie to WHO? In Yemen, they knew he was American; in Pakistan they knew he was American. Do you think he just made a cold call in Kabul and was warmly received by the terrorist group he joined as an IRISH citizen? Without an IRISH passport? You think they would accept that? When he went to Afghanstan's capitol he was sent to a training camp funded by Osama bin Laden. While there, he was present when Osama made his house calls. You can darn well bet they knew everything there was to know about him and would not take him at his word that he was Irish or anything else. They could check him on that too easily.
The people he dealt with in California in his studies, when he really was a boy, are 'reportedly' (French source) linked to an islamicist group which is, in turn, a supporter of the Taliban. In the case of the California cell, members frequently traveled to Yemen. This is the same group to which the shoebomber Richard Reid belonged, albeit in another country.
Walker was most likely recruited from day one and lured to Yemen in order to further isolate him and so 'educate' him in this group's ideology. (His mom and dad use this idea to assert he was 'brainwashed.') But he went willingly and was very dedicated, even extremist to the point of irritation, according to those who schooled with him. He didn't just pop over to Yemen, of all places, without knowing anyone there. So who was it who sponsored him? From the start in Yemen he attached himself to extreme fundamentalists and kept citing from leaflets they had given him. How did he find those people if they weren't waiting for him when he got there? The implications of his associations through his life lead to the possibility that he was being cultivated all along. His resume was well known to those who were mentoring him.
So your contention that Johnny was Osama's American trophy bride is phony.
I didn't say he was Osama's trophy bride. But then, you have not discounted anything I said, you based your assesment on the idea that they wouldn't let an American join them, which is a baseless assumption. That assertion holds no water because al-Qeada has a past record of selecting foreigners for service, apart from John Walker.
There is just no way that Osama's Afghanistan camps were some sort of lure to American Jihadists.
On what do you base this theory? John Walker went of his own free will to Afghanistan and of his own free will was trained in an al-Qeada camp. And after 9/11 we had some nimrod American in New York who had a relative in the WTC bombing, who packed his bags to go seek out terrorists and join their jihad. That was well-reported. they might not be Disneyland, but some people can be drawn to some weird things.
"No American's need apply" was the sign on the door.
You are simply wrong. There is no one anywhere who is claiming that al-Qeada was adverse to accepting American recruits, or members from ANY foreign country. In fact, evidence contradicts that idea. They had a very strong recruitment and fundraising movement within the US as do many Islamic terrorist groups. The first bombing of the world Trade Center some years ago was carried out by one of bin Laden's buddy-mentors who was originally from Pakistan. He started an islamic terrorist group here in the US called al Fuqra which has cells operating in several states and which was recently part of the news in the Tennessee license scandals. They operate all over the US and in the Caribbean and are a direct cell of a larger group in Pakistan which sounds something like "Jamaat", also a subcell of al Qeada.