Why do we hate ourselves? One would think that after recent events we would direct our ire most any direction but inward. I am not talking individual cases here but am referring to our national tendency towards self-loathing. Even when the path is clear we feel a need to agonize over things. I am talking about our national hand-wringing over Johnny "The Taliban" Walker Lindh, recently of Kabul.

As I was coming into work this morning, he was the topic of all the talk show hosts and over the weekend the media were leading the charge for national self-doubt about what should be done with this person. The charge to brand him a victim and do nothing was led by who else?......the American political left and other America haters. After all, they can't have someone labeled a traitor just for fighting in the army of an enemy of a Republican President.

Here is essentially the deal. John Walker Lindh, a product of Marin County, California, used the religious freedoms provided by the Constitution of the United States to embrace Islam. He then moved to a country that is intolerant of our religious tolerance, Yemen, so he could study Arabic and immerse himself in his new found faith. After that he went to an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan where Osama bin "Hidin" Laden teaches the best ways to kill people to individuals who hate Jews and Americans. This brand of Islam is practiced in a lot of the Middle East, including countries we count as allies. Many of them have the same zero tolerance of tolerance. They even have schools that teach little kids to hate the West, to practice suicide bombing and to see anyone who has not embraced Allah as undeserving of life. Now the American political left preaches tolerance, especially religious tolerance. But they seem willing to put tolerance aside if it means tolerating, much less supporting United States foreign policy.

Later, Mr. Walker Lindh went to fight alongside the Taliban against India in Kashmir. In our current conflict with the Taliban, there was a battle for the northeastern Afghan City of Konduz and the Taliban which ended with al-Qaida and Taliban forces surrendering to the Northern Alliance. The captured al-Qaida/Taliban prisoners were brought back to Mazar-e-Sharif where they were imprisoned in an old fortress. Our boy, Johnny was among those prisoners. For some reason the prisoners weren't properly searched and managed to smuggle hand grenades into the compound. One of our CIA agents, Mike Spann, questioned John in that prison. It seems that Mr. Walker Lindh made no attempt to warn Agent Spann that some of his erstwhile comrades were still armed. Mike Spann was killed in a prisoner uprising when the "surrendered" Taliban blew up their guards and themselves using the hidden grenades. Yet, to liberals in the Bay Area of California, Mr. Walker Lindh is simply a victim of the circumstance of his spiritual quest.

After the US called in air-strikes to end the uprising the International Media whined about how perfectly awful it was that some of the Taliban killed in the uprising had their hands tied. Johnny Walker Lindh was discovered in the basement of the fortress. Unfortunately, he had survived.

Apparently, Mr. Walker's faith in Islam, is deep enough for him to abandon his nation, his family and to take up arms against his countrymen, but it isn't deep enough for him not to spill his guts to the American forces now that he is in custody. So, now he is giving us "information" about al-Qaida and the Taliban. We don't know how valid it is...since he hated the United States and the West enough to abandon it and fight beside our enemies, how likely is it that he is telling us the truth now? Mr. Walker, a.k.a. John Walker Lindh, a.k.a. Abdul Hamid, is getting some level of sympathy from certain elected officials here in the United States. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada called Walker a "poor pathetic soul." Senator Reid is a Democrat.... Big surprise. Radio pundits were suggesting that Walker should be released for giving us information (which, I repeat, may be of no value) on the terrorists. How about if we charge this creep with treason, murder, sedition and conspiracy and fry him in a government electric chair? Better yet, let's turn him over to the Afghanistan authorities and let them try him under the rules of Islamic justice.

There really shouldn't be any discussions about this person. He betrayed his country, he took up arms for a foreign enemy and may have (at least indirectly) caused the death of one of our agents. I can't even fathom why there would be any disagreement here. This is black and white. There are no shades of gray. We are about to haul this guy thousands of miles around the world so that he can have a trial in this country. We as a people will have to endure weeks and months of trial lawyers and bleeding hearts coming on the television to tell us that he didn't really mean it. Meanwhile families in New York City can't find enough of their loved ones to bury.... because of the actions of people who think and act like John Walker Lindh.