Getting Away with Murder: The Real Story Behind American Taliban John Walker Lindh and What the U.S. Government Had to Hide [Hardcover]

Richard D. Mahoney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2004

Americans were shocked to learn that one of our own had fought for the Taliban. Emerging froma gruesome battle at the end of the Afghan War onto the evening news, the so-called American Taliban would become linked inextricably to the CIA paramilitary who interrogated him, All-American Hero Mike Spann, who died in that battle, beaten and tortured to death. Public opinion was one of outrage. The Bush administration vowed to make an example of the traitor. Attorney General John Ashcroft promised to bring Lindh to justice for participating in the murder of Spann. Why then, after threatening treason and the death penalty, did the government suddenly abandon a trial in favor of a soft plea deal? Why did they let him get away with it? To answer the question, this book puts John Walker Lindh on trial, but it also examines the case against the U.S. government that a trial might have revealed. What double game did the government play before the Afghan War, involving oil pipelines, CIA soldiers, and Saudi payoffs? Why did they hang Mike Spann out to dry?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mahoney claims that his new book puts not only John Walker Lindh on trial but the entire U.S. government, for what he calls its treasonous double dealings with states that aid terrorists. Part biography of Lindh, part courtroom transcript, part military field report and in large part conjecture, the book, while often muddled and disconnected, raises important questions about the precarious nature of the U.S.'s alliances with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The author claims, as have others, that the U.S. enabled the rise of the Taliban by arming the mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Most readers will find, though, that the charge that this constitutes treason ignores the complexity of the geopolitical landscape. Mahoney's second claim is that, because of its insatiable thirst for oil and profit, the U.S. habitually turns a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's and Pakistan's support of terrorism. The author's main charge, however, is that the Justice Department abruptly stopped Lindh's trial for fear of what might be revealed. This charge ignores what the judge noted: the evidence of Lindh's conspiracy to kill Americans was far from compelling, though Mahoney weakly argues the opposite. While providing much fodder for conspiracy theorists, Mahoney (Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy) falls short of making his sweeping indictments stick.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; First Edition edition (June 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559707143
• ISBN-13: 978-1559707145
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,045,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!, July 1, 2004

By 

D. Cardillo (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Getting Away with Murder: The Real Story Behind American Taliban John Walker Lindh and What the U.S. Government Had to Hide (Hardcover)

I found this book spellbinding. Mahoney takes two ordinary lives before 9/11, that of Mike Spann (CIA paracommander) and John Walker Lindh (the American Taliban), and spins them into the web that the United States, the Soviets, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have been weaving for decades. Spann and Lindh will come face to face in Afghanistan, a meeting with a tragic ending, but what are the global circumstances that the world powers put into motion that led to this fateful rendezvous? Mahoney takes us into a historical perspective spelling out the wheeling and dealing that went into supporting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, the plan to build oil pipelines, the Saudis financing terrorists, and how the United States, rather than submit to an investigation that would reveal its duplicity and involvement, dropped nine out of ten charges against Lindh.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book! Highly recommended., May 13, 2004

By 

Sheila Patton (Chino Valley, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Away with Murder: The Real Story Behind American Taliban John Walker Lindh and What the U.S. Government Had to Hide (Hardcover)

This is Richard Mahoney's newest book. I really enjoyed his other books...so I just had to read "Getting Away With Murder". I was not disappointed. I am going to share it with my classmates tomorrow!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving and important book, September 13, 2004

By 

Amn Wright "Angus Wright" (France) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Getting Away with Murder: The Real Story Behind American Taliban John Walker Lindh and What the U.S. Government Had to Hide (Hardcover)

I almost didn't buy this book. The world is awash with 'what really happened' books, and the cover contrives to suggest one of those 'inside the organisation' action accounts which make good beach reading but add little.

In fact this is an extraordinarily clear and touching account of the struggle going on on for the soul of America, personalised by the two tragic lives of Mike Spann - CIA agent,and John Walker Lindh - the young Californian fleeing from the degeneracy as he saw it of his home society and finding a fate he could never have imagined as 'The American Taliban.' Their story is framed between chapters detailing the history of US foreign relations since the sixties which alone would would earn the book a place on my reference shelf. Mr Mahoney's respect and love for the best of American culture and tradition confronts his disgust at its takeover by the power of oil and money which he unhesitatingly describes as 'corrupt.' As a lawyer, he is well placed to detail the scandal surrounding the quashing of the Lindh trial, but he expressly avoids any implication that this was simply a case of a misled teenager. While its a litle hard to believe that the one thing standing between arrest of some of the Twin towers attackers before their attack was an interoffice feud between the FBI in Washington and their New York chief, John O'Neill, Mahoney neverthless regards Mr O'Neill - tragically killed on 9/11 - as a true American hero.

Well researched, well written and well connected, this is an important book. Buy it America! Read it! Then go out and vote -before its too late.