Walker Lindh: legal technicalities

[StSanta]

Just curious as to how this works. He's being sentenced for  serving in the Taliban army and carrying weapons in doing so.

In Afghanistan at the time, doing so wasn't illegal. it was actually encouraged. In the US it would be illegal, but Lindh wasn't in the US.

How come this is under US jurisdiction? The US captured him, aye, but he didn't commit any crimes on US grounds, so why is it that US laws somehow rule in a foreign country?

Heh, next thing you know, I'll be sent to jail for growing pot or something - illegal in the US and everything

Just curious.

[Leslie]

Because he's a traitor?

[Cabby44]

Quote:

"How come this is under US jurisdiction? The US captured him, aye, but he didn't commit any crimes on US grounds, so why is it that US laws somehow rule in a foreign country? "

Who gives a flying-flip about Taliban "law"???   For example, during WWII,  US(Or Russian, British, etc.) Law "ruled" in Germany after the Allies were finished killing Germans on the battlefield, and in prosecuting Nazis in criminal court after the war.    


Jihad Johnny, a trained Terrorist and Traitor,  took up arms against the United States.  And lost.   He was captured in combat(too bad Jihad Johnny didn't get splattered by a JDAM)and came under the control of US Military forces.  Being on the losing side in War is bad.

Jihad Johnny deserves life in prison.  And so do his pinhead, Liberal-Leftist parents for raising such a fluffied-up doofus,  and for asking similar questions such as the above.

Actually, you do bring up a good point in that Jihad Johnny probably should have been tried in an Afghan court and made to serve his sentence in an Afghan prison.   He should have been stripped of his US Citizenship and banished forever from US soil............

[Hortlund]

Originally posted by Cabby44

Who gives a flying-flip about Taliban "law"???   For example, during WWII,  US(Or Russian, British, etc.) Law "ruled" in Germany after the Allies were finished killing Germans on the battlefield, and in prosecuting Nazis in criminal court after the war.  

Yeah, on very shaky legal grounds one might add...

Judge at Nuremburg:
"You are guilty of following the laws in your own country.
Had you chosen to break the laws of your own country, you would have been shot by your own government. But you followed the laws of your own country, and we think those laws SUCK, so now we will kill you."

Defendant at Nurmeburg:
"Eh...but..."

Vae victis

[Daff]

Nuremburg-trials was for crimes against humanity and you can hardly compare that to Walker.

Daff

[blur]

Originally posted by StSanta

How come this is under US jurisdiction? The US captured him, aye, but he didn't commit any crimes on US grounds, so why is it that US laws somehow rule in a foreign country?

Because we have more B-52s than the Taliban.

Actually I think that Lindh had a good case and that he wimped out on the plea bargain. Twenty years doesn’t sound like a good deal to me. But then again there was probably no way he’d get a fair trial. Not in the U.S. anyway.

[Eagler]

I am just glad it was quick

I'd hoped it'd been quicker, like a slip from a chopper from say 5,000 ft ...

[Cabby44]

Quote:

" But then again there was probably no way he’d get a fair trial. Not in the U.S. anyway."

Comrade Blur, i suggest you pack your bags and move to where YOU think Jihad Johnny WOULD get a "fair trial".  Write if you get work.............

Daff:

The Taliban is/was a crime against humanity.  No question about it.   If you don't see that, i feel sorry for you.  Anyway, who cares about Nuremburg.  The Nazis were tried and hanged,  which should have been Jihad Johnny's fate................

[Nifty]

The really sick thing about this was his father comparing him to Nelson Mandella.  Mandella was against oppression.  Walker supported a regime that promotes oppression of their own people.

[miko2d]

Originally posted by Cabby44
The Taliban is/was a crime against humanity.  No question about it.   If you don't see that, i feel sorry for you.

 Sure, it caused disaster for people of Afghanistan - and we, the US of A must be held accountable for creating and supporting it.

 Nevertheless JWL was accused of crimes against USA, not Taliban's crimes against not Afghanistan - in which he did not participate either because he joined them too late.

 He did not do anything against USA and the only incriminating evidence against him is the interview he gave to a journalist.

 He could have claimed that he was there before US declared itself an enemy of Taliban (al-Qaeda attacked us, not Taliban, remember?) and could not easily leave it afterwards. He could claim that his speech to journalist nothing more than stupid delusional grandstanding. There would have been a good chance that it would not have even been shown to the jury.

 It looks to me that he chose to go to jail for some reason. He will have access to books and education, gym, etc. and the living conditions cannot even come close to those in Taliban training camps.

 Mark my words - when he comes out of jail in 17 years (20 - 15% for good behavior) - a healthy 40-year old, he will become a revered elder with a lot of following among world's muslims. He will still have plenty of time to marry his 4 wives and make lot of kids and become a major muslim leader that leaders of whatever states are still there will have to take seriously. Kind of like that lowlife terrorist Nelson Mandela but on much grander scale.

 He would have been nothing otherwise. There was no way on earth for him to acheve such heights without help from our government's stupid prosecution. Now his futire is bright and happy.

 miko

[Cabby44]

^You gotta be toejamting me................

Cabby

[miko2d]

Originally posted by Cabby44
^You gotta be toejamting me................
Cabby

 What do you find unbelievable in my scenario?
 About the part that he could have gotten a better deal - like 5-10 years in jail and remained naimless nobody? Many lawyers think so but  I guess we will never know that now.

 About him coming out in 17 years when he is 40? That's math.

 About him dedicating his 17 years in jail to study Koran, muslim religion and other stuff? Why not?

 About him coming out of jail and being acclaimed by whatever fundamentalists are there, writing books, giving speeches, teaching in muslim schools and becoming a major nuisance from a minor one? What is so unbelievable?
 Hitler was a minor nuisance when they sent him to jail in 1923. He wrote Mein Kamph while he was there and came back much better off.  

 miko

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Cabby44
Quote:

"Jihad Johnny, a trained Terrorist and Traitor,  took up arms against the United States.  

Possibly, but he wasn't convicted for it. Probably because the U.S. does not have sufficient evidence to prove it.

Actually, you do bring up a good point in that Jihad Johnny probably should have been tried in an Afghan court and made to serve his sentence in an Afghan prison.   He should have been stripped of his US Citizenship and banished forever from US soil............

Banishment? Didn't think that was an option with the U.S. legal system.

[Eagler]

I hope in those 17 to 20 years he makes himself a wife 4 times over to bubba and his friends ....

[miko2d]

Originally posted by Eagler
I hope in those 17 to 20 years he makes himself a wife 4 times over to bubba and his friends ....

 Sure, the more he suffers, the stronger his resume becomes. He will have to take care not to look to healthy and glowing when he comes out. He will need to stage a hunger strike or two for publicity and get beaten by guards once in a while. Reminds me of russian revolutionaries for whom a prison was a necessary rights of passage.

 miko