Government says Lindh treated the same as U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan

Saturday, March 30th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Far from enduring the horrific conditions claimed by his lawyers, American-born Taliban John Walker Lindh was treated as well as U.S. soldiers during his captivity in Afghanistan, federal prosecutors say.

Rebutting defense claims, prosecutors said in court papers filed Friday that Lindh, shot in the leg, received ``the very same medical treatment provided to wounded United States military personnel.''

He was fed the same Meals Ready To Eat, in the same quantities, and was given warm comforters in freezing weather, they said.

``While the Navy physician who was treating him had to sleep on a concrete floor in a sleeping bag in a room with a hole in the wall and a hole in the ceiling, Lindh slept on a stretcher in a container that protected him from the elements,'' prosecutors said.

The defense had argued that incriminating statements Lindh made to interrogators should be thrown out, in part because he was interviewed after being confined in a freezing metal container, bound with circulation-cutting handcuffs and blindfolded.

The government did acknowledge that conditions in a U.S. military camp in Afghanistan weren't ideal for anyone.

However, the court filing said, the United States ``had not plucked John Walker Lindh out of the California suburb where he used to live and dropped him into a metal container in the middle of Afghanistan.''

Lindh entered that country, sought out training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan, learned to use shoulder-fired weapons and grenades and swore allegiance to jihad, or holy war, the government said.

Lindh is charged with conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, providing support and services to foreign terrorist organizations and using firearms and destructive devices during crimes of violence. Three of the 10 charges carry a maximum life sentence, and the other seven have maximum prison terms of 90 years.

After he was taken aboard a U.S. military ship, Lindh had a bullet removed by a senior surgeon, received a second haircut when he complained about an earlier one, had his mustache trimmed and was advised of the direction of Mecca so he could say his Muslim prayers, the government contended.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in suburban Alexandria, Va., has scheduled a hearing Monday on defense document requests. The Justice Department released the filing.

In addition to the comments on Lindh's captivity, prosecutors rejected several defense accusations against the government.

They said U.S. military officials did not tailor interrogation reports prepared last January to make Lindh appear more guilty than in reports prepared in December.

Reports in both months ``paint a similar portrait of the defendant as a man who, even after the catastrophic events of Sept. 11th ... maintained his allegiance to enemies of this country,'' the filing said.

The government rejected a claim that it omitted from documents a Lindh statement that he was disillusioned after the Sept. 11 attacks _ and would have left his unit but for fear of death.

The word was not from Lindh, but rather placed in the report by a military interrogator, giving his own interpretation of Lindh's remarks, the filing said.

Prosecutors did not deny a request for defense lawyers to interview military detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but said they would respond by April 23 after consulting with military officials.