The Washington Post
The American accused of helping al-Qaida and fighting with the Taliban arrived in Alexandria, Va., under heavy guard Wednesday evening and will appear in court this morning to face charges of conspiring to kill U.S. nationals abroad.
John Walker Lindh, 20, is also charged with providing material assistance to two terrorist organizations – Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network and the Pakistani group Harakat ul-Mujahideen. He could receive life in prison if convicted.
Walker’s apparent transformation from suburban teen-ager to Islamic militant has fascinated Americans and posed thorny legal questions. Top Bush administration officials wanted to come down hard on a man accused of fighting against his homeland alongside men who plotted and supported terrorist acts against American civilians. But they struggled to find a charge that would fit Walker’s alleged activities, which are highly unusual in modern times.
His journey by military plane and helicopter from the Arabian Sea to Alexandria was shrouded in secrecy, yet avidly followed by reporters and the American public.
According to a criminal complaint filed last week, Walker told the FBI he trained for seven weeks last summer in an al-Qaida camp and met briefly with bin Laden before fighting for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance in Takhar, Afghanistan.
Captured in the fall of Kunduz province, Walker was interviewed by CIA officer Johnny Mike Spann shortly before the officer’s death during a bloody prison riot outside Mazar-e-Sharif.
Walker, who grew up in the Maryland suburbs and in Northern California, was held in military custody for nearly two months aboard the USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea. He was then transferred to the U.S. military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and on Wednesday flown to the United States on a C-17 military transport plane.
Members of Walker’s family have portrayed him as a misguided youth who was coerced into fighting alongside al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.
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