by Eric Ture Muhammad

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�The care exercised by the American government over how to prosecute its case against captured United States citizen, 20-year-old John Walker Lindh, an admitted fighter for the Taliban now reportedly cooperating with U.S. officials on board an amphibious assault ship in the Arabian Sea, has raised interesting questions about an historic double standard.

America captured Mr. Walker, as he is more commonly known, at the close of a prison revolt on Nov. 29 near Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. He was found among 80 Taliban fighters who survived the prison uprising, which was home to more than 3,000 Taliban prisoners captured in the Bush war on terrorism, according to published reports.

He was known then as Abdul Hamid and, if it were not for illness from cold, hunger and a bullet wound in his upper-right thigh, might have escaped capture and theoretically been shooting at American soldiers�with intent to kill�in defense of the Taliban government, say his harshest critics.

The Justice Department has mulled over several possible charges that carry the death penalty, including treason and murder of a U.S. government employee, in reference to CIA-agent Johnny Michael Spann, who was killed in the same prison revolt.

Profiles in mainstream media of Mr. Walker however, coupled with a cautious approach by the Bush administration and constant discussion of U.S. law and the rights of Americans, have made for heated discussions about how to handle a U.S. citizen turned prisoner of war.

"It is more than a double standard, it is a selective justice," observed Tyrone Powers, director of the Institute of Criminal Justice at Anne Arundel Community College and former FBI agent. "In the cases of people of color, they (the U.S.) continue to find evidence that was not there." Yet, in the case of Mr. Walker, when the evidence exists alongside admissions by Mr. Walker, Mr. Powers told The Final Call, "They ignore the evidence." A significant portion of that "evidence" could likely be CNN interviews where Mr. Walker admits his ties to the Taliban and fighting for them.

President Bush stated Dec. 21 that he had not decided what to do regarding the American Taliban, but analysts predict Mr. Walker will not be tried for treason�punishable by death�because of perceived difficulties in proving the charge.

In an early ABC television interview, Pres. Bush referred to Mr. Walker as a "poor fellow." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president meant for "anybody of that age, that youth, to be caught up in something like that is terrible. It�s unfortunate."

"We have had, as the president indicated � some limited contact with the White House regarding John�s case. Press rumors about plea negotiations, however, are completely false with no truth to them whatsoever," said Walker Attorney James J. Brosnahan in a statement to the media on Dec. 21.

"We appreciate the many Americans who are keeping an open mind and waiting for all of the facts to emerge. John�s parents and I continue to anxiously await some indication that the government will allow John access to his family and his attorney and will deliver the family�s December 4 letter to him. We ask no more than that which the Constitution guarantees to all Americans," he said.

The color of dissent

In contrast to the handling of Mr. Walker, historically the pursuit and treatment of Black dissenters against war or domestic injustice is far different. Indeed, when white protest and dissent is compared with Black criticism, two separate America�s exist. White protestors can shave, change hair color, go back to college, end up trading on Wall Street or become politicians. Such was the case of white activists Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden of the Chicago Seven-conspiracy trial of 1968. They were accused of rioting during the Democratic National Convention as part of major anti-Vietnam protests. But these white radicals moved into mainstream society: Mr. Hoffman traded stocks and Mr. Hayden became a state legislator in California.

"Patty Hearst," reminisced Final Call White House correspondent Askia Muhammad. "She was armed and fought revolution in and against America. She robbed banks and allegedly sweathearted with Black comrades." However, her father and big money, said Mr. Muhammad, convinced the public that she was kidnapped, brainwashed and not responsible for her actions.

In 1974, Ms. Hearst, heir to the Hearst publishing fortune became known as Tania, while a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). She was initially kidnapped by the SLA but joined their cause and was captured on bank surveillance tapes during a hold-up. She wore tams, robbed and toted locked and loaded AK-47 assault rifles. "America gave her a makeover and you have not heard from her since," said Mr. Muhammad. "Those movements and other movements for social change�without guns and weapons however were broken, decimated and Black lives in those movements were not worth a penny to white folks," he lamented.

Sentenced initially to 35 years in prison, the Hearst sentence was later reduced to seven years. Ms. Hearst served 15 months in prison before a pardon by President Carter in 1979.

More recently, on Oct. 30, another SLA member, Sara Jane Olson pled guilty to possessing bombs with intent to murder police officers. Two days later however, presiding Judge Larry Paul Fidler said he intended to hold a special session to consider whether the guilty plea by Ms. Olsen, who lived under an alias for 20 years, would remain valid in light of her public denials of guilt.

"I�ve never been in a situation like this before," said Deputy District Attorney Michael Latin, one of the case prosecutors. "I�ve been in situations where a defendant comes back and asks to withdraw a plea, but that is not what�s happening here," he told reporters.

