The strange Odyssey of John Walker Lindh: like many teens, he was searching for a spiritual connection. But his journey led to radical Islam -- and charges that he betrayed his country. (National).

San Anselmo, Calif., across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, is a town of tree-lined streets, where Mercedes SUVs and Porsche coupes glide past million-dollar bungalows. The area is noted for its professional, educated residents and liberal social values, and it is here that John Walker Lindh reached his teens.

Bright and bookish, he played the flute, impressed his high school teachers as a "gifted writer of poetry," and spoke of plans to help the poor when he grew up.

Such a suburban idyll could not be farther from the war-blasted Qala Jangi fortress near Mazar-i-Shafif, Afghanistan. Last November, about 400 captured Taliban fighters were taken there for detention and interrogation. The prisoners revolted, but the uprising was crushed after days of heavy fighting. Only 86 prisoners survived.

One, a scrawny 20-year-old who called himself Abdul Hamid, lay on a stretcher with shrapnel in his leg. His thick hair and beard framed a gaunt and grimy face. CNN beamed that image around the world. In California, John Walker Lindh's parents recognized their son, and cried.

TRAITOR OR TRUTH SEEKER?

How did a privileged American teen end up fighting for the Taliban, the repressive Islamist regime in Afghanistan? Why would a "good, sweet, shy boy," in his mother's words, train with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda, the terrorist network implicated in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States?

Lindh now faces life in federal prison for his activities in Afghanistan. But was he a traitor? Or a truth seeker who was searching for meaning in the wrong place, and at the worst possible time?

John Phillip Walker Lindh was born in Silver Spring, Md., an easy commute to Washington, where his father was an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. His parents, Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker, named their son after John Lennon and John Marshall, a Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The middle of three children, Lindh lived his first 10 years in Silver Spring before the family moved to San Anselmo in 1991.

EXPLORING FAITH

Lindh was raised Roman Catholic, but his mother and his father, a lawyer for Pacific Gas & Electric, encouraged him to seek his own spiritual path. By 15, he was exploring other faiths with a quiet intensity, including Buddhism, Native American practices, and Islam. According to his father, Lindh's direction took a dramatic turn after he read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the life story of the charismatic American Muslim leader.

At 16, Lindh converted to Islam. He abandoned jeans and other standard American high school wear for a long white robe and pillbox hat, and tossed out his hip-hop and rap CDs. He swore off girls and alcohol, and grew a beard in keeping with the practices of some Islamic groups.

While other parents might have worried about such choices, Lindh's didn't. "He was always intellectually coherent and he had a wonderful sense of humor," Frank Lindh said, "and none of that changed when he converted to Islam. I never had any major misgivings."

In 1997, while still only 16, Lindh took a proficiency test and graduated early from Tamiscal High School, an alternative school specializing in independent study. His studies included world arts and culture, which encompassed Islam and the Middle East. On his diploma, he asked for his name to be listed as Sulayman al-Lindh.

Lindh's ambitions soon indicated his conversion was not some passing fancy. In 1998, he traveled to study in Sanaa, Yemen, a nation on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. He had set a goal of learning sufficient Arabic to read the Koran--the Muslim holy book in its original language. After 10 months, he came home to California to find his parents in the midst of separating. Restless and uncomfortable in the United States, he flew back to Yemen in February 2000.

THE ROAD TO AFGHANISTAN

By the end of that year, Lindh had moved on to Bannu, Pakistan, near the border of Afghanistan. There, going by the name Sulayman al-Faris, he was accepted into an Islamic school, or madrassah. "He was a very nice boy," one of his teachers told the news agency Reuters. "He spoke softly and he understood things very quickly."

Lindh's views on Islam, though, had become radical, the school's headmaster, Mufti Mohammed Iltimas, told the Associated Press. Lindh adhered to a severe interpretation of Islamic law, and expressed admiration I for the Taliban in Afghanistan who I denied rights to women, outlawed music, and brutally punished its religious and political enemies. "He often told me that the Taliban's Islam was complete and they don't fear anyone except God," said Iltimas.

In early May 2001, Lindh informed his parents that he was heading for a cooler area in the mountains for the summer months. Instead, he attended a terrorist training camp north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. After 24 days of military instruction and indoctrination, Lindh was given the choice of more training, going to the disputed territory of Kashmir to fight against Indian troops, or joining the Taliban in Afghanistan. Without telling his family, he chose Afghanistan.

Lindh's knowledge of Arabic was a decisive factor in what came next, according to FBI interviews with Lindh after his capture. Because most Taliban units spoke Pashtu or Urdu, Lindh was assigned to the Arab contingent--Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda. At Al Qaeda's al-Farooq training camp, Lindh studied explosives and practiced with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. Bin Laden visited al-Farooq several times, according to Lindh's statements to the FBI, and the terrorist chieftain personally thanked Lindh for taking part in his jihad, or holy war.

