US Taliban held at Marine camp

CAMP RHINO, Sunday - An American captured fighting with the Taliban in northern Afghanistan is being held as a “battlefield detainee” at a US Marine base in the south of the country, officers said here Sunday. “(John) Walker is a battlefield detainee. He is being held here pending disposition instructions from higher headquarters,” according to a statement from the Marines that replaced an earlier one. Captain David T. Romley said in the previous statement that John Walker Lindh was being detained at Forward Operating Base Rhino “for his own protection and will be transferred to US civilian authorities as soon as possible.” No explanation was given for the change in wording but it appeared to be linked to the legal challenges Walker could face under US law and the Geneva Convention regarding treatment of prisoners of war. AFP ends