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NBC’s Today has yet to feature a segment with Toby Keith, singer of the #1 country hit, the pro-U.S. song “Courtesy of the Red White & Blue” which honors American soldiers, but on Monday it showcased Steve Earle and his yet-to-be-released tribute to the American Taliban, “John Walker's Blues.” Matt Lauer interviewed him and allowed him to sing the song in its entirety.      In a July 21 story, “Twisted Ballad Honors Tali-rat,” the New York Post’s Aly Sujo described Earle’s song:       “American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh is glorified and called Jesus-like in a country-rock song to...

An Austin Review investigation has revealed that U.S. Senate candidate Ron Kirk has employed an anti-Israel activist who has defended terrorist groups and is friends with American Taliban John Walker Lindh. The Review has also learned that Kirk has received numerous campaign donations from individuals linked with terrorism and anti-Semitism, one of whom also violated U.S. export laws by shipping sensitive technology to Libya and Syria. Kirk's recently filed campaign report shows payments to a Steven L. Hyland, Jr. of: $1133.22 for "payroll expense" and three separate payments totaling $638.30 for "postage and delivery." Hyland has a long history as...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jul 22, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The father of a slain CIA agent said Monday he wants to testify at a sentencing hearing for John Walker Lindh to tell the court the American Taliban was responsible for his son's death. Johnny Spann, father of Johnny Micheal Spann, said in court papers that he was not consulted about the plea bargain that would give Lindh a maximum 20-year sentence. The younger Spann tried to interview an uncooperative Lindh shortly before the government agent was killed in a Nov. 25 prison uprising in Afghanistan. Lindh pleaded guilty...

<p>It should be obvious, now, that the young man was a dreamer, a kid with a hole in his heart, searching, a boy trying on various costumes, poses and attitudes.</p> <p>He was looking for that place--perhaps you looked for it too, once--where he could exchange himself, and give himself up to a challenge demanding sterner stuff.</p> <p>It was about great absolutes, apparently, like it is with many intelligent kids, undisciplined, self-centered characters in their own movies, uncertain about what they might become in the future.</p> <p>Some seek to confront that ambiguity with order, finding it in the U.S. military.</p>

Today's editorial pages are giddy with delight at the plea agreement reached yesterday in the John Walker Lindh case. Lindh agreed to plead guilty to two charges—aiding the Taliban and carrying explosives while doing so. The bargain was good for everyone. The government dropped all the serious charges, including its claim that Lindh had anything to do with the death of Mike Spann, the CIA officer killed in the prison uprising at Mazar-e-Sharif on Nov. 25. Lindh gets more jail time than the flimsy evidence against him warranted, and the government is spared an embarrassing trial and ugly disclosures about...

"The American government sure is easily baffled. An extremist Egyptian Muslim chooses July Fourth to murder Americans and Israelis who are flying from an American airport on Israel's national airline – and the official line is we can't call this terror ..." Adds exasperated columnist Dennis Prager, "This country's officials are in a state of denial and confusion that is almost as frightening as the terrorists they are supposed to be fighting." But there is reason for this confusion. Though President Bush has declared that we are fighting a "war on terrorism," he has yet to define what terrorism is,...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Federal Bureau of Prisons will be able to protect John Walker Lindh from any inmates seeking to avenge his service with Taliban forces in Afghanistan, a bureau spokeswoman said Tuesday. Traci Billingsley, speaking for the agency that administers the nation's 102 federal prisons, said bureau personnel would decide what steps were needed to protect the 21-year-old Californian from inmates. "We consider both types of security when designating the institution that would be best suited for a particular inmate," Billingsley said. "We take all the necessary security precautions to ensure that all our inmates remain safe while...

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) --  The plea bargain the government struck with John Walker Lindh will ensure U.S. investigators have unfettered access to the young American who fought with the Taliban as they try to learn more about the inner workings of al-Qaida.</p>

<p>Washington -- By reaching a plea bargain with a man accused by the attorney general of fighting "side by side with tyrants," the government swiftly eliminated the risk of bringing unwanted attention to the underside of the U.S. war against terror.</p>

John Walker Lindh, the American captured in Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban, agreed Monday to plead guilty to two charges in a surprise deal with prosecutors that spared him from life in prison. The deal, which caught even the trial judge off guard, was announced on the first day of what was supposed to be a weeklong series of hearings at which defense lawyers hoped to get statements Lindh made to investigators thrown out of his trial. ''There is a change in plea,'' defense attorney James Brosnahan told U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III at the outset of Monday's proceeding...

