John Walker Lindh

A 'very spiritual young man'

Frank Lindh called his son "a sweet kid" who was devoted and committed to his conversion to Islam. He said he was proud of his son's dedication to study the Koran and thought his conversion had been good for him.

Walker Lindh's quest for knowledge about Islam carried him to Yemen for nine months in July 1998, according to interrogation reports. After going home to California, he returned to continue his studies in Yemen on February 1, 2000, and then left for Pakistan that October.

In Pakistan, Walker Lindh enrolled in an Islamic fundamentalist school, known as a madrasah, where he became interested in the Muslim fight in Kashmir. Encouraged not to tell others he was American, he joined the Harakat-ul Mujahedeen-Al Almi (HUM), an organization blamed by Pakistan for terrorist attacks and failed assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharaff.

Soon Walker Lindh became disillusioned with the HUM's cause and, after undergoing 24 days of military training, he instead chose to join the Taliban, according to interrogation reports.

He told the FBI that he spent seven weeks at an al Qaeda camp -- al Farooq -- about a two-hour bus ride from Kandahar, beginning June 1, 2001. Three weeks were devoted to weapons familiarization, one week to studying maps/topography, one to battlefield training and one to explosives. Walker Lindh said he did not undergo any WMD training, although he said he believed al Qaeda offered such training in Kandahar.

Walker Lindh told interrogators that bin Laden visited the camp several times, usually with one of his sons. Walker Lindh and four others met bin Laden on one occasion, and the al Qaeda leader "made small talk and thanked them all for taking part in the Jihad," according to the FBI report.