Lawyer: Lindh 'Wanted to Go Home'

Newsweek/July 29, 2002
By Karen Breslau

San Francisco Attorney James Brosnahan relishes a good courtroom battle. But last week he negotiated a plea bargain for John Walker Lindh, sparing the 21-year-old Californian a potential life sentence on terrorism and conspiracy charges in return for Lindh's admission that he carried arms for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Lindh now faces a 20-year prison term and has promised to aid government investigators. Among the conditions the defense insisted on: that Lindh be permitted to travel abroad following his release so that he can make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Brosnahan spoke with NEWSWEEK's Karen Breslau.

How will we look back on this case by the time John Walker Lindh leaves prison?

I think the Lindh case will be seen as a symptom of the times when people were very angry and upset. It will be part of a time when some of our basic constitutional protections were not observed as I think most Americans - when we're calm about it - want. What drove us were concerns that we could be attacked again at any time. Osama bin Laden wasn't caught. Mullah Omar wasn't caught. The anthrax guy wasn't caught. So John became the focal point for our anger, our concern.

But this is not an American who was just lassoed at random. He made some terrible choices.

He agreed in his plea that he really shouldn't have been a member of the Taliban. That's not Al Qaeda. Still, that's a very bad judgment. We're not trying to soften that.

Will he be an intelligence asset to the U.S. government?

He was never on the terrorist side of operations, but he's going to help in every way he can.

He acknowledges meeting Osama bin Laden?

Osama bin Laden came to [John's] camp. A number of people met with him. John never had a one-on-one with him. He doesn't have a high opinion of bin Laden. He views bin Laden as a false prophet, as someone who violates the Qur'an by attacking civilians. It's not what John had in mind at all.

What are his views about September 11?

He had nothing to do with it. Nothing. You do not attack civilians based on the Qur'an. You don't commit suicide based on the Qur'an. As it became more and more clear that Osama bin Laden had done all of this, John wanted to get out of [Afghanistan]. He wanted to go home. But he couldn't for fear of death. You don't hail a cab when you're fighting with the Taliban up there.

Would you call Lindh a political prisoner?

That would be a disservice to our court system. I think our court system does work. What doesn't work is U.S. citizens in jail without lawyers. We're not as free as we once were. The only people who are going to save our system are the judges. If we are going to have a free country, judges are going to have to step out and be strong and remember where we came from and where we want to go.