Feds to Charge American Taliban
John Walker In US Courts for Aiding Terrorism 1/15/01
According to the Associated Press, President Bush has approved allowing the Justice Department to charge American Taliban John Walker Lindh in civilian court on charges of aiding terrorism, government sources said Tuesday.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush ''is supportive of the process put in place. He is confident that the process will end in justice.''
The charges were recommended to Bush by the National Security Council, which mediated advice from the Justice Department, the Pentagon and the State Department.
At a press conference this afternoon, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said that Walker identified himself as "a Muslim who wanted to go to the front lines to fight. . . . Terrorists did not compel John Walker Lindh to join them. He chose to."
Walker will brought back to the United States to stand trial on multiple charges, including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals abroad, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
The charges do not carry the death penalty, but if convicted, Walker could be sentenced to life in prison, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a press conference this afternoon.
"The United States does not casually or capriciously charge one of its own citizens with providing support to terrorists. We are compelled to do so today by the inescapable fact of September the 11th--a day that reminded us in no uncertain terms that we have enemies in the world and that these enemies seek to destroy us," Ashcroft said.
The criminal complaint, filed in the federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia, accuses Walker of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals abroad, which carries a possible life sentence.
He was also charged two counts of providing material support or resources to terrorists, which could carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, or a life sentence if death resulted from the act.
The fourth count is for allegedly engaging in transactions with the Taliban.
The attorney general said that while the United States continues to seek justice against foreigners responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, ''we cannot overlook attacks on America when they come from U.S. citizens.''
''Youth is not absolution for treachery,'' Ashcroft told reporters. ''Misdirected Americans cannot receive direction in murderous ideology.'' Ashcroft said that Walker denied he was a U.S. citizen in interrogations on at least two occasions.
In the criminal complaint, the government said that Lindh was interviewed by the FBI on Dec. 9 and 10 and waived his rights to a lawyer. He had joined the military training camp in May 2001, it said, and was told by al-Qaida people to pretend that he was Irish and not to admit to anyone that he was American.
The complaint also said that Lindh learned in early June that bin Laden had sent people to the United States to carry out suicide operations and that Lindh remained at the camp for the seven-week duration after he learned about the plan to carry out an attack, according to the New York Times..
On Sept. 11 or 12, it said, Walker heard about the U.S. attacks on the radio and understood bin Laden had ordered them and that additional attacks would follow.
Ashcroft said additional charges could be filed once Walker is returned to the United States.
Ashcroft said the charges against Walker were based for the most part on his own statements to FBI investigators. Ashcroft said that Walker waived his Miranda rights, both verbally and in writing, on two occasions.
The criminal complaint said that Walker initially trained at a paramilitary camp north of Islamabad to fight in Kashmir. But after that training he was given the choice of fighting there or going to Afghanistan. He chose Afghanistan and was sent to an Al Qaeda training camp, where the complaint said Walker met Osama Bin Laden, according to the Washington Post.
"Walker and four other trainees met with bin Laden for approximately five minutes, during which Bin Laden thanked them for taking part in jihad," according to the 12-page criminal complaint.
Ashcroft said that Walker "chose to embrace fanatics; and his allegiance to those fanatics and terrorists never faltered, not even with the knowledge that they had murdered thousands of his countrymen, not with the knowledge that they were engaged in a war with the United States."
Walker, 20, was captured in November fighting with the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan at the prison uprising at Mazar-e-Sharif. Walker since then has been held on the amphibious attack ship USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea.
Ashcroft said that the charges would be brought by in U.S. District
Court in suburban Alexandria, Va., where terrorism suspect Zacarias
Moussaoui is to be tried for conspiracy in the Sept. 11 attacks,
according to the Associated Press.
Among the factors Bush had to consider in determining how Walker would be handled was whether he would be tried in a U.S. civilian court or military tribunal.
Walker, because he is a U.S. citizen, could not be tried before a
military tribunal. Once Walker is returned to the U.S., the
Justice Department is said to be contemplating that more charges
will be filed against Walker.
