TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2001 — Leave it to the hometown newspaper to put the best possible spin on the astounding story of John Phillip Walker Lindh, a/k/a Suleyman Al-Lindh, a/k/a Abdul Hamid.

This morning’s San Francisco Chronicle reports that Walker — a rich kid from Marin County who became a Taliban fighter — was just a smart, mature, respectful boy who converted to Islam as part of a precocious search for spiritual meaning. The quote of the day comes from "family friend" Bill Jones, who says of Walker’s transformation from Tamiscal High School student to terrorist: "It was a youthful indiscretion."

Generally speaking, "youthful indiscretion" is the language that politicians reach for when trying to explain away those pesky rumors that they smoked pot when they were in college. (Of course, let’s not forget the case of US Representative Henry Hyde, who memorably described his affair with a married woman when he was in his 40s as a "youthful indiscretion.")

It’s not immediately apparent how to characterize a 20-year-old American citizen’s decision to join the Taliban and take up arms against the United States, but surely "youthful indiscretion" isn’t it. In its crude, simple-minded way, today’s New York Post comes closer to getting at the truth: "turncoat" and "rat" are the words it uses.

Though it’s hard to feel much sympathy for Walker, today’s New York Times paints a picture of him as the product of a family that, in its own quiet, affluent way, was severely dysfunctional. Raised by a Roman Catholic father and a Buddhist mother who had separated, Walker (he used his mother’s last name) converted to Islam at the age of 16 after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

For a white, rich teenager living at home suddenly to grow a beard, adopt Muslim dress, and start quoting from the Koran raises at least the possibility that Walker was crying out for attention as much as he was tending to his spiritual needs. Don’t misunderstand me: there’s not a thing wrong with anyone’s becoming a Muslim. In this particular case, though, it strikes me more as an exotic form of teenage rebellion. Yet his family actually encouraged him, helping him attend religious school in Yemen, before he disappeared earlier this year — only to turn up in the fetid basement of a prison in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Not surprisingly, Walker’s parents are pleading for mercy. They’re going to need it. Walker could be charged as a traitor, which at least theoretically could lead to his being tried by one of George W. Bush’s military tribunals, which in turn could result in his being executed on a six-to-three vote. Newsweek, which broke the story of Walker’s arrest, quotes Walker’s father as saying that his son actually supported the terrorist attack last year on the USS Cole. "It was clear that he had developed a different point of view," Frank Lindh told Newsweek. "My days of molding him were over." Actually, it doesn’t seem like he did all that good a job in the first place.

On Larry King Live last night, Lindh said, "Well, I have to say, I’m doing my best to remain composed, but we’re all very, very upset with what John went through in this prison. It really defies description. And to think that our son, he’s really not much more than a boy, that he went through this horrible experience in the prison and who knows what leading up to that, as parents and as family, we’re very troubled and very concerned for his welfare." He added that "John is a good boy. I don’t know of any information, any suggestion of any information, indicating that he’s done anything wrong."

Lindh was obviously speaking under incredible emotional pressure, and if your heart doesn’t go out to him then you haven’t got one. But consider. John Walker is not a "boy," he’s a 20-year-old man, older than many of the American troops who are putting their lives at risk in Afghanistan. As far as there being no information that he’s "done anything wrong," well, certainly, we don’t know the full story yet. What we do know is that he was taken into custody after the Taliban surrendered to the Northern Alliance. He took part, in whatever small way, in a bloody uprising that resulted in the death of CIA agent Johnny " Mike " Spann. And, when pressed by a Newsweek reporter as to whether he favored the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Walker replied, "Yes, I supported it."

It doesn’t look good.