Political prisoners at home ignored

The United States government refuses to acknowledge the plight of death row inmates and political prisoners within its jails. From Leonard Peltier, to Eddie Hatcher, to Mumia Abu-Jamal to Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown), over 3,000 inmates in America�s jails, men and women, according to human rights groups, are political prisoners and prisoners of war.

"Amnesty (International) and also me, personally, find it very tyrannical that our government, and individual states, can choose which citizens are going to live, and which citizens are going to die," said Mona Cadena of Amnesty International at a recent town hall meeting sponsored by The Peace and Justice Foundation concerning the pending trial of Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. "As we all know innocent people are executed, and throughout the death penalty system there are serious issues and concerns on top of arbitrary and unfair proceedings," she said.

"They tell us that COINTELPRO ended, but it never did," said Steve Hawkins, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "I helped to represent Mumia Abu-Jamal for years, and when we finally got Mumia�s FBI file, do you know that even while on death row they were still surveilling him," he continued.

COINTELPRO was a covert domestic spying campaign that utilized informants; smear tactics, perjury, disinformation and violated civil liberties to destroy Black Power, nationalist and civil rights groups.

Regarding the Al-Amin trial set for Jan. 7, 2002, Mr. Hawkins said you can expect a jury that is completely poisoned since the events of Sept. 11. "The American media�s perspective is given 24 hours a day. What fair jury can be picked anywhere in America, let alone the state of Georgia? The jury�s mind is already poisoned with respect to anyone who is of Muslim faith right now," he said.

Other cases of over the top persecutions of Blacks include Muhammad Ali for his refusal to fight in America�s war against Vietnam, and former Black Panther Geronimo "Ji Jaga" Pratt, whom FBI informants lied about to help falsely convict him of murder.

Of suspects and money trails

On Dec.11, exactly three months after the attack on America, the U.S. produced a new focus for the public. A French citizen of Moroccan descent, Zacarias Moussaoui, was charged with six counts of conspiracy in connection with the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. He faces the death penalty on four of the charges. Originally arrested on immigration charges on Aug. 17, before the Sept. 11, attack, Mr. Moussaoui is expected to be arraigned in a Virginia federal court on January 2, 2002.

France has asked that the terror suspect and French national not be executed. His mother was quoted in French newspapers stating her fears that her son will not receive a fair trial.

FBI chief Robert Mueller said, "In February 2001 Moussaoui arrived in the United States, opened a bank account with $32,000 in cash and immediately enrolled in a flight school."

Debates in mainstream media have intensified, continuously polling the American people as to the choice of penalty for Mr. Moussaoui, if convicted. Most have echoed the call for death.

"It is interesting that so much emphasis is placed on his money," commented researcher, activist Steve Cokely. "What about the American ties to Bin Laden money?" he asked, revealing a glowing list of prominent, white male U.S. citizens, officials and oil interests found to profit mightily from their business ties to the bin Laden family. The list he said came from a two-part series that appeared Dec. 10 and 11, in the Boston Herald. Among those named for ties to the Saudi monarchy or bin Laden family are former President George Bush, Sr., Frank C. Carlucci, former secretary of defense and national security advisor for President Ronald Reagan, former Secretary of State James Baker III, ex-budget czar Richard Darman and former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt.

Even President George W. Bush himself is linked, according to the Boston Globe report, via the Carlyle Group, a Washington D.C.-based investment bank with deep connections to the Saudi royal family that acts as a paid advisor to the Saudi monarchy. Mr. Bush was director of Caterair in 1994, an airline food services company and subsidiary of the Carlyle Group. Mr. Cokely, among others, cited the double standard in ignoring the money connections of prominent American citizens and believes strong scrutiny; investigation and charges may be warranted.

Mr. Powers noted that the Provisional Irish Republican Army is designated by the United States as a terrorist group. The group gets 52 percent of its funding, according to statistics provided by Mr. Powers, from Irish American groups and other U.S. citizens. Nobody has questioned, detained nor any accounts frozen been, yet nearly 100 relief effort agencies for Somalis and Palestinians have been shut down, and many of these people detained�presumably for connections to the Al-Qaeda network until proven otherwise.

"It is known as �surrogate terrorism,�" said Mr. Powers. "In other words, a terrorist group cannot exist without the help of another group funding it. In this case, America is that other group," he said.

"You can call it a war on terrorism but the whole concept is to demonize people of color," Mr. Powers continued. Even when the federal building was bombed in Oklahoma City in 1995, members of the Nation of Islam were initially blamed for the act committed by U.S. war hero Timothy McVeigh.

As for now, the fate of Mr. Walker remains uncertain. His father has pleaded for the U.S. military to show mercy following reports his son stated that he supported the attacks of Sept. 11, in which some 3,000 people died.