Lindh Knew of Attack Plans Worse Than 9/11, Prosecutors Say

Before his capture last fall in Afghanistan, John Walker Lindh knew of plans for 20 suicide attacks “even worse” than those of Sept. 11, involving as many as 50 people working under Osama bin Laden’s terrorist umbrella, the government alleged Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors did not specify the source of this new information. But they made it clear in court papers that their case against the 21-year-old from Northern California is “principally based on ... Lindh’s incriminating statements to the FBI.”

Further, while not directly tying Lindh to the death of CIA Agent Johnny “Mike” Spann, the first U.S. combat fatality in the war on terror, prosecutors nevertheless stressed that Lindh could have tried to alert “his fellow American” that his life was in danger in Afghanistan.

“Instead,” the prosecutors said, “he chose silence.”

With this allegation, the government is fortifying its portrayal of Lindh as someone who was in the thick of an ambitious effort to mount a campaign of terror against the United States and shares responsibility for it.

Conversely, the defense is presenting Lindh as a student of Islam who was trained to be a soldier for the Taliban and never purposely took up arms against the United States.

Defense attorneys did not immediately respond to the new revelations.

The government’s new details were filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., where Lindh is to stand trial in August. The filing was in response to a defense request that the charges against Lindh either be dismissed, or the case moved to San Francisco because of what the defense team calls too much pro-prosecution sentiment in the Washington area.

But prosecutors argued that it was the defense, not the prosecution, that was stirring up “intense media coverage” to portray their client as a “gentle, sweet youth, as a devoted practitioner of his faith, and as a loyal American.”

The government also mocked the defense team’s idea that Lindh’s home was in Northern California.

“That is a curious assertion given that Lindh left this country in February 2000 and, despite repeated entreaties from his family to come home, refused to do so,” prosecutors said.

After leaving California, Lindh journeyed to Central Asia to study the Muslim faith, according to his parents.

But the government contends that Lindh instead joined an Al Qaeda training camp and agreed to take up arms against Americans. That is at the heart of the case against him; if convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with no parole.

“The events of Sept. 11--and Lindh’s clear understanding of who was behind it--prove that Lindh knew he was in league with a group of individuals dedicated to the murder of Americans,” the government said.

“Lindh knew, even before he got to the Al-Farooq training camp, that he was joining a camp that was an Al Qaeda/Osama bin Laden operation. Lindh also knew that Al Qaeda/Osama bin Laden’s purpose was to fight Americans.

“As early as June 2001, Lindh also knew that terrorist acts--specifically 20 suicide operations involving 50 operatives--were being planned by his Al Qaeda associates and that his fellow Americans might well be the targets of those attacks.”

Prosecutors said that the assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon “confirmed what Lindh already knew--Al Qaeda was determined to murder Americans.”

They said Bin Laden visited Lindh at the training camp and “personally thanked him for participating in Jihad,” a clear sign to Lindh that Bin Laden “was behind the terror of Sept. 11.”

They added: “Lindh also knew that future terrorist acts were planned, that these were likely to be even worse than the events of Sept. 11, and that these were targeted against his fellow Americans.”

Prosecutors also outlined a number of statements Lindh made to a CNN reporter after his capture in Afghanistan, such as that it was the “goal of every Muslim” to be a martyr, as further evidence that Lindh was brazenly threatening his fellow countrymen.

That was a similar argument to one the government made about Lindh and the death of Spann. While conceding that Lindh did not personally fire the bullet that killed the CIA agent, prosecutors said he indirectly led Spann to his death by not warning him that his life was in jeopardy.

The two men met at a prison fort in Afghanistan, where Lindh had been captured. Spann and another agent, identified only as CS-1, tried to interview Lindh, but Lindh did not cooperate. Shortly afterward, a prison revolt erupted and Spann was killed.

“Here they were,” the government said, “in the middle of a fortress in Northern Afghanistan, and Lindh was being offered a last chance to extricate himself, to withdraw from, to renounce the conspiracy” led by Bin Laden.

“What he could have told Mr. Spann and CS-1 was this: I am, like you, an American. I have met Osama bin Laden. I have spoken with him. I have trained at Al-Farooq....I am ready to talk.”

Instead, he refused to cooperate.

By that inaction, the government asserted, Lindh “did personally kill Mr. Spann.”

Prosecutors also responded to an earlier defense contention that Lindh was held incommunicado for 54 days without access to his San Francisco lawyer, or mail from his family, while in custody in Afghanistan and aboard the Peleliu. “Not quite” true, the government said.

Rather, prosecutors said:

“During this 54 days, Lindh was visited twice by the Red Cross, dictated a letter to his parents (which his parents received), dictated a second letter to his parents (which was also delivered), was visited by a chaplain aboard the Peleliu, received letters from his mother and father, and even received a letter from defense counsel.”