Guilty plea spares American Taliban life sentence

John Walker Lindh, the young convert to Islam who left California to fight alongside the Taliban, has pleaded guilty to two charges in a surprise deal that spares him life in prison and ensures his co-operation with US terrorism investigators.

Lindh faces a maximum of 20 years in prison under the agreement, struck just hours before he was to appear in court yesterday for a hearing ahead of what would have been the first major US trial stemming from the war on terrorism.

‘‘I provided my services as a soldier to the Taliban last year from about August to November,’’ Lindh told US District Judge TS Ellis III in Alexandria, Virginia, recounting the two crimes to which he pleaded guilty.

‘‘During the course of doing, so I carried a rifle and two grenades. And I did so knowingly and willingly,’’ he said.

In accepting the plea, prosecutors foreclosed the chance for the public to see evidence in the first major trial from the war on terrorism.

US Attorney Paul McNulty said prosecutors had a strong case against Lindh but wanted to reserve ‘‘limited and very vital resources’’ for other terrorism cases.

‘‘This is a tough sentence. This is an appropriate punishment and this case proves that the criminal justice system can be an effective tool in the fight against terrorism,’’ McNulty said.

Chief defence lawyer James Brosnahan said Lindh joined the Taliban because he was a devout Muslim. He never fired his rifle and never intended to hurt Americans, the lawyer said.

Lindh’s mother, Marilyn Walker, broke down outside the courthouse as she called him an ‘‘honest, kind, humble and a loving son’’.

Lindh, 21, was set to be tried on August 26. He now faces sentencing on October 4.

Zacarias Moussaoui, the Frenchman charged with conspiring with the September 11 hijackers, is now the lone marquee defendant awaiting trial on terrorism charges. His trial is to begin at the end of September.

Lindh, who gave his family a quick smile as he entered the courtroom, submitted his two guilty pleas to felony charges an hour after the hearing began.

Each side had its reasons for the deal.

A government official said the Bush administration was concerned that if the case went to trial, intelligence officers would have to appear and al Qaida and Taliban detainees held by the United States in Cuba might be allowed to testify for the defence.

Defence lawyer Tony West said Lindh’s lawyers believed they could have won on eight terrorism-related counts but would have had difficulty defending against charges that he helped the Taliban and used firearms during violent crimes.

Lindh, who had accused the military of keeping him imprisoned in Afghanistan under horrible conditions, dropped the claim and acknowledged he was not intentionally mistreated.

He agreed to co-operate ‘‘fully, truthfully and completely’’ in the terrorism investigation. Attorney General John Ashcroft emphasised that co-operation and added: ‘‘He will now spend the next 20 years in prison nearly as long as he has been alive.’’

Lindh was captured in December with other Taliban prisoners during the war with the US military. Bearded and sporting long hair, he gave a hospital bedside interview to CNN in which he professed support for the Taliban.

Government officials who reconstructed his path from a teenage convert to Islam in San Francisco’s suburbs to a footsoldier in Afghanistan, said he trained at an al Qaida camp and once met Osama bin Laden.

By the time he was returned to the United States, Lindh had short hair and his lawyers and family worked hard to portray him as an average American who loved his country. Outside the courthouse, his father said he was thankful the government dropped the more serious terrorism charges.

‘‘Never once did John say anything against the United States,’’ said Frank Lindh.

The deal, however, was not popular with the family of Johnny Micheal Spann, the CIA agent who tried to interrogate Lindh in Afghanistan and was killed shortly afterward in a prison uprising. Lindh’s indictment cited Spann’s death as an overt act in a conspiracy to kill Americans, but was dropped from the plea agreement.

Spann’s mother, Gail, said the sentence was not fair to her family.

‘‘I’m sure it is to John Walker’s family, but we don’t think it is to us, of course,’’ she said. ‘‘As Mike’s mom, I would like for Mike to have had 20 years to live.’’