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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Howard Shua-Eoan

Aired September 29, 2002 - 17:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: If the U.S. government has its way, John Walker Lindh, the so-called Taliban American will spend the next 20 years behind bars. His formal sentencing is scheduled for later in the week. Walker Lindh reaches a plea agreement -- or, reached, rather, a plea agreement with the federal prosecutors last July, just weeks before his scheduled trial. He pleaded guilty to illegally providing help to the Taliban and carrying explosives. Without an agreement, he faced a possible life sentence.
Well, this week's "TIME" magazine focuses on the many mysteries behind John Walker Lindh. Here to talk more with us about the article, "TIME" magazine's news director, Howard Shua-Eoan, and he joins us from New York. Good to see you.

HOWARD SHUA-EOAN, NEWS DIRECTOR, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, this documentation that you have collected by a number of reporters there at "TIME" magazine really does show that John Walker Lindh from the very beginning has been labeled many things. In your writings there, he's been labeled everything from "a little Buddha," a nickname that his dad gave him, to names on the Internet, like "John Doe, "Crack," Mr. Mujahid," "Dr. Jay." What was the discovery of your reporters that he was a very complex and very difficult person to figure out from the very beginning, one wearing many faces?

SHUA-EOAN: Right. He had very caring parents who thought they were watching over him. And yet, they could not quite tell what was going on in every aspect of his life. They were not quite aware of his Internet roamings, for example, and they weren't quite sure of what kind of schools he ended up in in Yemen, for example.

WHITFIELD: But the parents in your article, it's revealed that at least his mother did help finance him going to school in Yemen...

SHUA-EOAN: Oh, yes. They were...

WHITFIELD: ... particularly because he expressed an interest in learning more about the religion of Islam.

SHUA-EOAN: Yes, the parents certainly wanted him to follow his heart. Both of them were fearful, but both sort of felt it was the American way, to -- if your child gets to a certain age, you just have to let him go. Unfortunately, his roamings took him to radical centers in Yemen. We've also discovered that his -- some of his relationships were -- or we've discovered some interesting relationships he's had. He met this Muslim missionary, who belonged to the Tabliki Jimad (ph) while he was in San Diego, and called him and said, can I join you in Pakistan? I'd like to see several madrassas, or religious schools, and I'd like to pick one out to go study.

This person, his name is Kizar Hayat (ph), now tells us that John Walker Lindh was infatuated with him and that he had a love affair with John Walker Lindh.

WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about that briefly, in that you all made a conscious decision to include that in your report, that you found that just as equally important as it was to reveal how he first learned how to handle a submachine gun...

SHUA-EOAN: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: ... and why it was important to note that even his classmates from as far back as elementary said that he was a very cerebral guy, and he wasn't a very violent kid. He didn't want to play violent games. At what point did you find that it was important, it had an equal importance to talk about this alleged homosexuality, which his attorneys, by the way, are denying as true?

SHUA-EOAN: Yes. Yes. It was important because Kizar Hayat (ph) was the way that John Walker Lindh got to Pakistan, and he was the last person who took John Walker Lindh up to the mountains. His spiritual adviser in Pakistan was introduced to him by way of Kizar Hayat (ph), Dimufti Oltimos Khan (ph). And he's an integral part of what happened to John Walker Lindh. So their relationship is of utmost importance. It helps answer the key to why he was there and why he may have left.

There's still lots of mysteries. It was apparently Kizar Hayat (ph) who taught John Walker Lindh how to fire his first Kalashnikov. He wasn't very good, apparently, which we have in the story.

WHITFIELD: Other relationships you explore -- you talk about the relationship between John Walker Lindh and his parents. And how his parents, it appears through the readings of your article, his father, particularly, supplied some information from his diary.

SHUA-EOAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: How were you able to obtain that and through what cooperation?

SHUA-EOAN: We have been talking to the parents -- we have several hours of interviews with the parents, not just one session, but several sessions. We've been trying to figure out how much they knew about their son's roamings, how they kept track of him, how they raised him. We wanted to get their full view, because it's -- their family life is as complex, almost, as their son's. They lived together for six years after the father considered the marriage effectively over. The father now lives with a man. The father has said he's gay. The mother is very worried about all her kids and trying to keep a sense of semblance of family together. So this is the -- this is the milieu that John Walker Lindh came home to, from Yemen the first time and had discovered that his family was officially broken up.

