John Walker Lindh

[Nic Name]

FBI failed to get Lindh's statement in writing

The FBI's only record of its two-day interrogation of the accused Taliban fighter is a summary form written by the agent who questioned him. Lindh did not sign the form.

I doubt they'll make a case against this guy, unless it's trial by CNN's Talk Back Live!

In court you actually have to have evidence of specific criminal acts. Not just the accusations of the Justice Department.

Being captured along with Taliban is not proof of any criminal act.

And justice for John Walker, in the minds of the American public, may shift over time, as we see how others captured alongside him are treated.

Afghan government releases 320 Taliban prisoners

By LOUIS MEIXLER-- The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The Afghan government released 320 captured Taliban fighters Saturday, a gesture of reconciliation as the new administration focuses on rebuilding a country shattered by decades of war.

In a brief speech before shivering prisoners lined up in the freezing weather on a field in front of the presidential palace, Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai told the men to go back to their homes.

"Instead of using guns, work and earn money," he said.

All of the men wore civilian clothing. Most appeared desperately poor and wore sandals or cheap plastic shoes. One wore plastic bags on his feet instead of socks.

Karzai said the men were "innocent conscripts," but gave no details about when or where the men were captured. Most of the men appeared to be speaking Pashtu with accents from the area of Kandahar, the Taliban spiritual heartland.

"I ask you to serve your country," Karzai said. "Go, go. Goodbye."

Karzai did not say how many Taliban prisoners are still being held, but vowed that captured soldiers who were not in command positions would be released.

One of the prisoners demanded to know when the other fighters would be freed.

"Our other friends are in prison," he called out to Karzai. "What will you do with them?"

"We will release all the prisoners," Karzai replied.

Each of the soldiers was given 500,000 Afghanis, equivalent to $15, or about two weeks salary for an average civil servant.

In January, 300 Taliban prisoners were also freed, some of whom had been held for up to five years by the anti-Taliban northern alliance.

[Nic Name]

Court says gang speech protected by First Amendment

I wonder how this recent decision of the Federal Court of Appeals applies to Walker Lindh's membership in that Taliban gang and his discussions with his associates in Afghanistan.

The court pointed out it was mindful of the "serious problems" posed by street gangs and that it was sympathetic to the Arizona Legislature's efforts to protect its citizens from "the evils gangs all too often inflict."

"We are forced to agree that McCoy's speech, at most, constituted mere abstract advocacy of lawlessness, rather than an intentional effort to further illegal activity," Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain wrote.