Slain CIA officer's father discounts Lindh's claims
(CNN) -- The father of a CIA officer killed when Taliban prisoners revolted in a U.S.-run prison in December 2001 said he doesn't believe that John Walker Lindh -- dubbed the "American Taliban" -- never fought Americans.
"They've been saying things like that ever since ... his capture," Johnny Spann, father of CIA officer Johnny Micheal "Mike" Spann, said on CNN's "American Morning." "They've tried to convince the American people that he was a good American, that he never hurt anybody, never carried arms, never fired at anybody or anything like that."
The elder Spann was reacting to Lindh's request Tuesday for a reduction in his 20-year prison sentence for aiding the Taliban. (Full story)
"The guy admittedly was on the front lines with the Taliban, in al Qaeda. ... He was in the army of the al Qaeda and he had a weapon but you're trying to tell me, you want me to believe he never fired it?" Spann asked.
Attorneys for Lindh argue his case and that of Yaser Hamdi, both men captured in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance, are comparable in many ways and the two men should receive equal punishment.
Hamdi, who was born in the United States but grew up in his parents' native Saudi Arabia, is being released from U.S. custody with no formal charges filed after three years and will be sent back to Saudi Arabia.
Lindh's lawyers argue their client should receive a similar outcome.
Spann said he does think the cases of Lindh and Hamdi are similar, but he said there is one important difference: Hamdi was not questioned by his son.
"John Walker Lindh sat in front of Mike, Mike begged him and asked him, 'Who are you? Where are you from?'" Spann said. "He (Lindh) never indicated to him at all that there was going to be an uprising."
The CIA officer was killed in that uprising at Mazar-e Sharif, but Lindh's lawyers say their client had nothing to do with Spann's death.
Lindh pleaded guilty in July 2002 to aiding the Taliban, but charges of conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and of providing material support to terrorists were dropped as part of a plea deal.
It is "basically unfair" to have Lindh serve the remainder of his 20-year sentence, his attorney, James Brosnahan, said during a news conference Tuesday in San Francisco. He argued that his client got a tougher plea bargain sentence than other defendants who have reached deals with the Justice Department.
 John Walker Lindh |  |
He said he is not asking for a specific time reduction but indicated a three-year sentence, the same general amount of time Hamdi has been held, would be appropriate.
"I don't consider it a long shot," Brosnahan said of the request, which is going to the White House as well as the Justice Department.
There was no immediate comment from the White House.
Justice Department chief spokesman Mark Corallo, while not commenting directly on the commutation request, left little doubt about the reception the request would receive.
"We don't comment on requests to the pardon attorney, but let's not forget who this guy is," Corallo said. "John Walker Lindh pled guilty to supporting the Taliban, a brutal regime that harbored and assisted al Qaeda. We're still engaged in a global war on terrorism including actions against al Qaeda and remnants of the Taliban. He pled guilty in a federal court with his lawyers standing at his side."
