Lindh’s patriotism questioned
Collegian Opinion

    John Walker Lindh, the now infamous American Taliban, signed a surprise plea bargain with federal prosecutors this month.

   In exchange for a guilty plea and his cooperation in ongoing federal investigations of terrorist activities, prosecutors dropped charges of conspiring to kill Americans and released him from any responsibility in the death of CIA agent Mike Spann.

   Lindh will be convicted of only two charges: providing services to the Taliban, which had been declared a terrorist organization by both presidents Clinton and Bush, and carrying explosives (a rifle and two grenades) while doing so.

   For these crimes, Lindh will serve just 20 years in prison.

   And, in case that sentence is not lenient enough, Lindh will also be able to earn a few years off for “good behavior,” meaning he may only have to serve 17 years.

   Why should a man who knowingly committed crimes against his country be awarded time off for good behavior?

   In fact, why isn’t he serving the life sentence prosecutors would have pushed for if the case had gone to trial?

   Lindh’s attorneys and his family have made numerous attempts to win him support in the court of public opinion.

   They have tried to portray him as a mixed-up kid who, somewhere deep down inside, “loves America.”

   Curiously, Lindh has never really said anything to defend himself. Rather, it his father, Frank, who keeps trying to color him a patriot.

   “John loves America. We love America,” he said.

   John, however, clearly does not love America.

   He even told his father he supported the terrorist bombing of a U.S. warship in Yemen. He called the docking of the ship there, “an act of war.”

   How can statements like that possibly be construed as love for America?

   Anyone who believes terrorist acts that take American lives are acceptable has no respect for the ideals this nation was built upon: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

   Lindh, though, appears not to care about those ideals. He actually supports terror.

   He may not have directly participated in the Sept. 11 attacks or the bombing in Yemen, but he has expressed support for both events.

   His support for terror, however, is not just verbal. He knowingly took actions detrimental to his own country.

   Lindh actually provided his services as a soldier to the Taliban, an organization known to be instrumental in making such terror attacks happen.

   Perhaps Frank Lindh should not be so quick to speak to the media regarding his son. To truly win points with the public, John should be doing some explaining of his own.

   We do not expect Frank Lindh to stop loving John, or to be unsupportive, but his comments about his son’s patriotism, in light of John’s actions, are in poor taste.

   Regarding U.S. relations with the Islamic world, Frank Lindh said, “He can do a lot for America.”

   If Lindh loves his country and was trying to help us, let’s just hope he never gets angry at the United States when he’s a middle-aged ex-convict.