A baptized Roman Catholic who converted to Islam at 16, Walker sent a letter to his parents in December saying he was safe and regretted not contacting them sooner. He apparently dictated the letter, dated Dec. 3, to an International Red Cross volunteer. In Walker's journeys, he studied Islam in Yemen before traveling to Pakistan and Afghanistan to join the Taliban.
Walker was captured with al Qaeda forces after an uprising at a makeshift prison in Mazar-e Sharif where a CIA operative, Johnny "Mike" Spann, was killed.
Walker said in a broadcast interview last month that he did not take part in the uprising because he was in a basement away from the fighting. "I didn't see what was going," he said. "I just heard."
His parents have said that he became captivated with Islam while reading "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" in a suburban San Francisco high school for gifted students and traveled overseas with their blessing to study the religion and learn Arabic. Friends and family have described Walker as studious and peaceful. But they also said they had not heard from him since he wrote from Pakistan six months ago. In thebroadcast interview, Walker said that his "heart became attached" to the Taliban while studying there. Asked if he believed that he had been fighting for the right cause,Walker replied, "Definitely."
Government lawyers have struggled to figure out the best way to prosecute Walker – who converted to Islam and made his way to Afghanistan via Pakistan – for his alleged anti-American activities. Other possible charges that had been mentioned include treason and harming a federal officer.
Christian
Identity Minister Gordon Winrod Asking for New
Kidnap Trial 1/15/01
Convicted kidnapper Gordon Winrod is appealing to the Missouri Court
of Appeals for a new trial on his kidnapping trial.
Springfield attorney Thomas Carver is scheduled to appear in the
Southern District Missouri Court of Appeals to request a new trial
on behalf of his 74-year-old Christian Identity client, long noted
for his virulent hatred of nonwhites, Jews and the
government. Winrod was the pastor of Our Savior's Church, which has been linked to the Christian Identity movement.
Winrod is the son of the late Reverend Gerald Winrod of Wichita,
Kansas, a pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic preacher active in the 1930’s
and 1940’s, nicknamed "The Jayhawk Nazi."
Authorities argued Winrod brought the children to his farm because he wanted to indoctrinate them with his beliefs.
Winrod, who will not attend the hearing, was sentenced in March 2001
to 30 years in prison, five years on each of six counts of felony
child abduction, to be served consecutively, for taking six of his
grandchildren from their fathers’ homes in North Dakota and
bringing them to his farm in Gainesville.
Winrod, who chose to represent himself during last year’s trial,
said he believed his grandchildren were being abused by their
fathers, Tim and Joel Leppert. Those accusations were never proven
and Circuit Judge William Mauer wouldn’t allow the allegation to
be an issue during the trial. The fathers were awarded custody
of the children after they had divorced the the daughters of Winrod.
After their grandfather’s arrest in May 2000, the six
grandchildren evaded law-enforcement officials and holed themselves
up in Winrod’s rural Ozark County farmhouse for four days. Winrod
was eventually called upon to talk them out of their underground
shelter.
Carver is basing the appeal on two arguments.
“The first argument deals with the court’s refusal to allow
Gordon Winrod to subpoena out-of-state witnesses on his behalf,”
the attorney said. “The second is the judge stepped outside of his
role as judge and in effect became biased and prejudiced against
Gordon Winrod.”
Carver said Circuit Court Judge William Mauer made several biased
comments about Winrod in front of the jury during the trial.
In his brief to the appellate court, Carver cited Mauer’s
reference to Winrod’s grandchildren as “the abducted children”
when the judge spoke to prospective jurors during jury selection.
And when a juror asked Mauer, “Did I hear you right earlier, the
children would not testify?,” the judge replied, “No, what I
said was the state had declined to produce the children to protect
them from further harm.”
“That basically says that the children had been harmed by their
grandfather in the past,” Carver said. “I think that sends a
strong message to the jury that the judge was not neutral.”
Prosecutors with state Attorney General Jay Nixon’s office
disagree with Carver's assertions in his appellate brief.
In their response to Carver’s brief, state prosecutors write,
“the fact that the trial judge referred to the children as the
‘abducted’ children was of no account because (Winrod’s)
theory of the case was that he had abducted the children, but that
he was justified in doing so for their protection.”
