Frank Lindh wants his boy back, says John Rico in GQ. Every other month the San Francisco lawyer travels nearly 2,000 miles to the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for a four-hour visit with his son, John Walker Lindh, currently serving 20 years for carrying weapons as a member of the Taliban. “When it’s your kid everyone’s going after,” his father says, “you have to be strong.”
In November 2001, John, then 20 and a rabid convert to Islam, was plucked from the rubble of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. Outraged commentators began calling for Lindh to be executed as a traitor. But his family stood by him, insisting that he’d never fired a shot against U.S. forces, and had been told by the Taliban that he was fighting against Afghans in the Northern Alliance.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why ghost guns are so easy to make — and so dangerousThe Explainer Untraceable, DIY firearms are a growing public health and safety hazard
-
The Week contest: Swift stimulusPuzzles and Quizzes
-
'It's hard to resist a sweet deal on a good car'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
