New details on John Walker Lindh´s first trip to the Middle East in 1998. Lindh is the Marin County man who was captured with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Those who met Lindh in Yemen say he bumbled his way through the trip, and got into trouble with authorities. His classmates say Lindh pretended to speak broken English with an Arabic accent.
They say he was disenchanted with aspects of Yemeni culture. Sabri Saleem, owner of Yemen Language Center, says Lindh disappeared from school after complaining that his classes included women and didn´t offer the Islamic studies he wanted. Saleem says police caught Lindh at the airport months later.
A teacher says Lindh had sought fundamentalist teachings in Yemen´s northern mountains, but was repeatedly turned back by the military. Lindh returned home in 1999. Eight months later, he returned to Yemen, then went to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 5:30 pm