Why John Walker Lindh's Early Release is a Gift to Trump

John Walker Lindh, better known as the American Taliban, is set to be released from federal prison today. Lindh, part of a violent Taliban prison uprising which killed a CIA officer, is being released early having three years left on his sentence.


This is a gift to President Trump.


I say this for two reasons. First, this gives Trump an opportunity to sock it to the Bush Administration for having entered into a plea bargain with Lindh instead of seeking life imprisonment or the death penalty. A plea agreement was arranged because of Lindh's claims of torture by U.S. troops. But those details won't matter to Trump and not without justification. More on that in a moment.


Second, Lindh's release gives cover to Trump's proposed plan to issue pardons to U.S. soldiers convicted of engaging in torture. Whatever criticism Trump faces for pardoning convicted war criminals is easily offset by the early release of Lindh. There will be some who will argue that American soldiers engaged in torture to protect their fellow Americans. Lindh's aim and objective was to kill Americans and his actions led to the death of a CIA agent.


Indeed, Lindh still espouses jihadist views and there isn't any evidence to suggest he's had second thoughts about his actions. He is but a young man of 38. What would prevent him from continuing to espouse those jihadist views and recruit a new generation of Taliban to engage in terrorism against American civilians?


Yes, Lindh is on parole for three years. But he has been biding his time for 17 years. What is another three years to him? The point here is that Lindh represents a threat to the United States and would not have been a threat had he received a life sentence or had been executed. Expect Trump to repeat that point again and again now and well into 2020.


On the flip side, Lindh's early release also exposes the fallacy of Trump's Muslim ban. Restricting immigration and travel from Muslim majority countries ignores the fact that Islamic extremism is an ideology which cannot be contained by borders and can take root on American soil inside a internet chat room.


However, none of this changes the fact a devotee of Osama bin Laden who fought against U.S. soldiers in a war zone will now walk free. The question is now is will John Walker Lindh pick up where he left off?