From the WSJ Opinion Archives
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Sons of Liberty
In all worlds but the liberal one, adult choices have adult consequences.
An American Talib from Marin County? Named for John Lennon; the son of a Catholic father and a mother who embraced Buddhism; a graduate of an alternative high school who converted to Islam after reading "The Autobiography of Malcolm X"?
Put it this way: If Rush Limbaugh had been the one to break the story of John Walker, he would have been accused of making it up. Mr. Walker, a k a Abdul Hamid, was one of only 86 people who survived the four-day battle at the Qalai Jangi prison in northern Afghanistan that began when the captured Taliban fighters overwhelmed their guards. After spotting his son's face on CNN, Mr. Walker's father went on television himself. "We want to give him a big hug," he told Larry King. "I also want to give him a--maybe a little kick in the butt for not telling me what he was up to."
But John Walker was not the only American son caught up in that bloody prison riot. Johnny Michael Spann was also there, a 32-year-old Marine turned CIA special-operations officer. And this father of three became the first U.S. combat fatality when, as the BBC reported, he was "kicked, beaten and bitten to death" by the rioting prisoners. Back in America, Mike Spann's father, too, spoke to the press. But this father did not speak of hugs. He spoke of a son whose favorite words were, "That's the right thing to do, Daddy."
As Mr. Spann would be the first to tell you, a father's love for his son is eminently understandable. So too is a plea for clemency. But the different reactions to these two different men by their respective friends, family and neighbors suggest two Americas that don't even speak the same language.
"I can't see him as being unpatriotic," a neighbor of Mr. Walker's told the AP. "This is where his journey led him. I imagine he lost himself there. Or found himself." Others called John Walker a "victim" of the Taliban, when of course he was a member of the Taliban--carrying an AK-47 when caught and telling a Newsweek reporter that he supported the Sept. 11 attacks. Isn't it ironic that the same folks who argue that a 13-year-old girl is perfectly capable of making her own decisions about sex now tell us that a 20-year-old man is incapable of distinguishing between, say, Taliban theocracy and American democracy?
We can't help noticing how refreshingly unenlightened Mike Spann's world appears in contrast. "Somebody's got to be on the front line," the lawyer who handled his will told the Washington Post. "Mike felt it had to be him." Likewise the newly widowed Shannon Spann, who told Sen. Richard Shelby that he should tell people who asked that her husband "cared about America, cared about the future of America and cared about the security of Americans." Mike Spann was just about John Walker's age when he signed up with the Marines, whose motto is Semper Fidelis, or "always faithful."
In all worlds but the liberal one, adult choices have adult consequences. Mike Spann's certainly did: for his wife, his children and the grateful nation that will bury him in Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. Shouldn't John Walker's?