The state contends that the children had been harmed and the judge
was not biased in his wording. According to the brief, “no one
would argue that the children had not been harmed by the state’s
actions in raiding the farm, driving the children into hiding,
separating the children from their caretakers.
“And no one would argue that being forced to take the stand
against one’s grandfather in a trial is potentially harmful to a
child.”
Carver also argues in his brief that Winrod was robbed of a fair
trial when he was denied the opportunity to subpoena witnesses,
including his grandchildren, from North Dakota.
Carver said his client “tried to enlist the court’s support in
calling those witnesses, but the court refused.”
According to information from the attorney general’s office, the
judge told Gordon Winrod that he didn’t follow proper procedures
and if Winrod “wished to have these witnesses’ testimony, he had
to make arrangements at his expense to take their depositions prior
to trial.”
Carver said his client was in no position to represent himself
during the criminal trial, citing the court’s ruling that Winrod
demonstrated a “complete failure to understand the legal
process.”
In his brief, Carver said the court was wrong when it took “no
steps to appoint counsel over defendant Winrod’s objection and
made no attempt to take minimal steps to secure favorable testimony
for (Winrod).”
“He should have had counsel,” Carver said. “The court said he
didn’t understand what was going on.”
Ozark County Prosecutor Tom Cline said he believed Carver’s
argument “didn’t have much merit” and refused further comment.
Cline said his schedule will not allow him to attend today’s
hearing at 1:30 p.m.
Since the hearing, Gordon Winrod’s children, Carol and Stephen
Winrod, who were also charged with child abduction, have been
released from of jail.
Carol Winrod entered into a plea agreement. Under the agreement, she
entered an Alford plea on two counts of child abduction and was
released after serving 10 months in jail.
Stephen Winrod was acquitted of the same charges that sent his
father to a Jefferson City prison.
Four of the six Winrod grandchildren were reunited with their
fathers. Donna Leppert, 18, and Stephanie Leppert, 13, refused to
return to their fathers and were instead placed in a North Dakota
mental hospital.
Donna Leppert disappeared in June after being placed into custody
with an unnamed relative in North Dakota. Authorities believe she
ran away.
LaMoure County Sheriff Gary Jensen, who headed up the investigation
into the disappearance, said efforts have been dropped to find the
missing 18-year-old.
News Round Up 1/15/01
US Marines In Afghanistan Find 7 Hostile Intruders and Weapons Cache
Near Base; US Ends 8 Days of Bombing; Says Caves & Bases
Destroyed
US Troops to Help Philippines In Anti-Terror Effort
Pakistan Pres. Musharraf Announces & Implements Terrorist
Crackdown; 1430 Detained, Numerous Offices Shut Down
Military Continues Search For Last Marine Killed in Pakistan Air
Crash Last Week; Deceased
Bin Laden Has Left Region CIA Source Allegedly Says--ABC News
UN Asks Various Nations For Aid for Afghanistan
Infectious Disease Expert Anthony Fauci Worried About Smallpox Being
Used By Terrorists
Tight Security Being Planned for Salt Lake City Winter Olympics;
Secret Service In Charge; No Drive, No Fly Zones Throughout Area
Airlines Having Difficulty Implementing Bag Match
JDL Members Indicted By Federal Grand Jury in Los Angeles
SLA 70s Terrorist Sara Jane Olsen To Be Sentenced On Friday
Senators & Sec'y of State Powell Visiting Pakistan
Lawsuit By Several Families Against Airlines & Others Goes
Forward
Anthrax Killer Reward To Be Increased to $2.5 Million & More
Profiling Info To Be Released, 5 Killed From Inhalation-CNN
WTC Toll Now AT 2883
Egyptian Man Allegedly Impersonating Pilot AT JFK Faces Federal
Charges
Colombian Insurgent Group FARC Says It Will End Truce With Govt.
Basque Separatist Group Implicated in Blast Near Art Museum in Spain
Soldiers Get Purple Heart & Bronze Stars At Ft. Campbell,
KY
More Prisoners Land At Amer. Base in Cuba, 50 Total;1 Has Surgery
for Gunshot Wound; Red Cross To Visit
Amer. Civilian In Afghanistan Believed Kidnapped
Racist Matt Hale Draws Protesters In Weekend Speech In York, Penn
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