John Walker Lindh: Flight Risk or Political Prisoner?

Revisited. Let us review: Some say John Walker Lindh should be denied bail and kept in prison because he's a strong flight risk, an anti-American, a former Taliban soldier, and a piece of garbage. I reckon that the argument that he's a strong flight risk is mitigated by his notoriety, that being anti-American is not a crime, that fighting in another country's army is not a crime, and that there are plenty of pieces of garbage free here in the U.S. spreading hate and paranoia, and that none of this justifies keeping a man in prison while the federal government racks its brains for a means to put this guy away for life.

Keeping a man whose guilt (let alone crime) is far from certain in prison strikes me as being a wee bit too much like what we're always accusing the bad guys of doing. If we want to rescue the moral high ground here, at least let the man live under house arrest.

But then, this is the sort of thing I've come to expect from a justice system based on punishment and revenge rather than on actual justice.

Bahrain bans Al Jazeera TV

Now people might applaud the Bahrainians for their momentous decision to ban the news agency that has broadcast several bin Laden videotapes over the protests of the U.S. government, but to those people I say, check this out:

"According to a news bulletin on the Qatar-based channel, Mr al-Hamr said the ban was being imposed because the station was biased towards Israel and against Bahrain."

AND

"We believe (Al Jazeera) is suspect and represents the Zionist side in the region. We will not deal with this channel because we object to its coverage of current affairs. It is a channel penetrated by Zionists."
Information Minister Nabil al-Hamr (from report on Al Jazeera)

Ah-- bwhat?!? And so our coveted Paranoia-as-a-Way-of-Life award goes to Bahrain. (Sorry, Fidel.)