John Walker Lindh, “the American Taliban,” got the deal of the century — a plea-bargain agreement from the U.S. government that spared his life. After the surprise deal was announced, Walker’s father said, “John loves America and we love America. God Bless America.” It’s easy to love America when your son gets a 20-year sentence instead of being executed for taking up arms and explosives against American ally Afghanistan and by extension his fellow countrymen.
One family that the deal did not sit well with was that of Johnny Spann, the CIA officer who was shot and killed in a Taliban prison uprising at Mazar-e-Sharif on Nov. 25, shortly after he interviewed Lindh. At a minimum, the Spann family wanted a life sentence for Lindh. Spann’s family believes that Lindh played a role in their son’s death. Many families whose sons and daughters are serving overseas on the front lines would have preferred to see the “Marin County Mullah” tried by a military tribunal for treason and if convicted, executed.
Right or wrong, it is official U.S. policy to try Americans apprehended on the wrong side of the War on Terrorism in civilian, not military court. That, for all intense purposes, ruled out the death penalty.
But what bothered many others and me was that the Attorney General’s office dropped nine serious counts against Lindh, including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. The net effect of dropping the charges was that life in prison was ruled out. Many Americans believe that Lindh committed treason against the United States. Treason remains a capital offense. Perhaps Attorney General John Ashcroft thought that treason could not be proven. Yet many of us in a conservative movement thought the government had an obligation to carry the original 10-count indictment to trial and were troubled by the Justice Department’s decision to cut a deal.
Yet Lindh had defenders. Many hand-wringers of liberal persuasion, including Lindh’s parents, and I am paraphrasing, saw Lindh as a young man on a spiritual path who was trying to find himself. In other words, Walker was a victim.
Some radical leftists referred to the charges against the American Taliban as “the lynching of John Walker Lindh.” They insisted that Lindh was simply on a mission to stop the Northern alliance from retaking Afghanistan; no matter that Lindh trained with Al Queda terrorists and that he also met with Osama Bin Laden in the summer of 2001. During the meeting, Bin Laden thanked Lindh and other trainees for taking part in the “Jihad.”
The premise of Lindh defenders’ argument was that the “circumstances” were not clear. Maybe not, but his intent was clear. He was fighting for the Taliban, who were at war with the Northern Alliance and the United States. His choices may have been misguided and his newfound spiritual beliefs may have taken him away from his home into the company of terrorists, but errors of judgment do not absolve him of his actions.
Lindh, like many others of his generation and the generation that preceded him, have been taught to “find themselves” and “if it feels good, do it.” Then like Lindh, or the executive who cooks the books, suddenly they find themselves facing criminal penalties. It is then that it dawns on them that their actions do have consequences.
They are like the thief who got caught. What troubles them is not the morality of their actions but the fact that their hands got stuck in the cookie jar. Lindh got a sweetheart deal. In the parlance of the street, “he got off light.” With time off for good behavior he will be a free man before he is 40. Perhaps when he gets out he will write a book; certainly he will do the “talk” shows. But think about this: Spann and many other young Americans of Lindh’s generation made choices, too. They chose to serve, protect, and fight for America, not to take up arms against it. They made the right choice, and some will sacrifice their life for duty, honor, and country. That is a much higher price than the deal of 20 years and out that Lindh was handed.
Marc Rotterman is a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation and treasurer of the American Conservative Union.