Lawyers: Lindh Was a 'Foot Soldier'

May 13, 2002

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Defense attorneys said Monday that American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh was nothing more than a foot soldier against the Taliban's opponents and that a wide-ranging conspiracy charge against him should be dismissed.

Foot soldiers cannot be charged with committing war crimes, said Lindh's lawyers in urging that a murder conspiracy charge be thrown out. It is the first in a 10-count indictment and carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

``While the indictment alleges a nebulous and far flung-conspiracy to 'kill American citizens around the world,' as well as a conspiracy to kill American military personnel in Afghanistan, the alleged overt acts support only an intent to be a foot soldier'' against the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, the defense said.

The principal of ``combat immunity'' in armed conflict is accepted in international law, and the United States has asserted the principal for its captured soldiers, said the motion filed in U.S. District Court.

For example, the United States objected to the threatened prosecution of three U.S. infantrymen captured in Kosovo and to a threat by North Vietnam to prosecute U.S. captives as war criminals.

In a separate motion, Lindh's lawyers sought dismissal of four other counts that charge Lindh with conspiracy to contribute services to al-Qaida and to the Taliban, and actually providing those services.

The motion said those charges were based on regulations designed to freeze the assets of a foreign state or foreign national, and prohibit certain international financial transactions during a declared national emergency.

``The government does not allege that Mr. Lindh traded in Taliban or al-Qaida goods, that he provided any financial services or financial support ... that he provided or received any property ... or that he engaged in any commercial transactions of any kind,'' the motion said.

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