E-mails from a Traitor

FROM AUGUST 1995 to August 1997, John Philip Walker Lindh, the Marin County jihadist, was a frequent contributor to Internet newsgroups. As Newsweek reports in its latest issue, he used the nom de plume "doodoo."

At the outset, he pretended to be a rapper, critiquing the rhymes of another Internet poseur as "some 13 year old white kid playing smart," which would actually be a pretty fair description of himself, then a 14-year-old white kid trying to pass himself off as black. Two years later, he was "Prof. J" pontificating on the relationship of Judaism to Zionism in the newsgroup soc.religion.islam.

In between, he seems to have liquidated his comic books and video games in order to buy audio equipment. But on July 29, 1996, he suddenly pulls up short: "I've heard recently that certain musical instruments are forbidden by Islam," he writes. And by September 21, 1996, he's placing an online want ad (WTB means "wanted to buy") for recordings of Malcolm X speeches. He comes across in many places as a budding totalitarian, though it should be noted that many 15-year-old habitues of newsgroups try to sound imperious. Not that many sign their e-mails "Br. Mujahid," however.

You can retrieve the online oeuvre of the American Taliban for yourself by searching for "doodoo@hooked.net" in the newsgroups archive at Google. Or you can read them below, reformatted in chronological order. The only editing I've done is to remove the e-mail addresses of third parties and the more technical parts of the address headers. The personal webpage he refers to, http://www.hooked.net/users/doodoo/index.htm, seems no longer to exist.

From: Disciple Of The Englober
Subject: Re: CONTEST: $500 Grand Prize: DESIGN A LOGO FOR OUR RECORD COMPANY
Date: 1995/08/12
organization: Disciple Of The Englober
newsgroups: rec.music.hip-hop,alt.rap
x-mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (Windows; I; 16bit)

Fernando Robnett wrote:
> Did you state ?
>
> * The terms of the contest and what time frame
> * When will it expire . . .
> * Payment terms
> * Return of the contestant's entry materials ??
>
> I think these questions alone provide enough air of question
> for the less experienced and possible impressionable individuals
> out there who might be interested in competing in your "legitimate"
> contest . . . .
>

I think it was good of you to point these obvious shortcomings in the original posting. The
whole thing seems very suspicious to me. The way he acts as if you're winning a prize when he's
actually buying your artwork for an extremely low price, the way the original note had many
legal notices missing, and the unproffessional presentation and reply ("I don't appreciate
this") all lead me to beleive this kid is a joke. 'I wont appreciate' being harrased by Mr.
Hirschhorn in the future, so keep in mind these are my own personal opinions and could very
well (although not very likely) be incorrect. To all artists and potential participents: if you
don't watch your back, you're likely to be stabbed.

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O O
O () O J O H N D O E
O O
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"Some one approached me [] a money hungry roach, B [] said "come sign some papers down at the
company" [] walked in the place [] money in my face [] gave my man Biz some, that's all it
takes [] I figured we were straight but I had to keep straightened [] something about them
that's when I start breaking [] I knew from the start less for more work [] at the end of it
all would up getting jerked" -Just Ice

From: Disciple Of The Englober
Subject: Re: This J-Dogg/J-Pac character's rhymes
Date: 1995/08/12
organization: Disciple Of The Englober
newsgroups: rec.music.hip-hop
x-mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (Windows; I; 16bit)