| FREE JOHN WALKER LINDH |
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January 9, 2003 Mr.
Robin Moore Dear Mr. Moore: I am the founder of the website http//www.freejohnwalker.net. Your book, The Hunt for Bin Laden, has been brought to my attention by several readers of the website. In the book you make numerous allegations that I have not seen before. Insofar as these are relevant to the case against Mr. Lindh, I am eager to learn your sources for these allegations and thereby ascertain their reliability. I trust you will agree that it is in the public’s interest that the truth be told. I shall limit my inquiry to three allegations you make in the book. First, you indicate at page 212 of the paperback edition that CIA agent Johnny Michael Spann was “captured alive and tortured by the al-Qaida” before he was killed at the Qala-Jangi prison uprising. As far as I can ascertain, none of the sources listed in your bibliography for chapter 15 contains information supporting your claim that Mr. Spann was captured alive and tortured. You are undoubtedly aware that Mr. Spann’s wife, Sharon Spann, has publicly thanked God for the fact that her husband’s death was not a painful one, and specifically that he was not tortured.. Likewise, CIA press releases about Mr. Spann’s death contain no indication that Mr. Spann was captured and tortured. Might you kindly provide us with support for your claim that Johnny Michael Spann was “captured alive and tortured by the al-Qaida”? Second, in regards to John Walker Lindh, you state at page 217 of the paperback that “Walker admitted that his goal was to be martyred, dying in the act of killing Americans.” You also quote Mr. Lindh as stating that Americans must die “to cleanse the world of the infidel.” While Mr. Lindh is on record as stating generally that it is every Muslim’s goal to be martyred, I am unable to locate sources for the statements that you attribute to him at page 217. Might you kindly provide me with your source for your allegations that Mr. Lindh admitted that he wished to die “killing Americans” and that he stated that Americans must die “to cleanse the world of the infidel”? Finally, at page 219, you cite an unnamed U.S. Special Forces advisor to the Northern Alliance reporting that unnamed al-Qaida prisoners stated that Mr. Walker had “helped train” unnamed “sleepers” to infiltrate the United States. Insofar as this information appears nowhere in U.S. Government court filings, nor in the interviews and multiple press accounts I have seen, might you kindly provide further information about your sources for this assertion? I am also interested in knowing why, if this information was reliably obtained by a U.S. military operative, it was apparently not made known to the U.S. Government. I very much appreciate your immediate attention to these inquiries. I shall post this letter on my website immediately. I eagerly await your reply, which I will share in full with readers on the website. Very truly yours, Steve Baughman Dear Steve, |