Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 18:35:29 -0700 (MST)
From: thekoba  (K J WALSH)
Subject: Re: American Talib interview
To: nebukhadhnasar@yahoo.com
Cc: proton_4@rambler.ru, cbpeek@hotmail.com, snail
Reply-To: thekoba 




>Here's something of an interview that the American

>Talib gave to CNN.  They don't even give his Islamic

>name!  He's sticking up for his principles.  Good. 

>He's probably in trouble.


Dear Eric,

It is strange that the media insist on calling him John Walker Lindh
instead of Abdul Hamid.  I don't think they persisted in calling 
Muhammed Ali "Cassius Clay" or Malcolm X "Malcolm Little".  It is also
strange that they would interview someone who is so severely under the
influence of painkillers that he can't even remain conscious through the
interview.  It's interesting that Hamid condemns the prison uprising as
a breach of Islamic law while the media claim he participated in it.

Another thing that puzzles me is that if he is an American citizen and
is being handed over to civilian authorities, why haven't his parents 
sought a writ of habeus corpus?  Supposedly a civilian citizen can't be
detained this long without being charged with an offense.  If memory
serves, I think the maximum is 48 hours.

Comradely,

Kevin

>Wednesday December 19 9:44 PM ET 

>American Taliban Defends Terrorists

>Audio/Video 

>  Al Qaeda Prisoners Drilled (ABCNEWS.com)  

> 

> 

>   

>By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON, Associated Press Writer 

>

>WASHINGTON (AP) - Dizzy from morphine and weary from

>battle, American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh

>said in an interview soon after his capture that he

>had been a part of Ansar, the Arab fighters funded by

>Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) who fought for the

>Taliban. 

>

>He also said he had attended an Ansar training camp. 

>

>The interview was done Dec. 2 by a CNN reporter and

>was aired in its entirety for the first time

>Wednesday. 

>

>Walker said the Taliban fighters were organized in

>different branches based on ethnic groups. At first,

>Walker stayed with Taliban fighters from Pakistan,

>where he had studied for a couple of years. But then

>he was put with the group of Arab fighters who were

>funded by bin Laden because he spoke Arabic. 

>

>``Originally I came with Pakistanis,'' Lindh said.

>``They sent me to the Arabs.'' 

>

>What Lindh did while traveling with Taliban fighters

>in Afghanistan (news - web sites) could play a key

>role in what charges he might face in the United

>States. 

>

>Lindh, a 20-year-old American from San Anselmo,

>Calif., also defended the Taliban fighters in

>Afghanistan, saying the Quran permits Muslims to kill

>other Muslims in cases of holy war. 

>

>``That is a question that is addressed in the Quran

>itself,'' Lindh told CNN. ``In certain cases Muslims

>by necessity can kill and ... there are situations in

>which a Muslim can be killed (by other Muslims).'' 

>

>Referring to jihad, the Islamic word for holy war, he

>said, ``It's exactly what I thought it would be.'' 

>

>Asked if it was the right cause, he said,

>``Definitely.'' 

>

>Lindh, who sometimes uses his mother's last name of

>Walker, was found holed up with captured Taliban

>fighters last month after northern alliance forces

>quelled a prison uprising in northern Afghanistan. 

>

>He was taken into custody by American forces and flown

>to the USS Peleliu, off the coast of Pakistan. 

>

>Lindh told of dodging grenades and helping other

>Taliban fighters as northern alliance forces closed in

>on the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. 

>

>His face was blackened from battle and he swooned as

>he spoke, telling the reporter he was taking morphine

>to quell the pain from a gunshot wound. 

>

>Lindh said he went to join the Taliban in Afghanistan

>after studying in Pakistan because his ``heart became

>attached to the movement. I wanted to help them one

>way or another.'' 

>

>He said that after being captured, a few Taliban

>soldiers hid grenades in their clothes as they were

>taken to prison. He called the uprising a ``mistake of

>a handful of people'' because the Taliban soldiers had

>agreed not to fight. 

>

>``This is against what we had agreed upon, and this is

>against Islam,'' Lindh said. ``It is a major sin to

>break a contract, especially in military situations.''

>

>

>The spirits of the Taliban fighters were broken when

>rebel forces pumped gas, then water, into the prison,

>he said. 

>

>``More than half of us were injured on that last day

>when they poured water into the basement,'' he said.

>``We were standing in water, freezing water for maybe

>20 hours.'' 

>

>Talk of surrender came quickly. 

>

>The prison ``was filled with the stench of bodies and

>we didn't have any more weapons available. We said,

>'Look we're gonna die,''' he said. 

>

>``If we surrender, the worst that can happen is

>they'll torture us or kill us. So right here in the

>basement, they're torturing us and killing us, so we

>might as well surrender.'' 

>

>White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites)

>said Wednesday that President Bush (news - web sites)

>will make a decision about Lindh onceJustice

>Department (news - web sites) and Pentagon (news - web

>sites) officials finish reviewing his case. 

>

>``He is being treated as someone who fought against

>the United States in an armed conflict. And that's why

>he's classified properly as a battlefield detainee,

>and he is being treated well,'' Fleischer said. 

>

>Another videotape of Lindh, taken by ABC News, showed

>his interrogation by CIA (news - web sites) agents

>before the uprising. He sat despondent, in a dusty

>clearing with his hands tied behind his back. His

>clothing was tattered and dirty; his hair hid his

>face. His interrogators were Johnny ``Mike'' Spann,

>who was later killed in the uprising, and an agent

>known only as Dave. 

>

>Lindh didn't answer any questions during the

>interrogation and was led away.