John Walker Lindh turned his back on his country. He deserves no special treatment.
The United States is in the unique position of trying to bring the Taliban and its members to justice, while trying to refute criticism for the military’s alleged mistreatment of these prisoners.
According to The Associated Press, Lindh learned in June about the suicide operation carried out on Sept. 11.
For that reason, Lindh should not receive special treatment.
He should be dealt with the same as the rest of the Taliban members will be dealt. It was his choice to join a group that opposes everything the United States represents.
While being questioned in Afghanistan, the American Taliban soldier reportedly asked for a lawyer, but was refused.
He is now in Virginia, after being held on a warship, and has been charged with conspiring to kill American citizens.
He will have his own trial in a U.S. federal court, while other Taliban members could face trial by secret military tribunals.
Also according to AP, Lindh left Marin County in northern California, after converting to Islam when he was 16. He attended the Yemen Language Center in San’a, the capital of Yemen, in 1998, where he studied Arabic.
While there, he complained about having to study with women and accused other Muslims of not praying enough.
He left the school after a semester and returned to the states for eight months in 1999.
He then traveled back to the Middle East, where he joined the Taliban.
Once a part of the radical group, he met with Osama bin Laden, he said.
Lindh was captured during the siege of Kunduz in November and survived the prison uprising near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
He will not be sent to Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, where other Taliban detainees and suspected al-Qaeda members are being held. Instead, because he is a U.S. citizen, he gets a trial in court.
Lindh gave up his right to his citizenship when he joined the Taliban.
He rejected this country, joined a fundamentalist group that oppresses the rights of women and is committed to jihad, or fighting a holy war.
He was in the prison uprising, a fight between the cornered Taliban and the Northern Alliance, along with U.S. military forces.
In the eyes of the Taliban, the U.S. is the enemy and must be destroyed.
The events of Sept. 11 are terrible proof of the Taliban and al-Qaeda’s mission.
Instead of having his own trial in American courts, Lindh should be sent to Guantanamo Bay. He should be judged as the other Taliban prisoners will be judged in military tribunals.
If he’s part of the Taliban, he should be tried as part of the Taliban.