I wasn’t a part, nor do I remember the initial trouble surrounding John Walker Lindh. In late 2001, we had our own problems to deal with at work, and I hadn’t yet discovered blogs.
A few years ago — I don’t remember when — I followed a link and looked up many of the reports about him. Today I came across this article at GQ. It’s written by an Iraq vet, so maybe it will get ignored.
The article pointed out how quickly the conversion went from the Taliban as creatures of our own creation to their being enemies. I think that there were a lot of people who had gotten distracted by Bosnia who then didn’t get what had happened in Afghanistan.
What struck me was that in the same year that John was prosecuted, the Bush administration had given millions to the Taliban. At least all of the photographs of his capture have been removed, as far as I can tell.
Having read the entire article, having endured the nonstop slurs, I empathize with the family.
Party of life. Party of death.
I’m quite happy with the leader of my party.