WHITFIELD: All right. Howard Shua-Eoan, news director with "TIME" magazine, thank you very much for joining us, and that discovery being documented in this week's "TIME" magazine.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 29, 2002 - 17:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: If the U.S. government has its way, John Walker Lindh, the so-called Taliban American will spend the next 20 years behind bars. His formal sentencing is scheduled for later in the week. Walker Lindh reaches a plea agreement -- or, reached, rather, a plea agreement with the federal prosecutors last July, just weeks before his scheduled trial. He pleaded guilty to illegally providing help to the Taliban and carrying explosives. Without an agreement, he faced a possible life sentence.
Well, this week's "TIME" magazine focuses on the many mysteries behind John Walker Lindh. Here to talk more with us about the article, "TIME" magazine's news director, Howard Shua-Eoan, and he joins us from New York. Good to see you.

HOWARD SHUA-EOAN, NEWS DIRECTOR, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, this documentation that you have collected by a number of reporters there at "TIME" magazine really does show that John Walker Lindh from the very beginning has been labeled many things. In your writings there, he's been labeled everything from "a little Buddha," a nickname that his dad gave him, to names on the Internet, like "John Doe, "Crack," Mr. Mujahid," "Dr. Jay." What was the discovery of your reporters that he was a very complex and very difficult person to figure out from the very beginning, one wearing many faces?

SHUA-EOAN: Right. He had very caring parents who thought they were watching over him. And yet, they could not quite tell what was going on in every aspect of his life. They were not quite aware of his Internet roamings, for example, and they weren't quite sure of what kind of schools he ended up in in Yemen, for example.

WHITFIELD: But the parents in your article, it's revealed that at least his mother did help finance him going to school in Yemen...

SHUA-EOAN: Oh, yes. They were...

WHITFIELD: ... particularly because he expressed an interest in learning more about the religion of Islam.

SHUA-EOAN: Yes, the parents certainly wanted him to follow his heart. Both of them were fearful, but both sort of felt it was the American way, to -- if your child gets to a certain age, you just have to let him go. Unfortunately, his roamings took him to radical centers in Yemen. We've also discovered that his -- some of his relationships were -- or we've discovered some interesting relationships he's had. He met this Muslim missionary, who belonged to the Tabliki Jimad (ph) while he was in San Diego, and called him and said, can I join you in Pakistan? I'd like to see several madrassas, or religious schools, and I'd like to pick one out to go study.

This person, his name is Kizar Hayat (ph), now tells us that John Walker Lindh was infatuated with him and that he had a love affair with John Walker Lindh.

WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about that briefly, in that you all made a conscious decision to include that in your report, that you found that just as equally important as it was to reveal how he first learned how to handle a submachine gun...

SHUA-EOAN: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: ... and why it was important to note that even his classmates from as far back as elementary said that he was a very cerebral guy, and he wasn't a very violent kid. He didn't want to play violent games. At what point did you find that it was important, it had an equal importance to talk about this alleged homosexuality, which his attorneys, by the way, are denying as true?

SHUA-EOAN: Yes. Yes. It was important because Kizar Hayat (ph) was the way that John Walker Lindh got to Pakistan, and he was the last person who took John Walker Lindh up to the mountains. His spiritual adviser in Pakistan was introduced to him by way of Kizar Hayat (ph), Dimufti Oltimos Khan (ph). And he's an integral part of what happened to John Walker Lindh. So their relationship is of utmost importance. It helps answer the key to why he was there and why he may have left.

There's still lots of mysteries. It was apparently Kizar Hayat (ph) who taught John Walker Lindh how to fire his first Kalashnikov. He wasn't very good, apparently, which we have in the story.

WHITFIELD: Other relationships you explore -- you talk about the relationship between John Walker Lindh and his parents. And how his parents, it appears through the readings of your article, his father, particularly, supplied some information from his diary.

SHUA-EOAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: How were you able to obtain that and through what cooperation?

SHUA-EOAN: We have been talking to the parents -- we have several hours of interviews with the parents, not just one session, but several sessions. We've been trying to figure out how much they knew about their son's roamings, how they kept track of him, how they raised him. We wanted to get their full view, because it's -- their family life is as complex, almost, as their son's. They lived together for six years after the father considered the marriage effectively over. The father now lives with a man. The father has said he's gay. The mother is very worried about all her kids and trying to keep a sense of semblance of family together. So this is the -- this is the milieu that John Walker Lindh came home to, from Yemen the first time and had discovered that his family was officially broken up.

WHITFIELD: All right. Howard Shua-Eoan, news director with "TIME" magazine, thank you very much for joining us, and that discovery being documented in this week's "TIME" magazine.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com