Mining for `Taliban John's' motives

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Feb 25, 2002 | by John Elvin

While most in the elite media exhibit the abhorrence for sensationalism that sometimes suits them, some journalists have been digging into the gay angle in the story of John Walker, the American Taliban fighter from California. As might be expected, the probe has prompted controversy. Most people probably consider the matter irrelevant to the main issue of the consequences Walker will face for joining a band of outlaws dedicated to killing Americans. But some publications, such as The Blade newspaper in Washington, can make quite a story out of irrelevancies.

The Blade, a self-described gay publication, notes that Walker dropped his father's surname, Lindh, at about the time the father, Frank Lindh, left his family to move in with a male companion. "Taliban John" took his mother's maiden name, Walker, and commenced a study of Islamic fundamentalism. The Blade story included quotes from various psychologists and psychiatrists on whether the family breakup and his father's sexual orientation might have influenced John Walker to join the Taliban. With qualifiers, some said yes and some said no.

The Blade found that Walker, known in Pakistan as Sulayman al-Faris, had posted a message on the Internet critical of gay Muslims. An Associated Press reporter who visited the village in Pakistan housing the Islamic school where the young Californian studied said he spoke of acquiring the four wives permitted by that religion.

Walker faces life in prison; he could have been up for the death penalty if the Bush administration had charged him with treason.

JOHN ELVIN IS THE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT FOR Insight.