John Walker Lindh was 20 when accused of firing on American soldiers in Afghanistan. Lucas Helder is 21, and he was arrested Tuesday for a string of pipe bombings across the Midwest.

The two young men whom friends and relatives claim used to be typical are now accused terrorists.

Walker and Helder resorted to harming others due to beliefs, but their motives are slightly different. Walker believed so strongly in Islam that he turned against the American government. Walker’s strong ideological stance caused him to turn against his own country. Helder, on the other hand, said in his letter to The Badger Herald he knew of no other way to get attention. He wanted to inform people of the excessive control of the government and thought bombs were the only option.

Though one man was considered a typical American in his early 20s and the other was an eccentric practitioner of a religion not native to his home, their actions were equally shocking. Helder’s friends and neighbors have said the same things people always say in these situations: he wanted to get his opinions out, he never seemed like a violent person, and he was a typical kid.

Walker was described as peaceful, spiritual and tolerant.

Yet both men can be considered terrorists — Walker because he joined a terrorist organization and fired on the troops of his country, Helder because he admitted to intentionally placing the lives of innocent Americans in serious danger.

Both young men were disillusioned with the government. Walker desired to live under a fundamentalist Islamic regime and claims he joined the Taliban because it was the only “truly Islamic” government in the world. In the notes Helder left with pipe bombs and in his manifesto sent to The Badger Herald, he claimed to be disillusioned with the influence the American government had on his life.

“If the government controls what you do, they control what you can do,” he wrote in the letter. “To ‘live’ avoid death in this society you are forced to conform, slave away.”

“Conforming to the boundaries, and restrictions imposed by the government only reduces the substance in your lives. When one percent of the nation controls 99 percent of the nations total wealth, is it a wonder why there are control problems?”
Helder said he was telling people his beliefs the only way he knew how; unfortunately, the only way he could think of was through harming innocent people. He said in the letter more “attention getters” were on the way.

“If I could I would change only one person, unfortunately the resources are not accessible. It seems killing a single famous person would get the same media attention as killing numerous un-famous humans. There is less risk of being detained, associated with dismissing certain people.”

Walker did not write a letter to a news organization blatantly stating his purpose and beliefs, so it is more difficult to interpret his actions. He gave no speech stating why he turned against his native land and its values. While Walker silently evolved and became swept up in his disdain for the American way, Helder’s transition was more sudden.

Walker turned to Islam over the course of his youth. Helder is said to have become fascinated with a “new-age” religion in recent months.

Neither Walker nor Helder is any longer the typical American kid his backgrounds might suggest. The two men made their own decisions and followed their own beliefs — and while those beliefs on the surface are radically different, if convicted, each will face punishments equal to the crime and will do so at the hands of the government they chose to reject.

Morgan Felchner ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science.