Lindh also told the FBI that he understood at the time that "Al Qaeda's purpose was to fight Americans." FBI reports indicate further that he knew that Al Qaeda operatives had been sent to the U.S. to carry out attacks. By Sept. 11, Lindh was in the trenches fighting anti-Taliban rebels. When news of the attacks on New York City and Washington reached him, according to the FBI, he and his fellow soldiers assumed that bin Laden's plot had succeeded.

DEATH OF AN AGENT

In October, powerful U.S. bombs pounded Taliban and Al Qaeda positions, killing many and forcing others to withdraw. It was during one such withdrawal in late November that Lindh and a group of about 400 other Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters were captured by anti-Taliban forces at Kunduz. The prisoners were trucked to a 19th-century fortress prison outside Mazar-i-Sharif for questioning.

At first, Lindh tried to keep his nationality a secret, even as CIA officer Johnny Micheal Spann was interrogating him, as part of the U.S. effort to distinguish Taliban from Al Qaeda fighters. Videotape footage shows Spann and another CIA officer, identified only as "Dave," questioning Lindh. "Who brought you here?" Spann asks. "Wake up! Who brought you here?" Lindh never answers, and it is unclear whether Spann ever realized that he was speaking to a fellow American.

He never had another chance to find out. Shortly after the attempted interview, the prisoners staged an uprising and took over most of the compound. Spann was shot to death, becoming the first American to die in combat in Afghanistan. After heavy fighting and devastating U.S. airstrikes, only about 85 prisoners remained alive. They surrendered, and Lindh was identified and interviewed by CNN. He was dubbed the "American Taliban" and became an instant sideshow to the U.S. war on terrorism.

COMING HOME

In January, Lindh returned to the United States in shackles, accused of aiding terrorist organizations and conspiring to kill Americans. He faces up to three life sentences if convicted. "Youth is not absolution for treachery, and personal self-discovery is not an excuse to take up arms against your country," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in announcing the charges.

Lindh's parents and attorneys are mounting a defense that claims he was brainwashed by the Taliban. "John loves America," his father told reporters. "John did not take up arms against America. He never meant to harm any American, and he never did harm any American. John is innocent of these charges."

There is little evidence that Lindh anticipated fighting his countrymen when he joined the Taliban. But he is on record in FBI interviews describing his terrorist training with Al Qaeda and his general knowledge of plans to attack American targets.

Legal experts say Lindh's best chances lie in exploiting legal technicalities. His lawyer argues that the government violated Lindh's constitutional rights when he was interrogated without legal counsel. Invoking the American ideal of a fair trial, Lindh's parents have asked "that all Americans ... withhold judgment until we know what all the facts are."

lesson plan 1 * NATIONAL * pages 8-11

The Strange Odyssey of John Walker Lindh

FOCUS: Teen's Struggle to Find Faith Spirals Into War and Taliban Terror Camp

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand the transformation of John Walker Lindh, from privileged young suburban teenager to Islamic radical in the service of Afghanistan's Taliban regime.

Discussion-Questions:

* What do you believe John Walker Lindh was searching for?

* Do you believe that Lindh is a traitor to the United States?

* Are Lindh's parents right to defend him, no matter how substantial the evidence against him?

* Should Lindh's young age, 20, be taken into account if he is sentenced to jail for his activities?

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

Critical Thinking: Discuss John Walker Lindh's journey in search of spirituality. Few young people take a path as tortuous as Lindh's, but are the first steps of his experiment with spirituality--exploring Buddhism, Native American practices, and Islam--unique?

Direct students' attention to some of the key events in Lindh's young life:

* The article says that Lindh's father encouraged him to find his own spiritual path: Ask students whether they believe a 15-year-old is mature enough to plunge into this type of spiritual exploration. Do teenagers need more structure in their lives at this point in their development?

* Lindh says that he found what he was searching for in his study of Islam. Do you believe he found religion or was he "brainwashed," as his father claims?

* Lindh was accepted for training at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. Ask students why they believe the terrorists welcomed someone from the country they were targeting for terrorism.

* After his capture, Lindh attempted to conceal his nationality from his interrogators. Is this the natural reaction of anyone caught in his situation, or is it evidence of his guilt?

Debate: Tell students that Lindh's defense attorney alleges that his client was mistreated by his American captors. If this allegation is proved true, should that fact--and the fact that Lindh was not given access to legal counsel following his arrest--influence the admission of evidence against him?

With reporting by EVELYN NIEVES, KEVIN SACK, WILLIAM GLABERSON, and BLAINE HARDEN of The New York Times.