Walker: The Road Ahead

Can John Walker defend himself against the legal charges that are likely to arise from his involvement with the Taliban? Walker's father, Frank Lindh, has hired James Brosnahan, a well-known former federal prosecutor who worked on the Iran-Contra case, to represent his son. On Tuesday, Brosnahan released a copy of a one-paragraph letter from Walker, assuring his parents that he is "alive and well" and "in safe hands" in Afghanistan. "I cannot give you many details about my situation but it would be good to hear from you all," Walker says in the note, which was dictated to a Red Cross volunteer on Dec. 3.

Brosnahan has not commented on the letter and has said little about how he might represent the American POW in a courtroom. But Ronald L. Kuby, the New York attorney whose clients have included those implicated in the 1990 murder of militant Rabbi Meir Kahane and the 1993 World Trade Center bombings, is familiar with the legal challenges that lie ahead. Kuby spoke to NEWSWEEK's Gretel C. Kovach about the charges Walker could face and the legal arguments that may be heard in the coming months and years. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: If you were Walker's lawyer, what would your defense be?

Ronald Kuby: I think it would be a combination of Patty Hearst meets the Moonies. [The heiress Hearst was kidnapped and then briefly converted to the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974.] Here was a young man who ended up gradually being sucked into a mind-control cult, who ended up in a situation in which he found himself in way over his head, and there came a point when he was not really free to leave. Once you're marching with the Taliban in Afghanistan, once you've gotten in that deeply, you can't turn around and say "Gee, I think I want to go back home, take a hot shower, eat a Big Mac and check out Disney World." Depending on the allegations against him, you would probably also want to demonstrate that he did not know that the people he was fighting against were Americans. That as far as he knew, these were the usual murderers, rapists and cut-throats of the Northern Alliance.

Would you defend John Walker Lindh?

Oh yeah, I would. Assuming there is no evidence that he actually killed American soldiers. And nobody is alleging that he has. I personally think [John Walker] is a pathetic schlub who was deluded by religion, as so many young people have been, and was badly in need of some serious parental guidance. As nice as it is to see white people reading 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X,' as a parent, if your white suburban kid finishes [that book] and starts running around in a turban and a cloak, you need to have a serious chat with Johnny. When Johnny goes on the Internet pretending he's black, you need to have a little identity discussion. And when Johnny sells his collection of rap music because he's convinced that the Quran prohibits music, that's a clear warning sign. You always worry when your kid sells his album collection.