"My Heart Became Attached": The Strange Journey of John Walker Lindh

220 Pages·2008·0.91 MB·English

by  Mark Kukis

‘‘My Heart Became Attached’’
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‘‘My Heart Became Attached’’
The Strange Journey of
John Walker Lindh
B
M A R K K U K I S
Brassey’s, Inc.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Copyright(cid:2)2003byBrPaosstoeym’sa,cInBco.oks,Inc.
PublishedintheUnitedStatesbyBrassey’s,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthis
bookmaybereproducedinanymannerwhatsoeverwithoutwrittenpermission
fromthepublisher,exceptinthecaseofbriefquotationsembodiedincriticalarticles
andreviews.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kukis,Mark,1973-
‘‘Myheartbecameattached’’:thestrangeodysseyofJohnWalkerLindh
/MarkKukis.—1sted.
p. cm.
ISBN1-57488-580-4(cloth:alk.paper)—ISBN1-57488-759-9(pbk.:
ISBN978-1-57488-759-4(pbk.alk.paper)
alk.paper)
1.Lindh,JohnWalker,1981– 2.Terrorists—Biography. 3.Muslim
convertsfromChristianity—Biography. 4.Americans—Arab
countries—Biography. 5.Americans—Afghanistan—Biography. 6.
Taliban. 7.Jihad. I.Title.
HV6430.L55K85 2003
958.104'6—dc21 2003006954
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaperthatmeets
theAmericanNationalStandardsInstituteZ39-48Standard.
Brassey’s,Inc.
22841QuicksilverDrive
Dulles,Virginia20166
FirstEdition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my mother, my father, Marinell, Heidi and Steve,
a family whose support made this writing
and so much else possible for me.
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Author’s Note xi
1 San Francisco to Sana’a 1
2 A New Kind of School 23
3 Purity and Piety on the Northwest Frontier 41
4 Answering the Call to Arms 68
5 The Taliban Caravan 91
6 An Uncertain Surrender 108
7 Jihad’s Last Cry 121
8 Fame, Fear, and a Passage Home 137
9 The Mercies of an Anguished Nation 165
10 Faith and Silence 187
Epilogue 196
Bibliography 201
About the Author 203
vii
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Acknowledgments
SOME of the most important research done for this book would
have been impossible without Sajjad Tarakzai, a Pakistani jour-
nalistwhoriskedhislifeonseveraloccasionsservingasmytrans-
lator and guide in Pakistan. I am deeply grateful for the long
hours of difficult, dangerous work he undertook to help me
through many months, in which he proved to be both a skilled
professional and trustworthy friend. My agent, Elizabeth Frost-
Knappman of New England Publishing Associates, and my edi-
tor, Christina Davidson, provided support from half way around
the world through many difficult months as well. And I owe spe-
cialthanks toAlex Canizares, afriend whomade travelingnearly
as easy as coming home. Dozens more provided help in large and
small ways throughout the writing of this book. Here are some,
but by no means all: Erin Mewhirter, Richard Glick, Kim Zim-
merman, Adam Gerson, Esther Oxford, Hedi Aouidj, Zarif
Amiri, Asra Nomani, Kerry Lauerman, Thorne Anderson, Mo-
hammed Saleem, Dan Olmsted, Shaun Waterman, Eli J. Lake,
David Fechheimer, Barry Simon, Ebrahim Nana, Mohamed Sal-
lam al-Asbahi, Karin Thayer, Abduh Moqbil Assabri, Robert
Young Pelton, Gen. Rashid Dostum, Comdr. Mohamed Atta.
ix