Feds Loosen Restrictions on 'American Taliban'

Federal prison officials are easing up a bit on John Walker Lindh, better known as the American Taliban, reports the Washington Post. All "special administrative measures" against Lindh will expire on Friday, meaning he'll be able to get more visitors, mail, and access to the media, among other things. Lindh, 28, has served 6 years of a 20-year sentence after he got captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Lindh's parents have long maintained that their son is no terrorist, that he simply fell under bad influences as a youth while abroad. President Bush rejected their request to commute his sentence as one of his last acts in office. Images of a captured Lindh caused a furor when they surfaced only months after the 9/11 attacks.
(More John Walker Lindh stories.)