From: "MURRAY, ANDREW" To: "Hank Holzer" Dear Hank, We will be re-airing your talk on "Aid and Comfort" this Saturday July 13th at 5:30pm ET on Book TV. Best wishes, Andrew Murray Producer, Book TV C-SPAN 400 North Capitol St. NW Suite 650 Washington, DC 20001 (202) 626-4641 amurray@c-span.org

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jul 12, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A judge on Friday rejected a freelance reporter's effort to avoid testifying about his videotaped interview with American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh in Afghanistan last year. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled that journalists don't enjoy a First Amendment privilege to avoid testifying except in very limited circumstances involving protection of confidential sources or harassment. His ruling means that for the time being freelance reporter Robert Pelton is required to testify next week at Lindh's pretrial hearing. While refusing to grant Pelton's request to reverse his subpoena,...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) --  The Justice Department is investigating whether any government officials leaked sealed documents to the media in the case of suspected American Taliban John Walker Lindh.</p> <p>Last month, the court asked the government to report whether there had been leaks after a Newsweek article on the Lindh case quoted a string of internal e-mails by Justice Department officials. The e-mails suggested Lindh might have a good argument in his motion to suppress statements he made just after his capture by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.</p>

Politics Greg Pierce News and political dispatches from around the nation. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, says President Bush has achieved his stated goal of "changing the tone in Washington" — by making it even more partisan. Interviewed yesterday on CBS' "Face the Nation," Mr. Daschle, a possible presidential contender in 2004, was asked by host Bob Schieffer about a letter put out "by a conservative fund-raising group" that said Mr. Daschle is "more dangerous" than John Walker Lindh, the American who fought with the Taliban. Asked if he believes the White House had a role in...

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) During the time American-born Taliban John Walker Lindh says he was being held in ''torturous conditions'' and denied access to a lawyer, he was telling his story ''to anyone and everyone who would listen,'' prosecutors said Monday.</p>

An Austin Review investigation has revealed that U.S. Senate candidate Ron Kirk is employing an anti-Israel activist who has defended terrorist groups and is friends with American Taliban John Walker Lindh. The Review has also learned that Kirk has received numerous campaign donations from individuals linked with terrorism and anti-Semitism, one of whom also violated U.S. export laws by shipping sensitive technology to Libya and Syria. Kirk's recently filed campaign report shows payments to a Steven L. Hyland, Jr. of: $1133.22 for "payroll expense" and three separate payments totaling $638.30 for "postage and delivery." Hyland has a long history as...

American Taliban Says Interrogation Violated Rights WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials violated John Walker Lindh's Fifth Amendment rights by improperly interrogating him in custody, his attorneys said on Friday in arguing that incriminating statements made by the American Taliban should be thrown out.In court documents filed with the U.S. District Court, Lindh's lawyers said U.S. interrogators have failed to offer Lindh his so-called Miranda rights. The rights, which require all suspects be told they have the right to an attorney and to remain silent, are a bedrock of the American legal system.Lindh, a 21-year-old Californian captured in Afghanistan last year...

TALIBAN JOHN: THE NOOSE TIGHTENS Henry Mark Holzer If there has been doubt in anyone's mind about the nature of the government's principal case against John Walker Lindh, last week's court filing by the United States Attorney should have dispelled it. To understand the significance of what the government's motion papers said, it's necessary to remind ourselves about what "conspiracy" means in federal criminal law, and then about what the indictment charges Lindh with having done. Conspiracy is proved by evidence showing an agreement (which can be tacit, so long as it is clear) to do something illegal (e.g., killing...

<p>Washington -- For the first time, federal prosecutors explicitly accused John Walker Lindh on Tuesday of being partly responsible for the slaying of CIA agent Johnny "Mike" Spann during an Afghan prison uprising in November.</p> <p>In a bluntly worded 32-page motion, the prosecutors said the Marin County man accused of participating in a conspiracy to kill Americans overseas and of providing material support for terrorists can be blamed directly for Spann's death under the law of conspiracy.</p>

Chutzpah isn't a word often used in connection with typical admirers of Islamonazi terrorism. But John Walker Lindh is special. In federal court, Lindh's attorney has claimed that prosecuting him for firearms crime would violate Mr. Lindh's Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment claim was preceded by another claim that prosecuting Lindh for joining al Qaeda would violate his First Amendment right of assembly.Actually, Walker's claim is specious. But examining exactly what about the claim is specious shows that Attorney General Ashcroft is hardly "radical" or innovative in treating the Second Amendment as an...