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I even got the name of the doctor on the aircraft carrier who treated his wounds.
Nobody wanted to talk.
Of course, that just made me more determined to tell it in some way.
As we hit a brick wall in one way, it actually was very freeing.
I had watched a lot of the footage [of Lindhs post-capture interview].
Then I realized that we could make this kind of experiential film about this moment in time.
I never realized how long the full interview was.
These are all journeys, these films.
You dont quite know where youre going to end up.
Tell me about the efforts you made to interview John Walker Lindh.
Did you ultimately have any kind of interaction with him or his family?With his family and lawyers.
Theyre up in San Francisco.
I went up to see them quite a bit.
They were asking him, briefing him on our discussions, while he was in prison.
The dad I spent a fair amount of time with, in person.
It always seemed like an interview was about to happen.
I never quite got a handle on whether they were just being nice and stonewalling.
Going in, I was very clear with them about who we were talking to and my objectives.
I do not have an agenda with this film.
Then, after his release, it was always a no.
Which tells you something.
But again, it wasnt just John and his family.
It was the soldiers who you see interacting with him [around the time of his capture].
I actually knew a lot of them through other projects.
It should have been an easy ask, and none of them would go on-camera.
hey dont tell this story again.
On a policy level, its an inflection point.
Its when the Bush administration decided that the legal system is not reliable.
Nope, they didnt want that.
Which leads to Abu Ghraib, black sites, Guantanamo, all of that.
you might feel it.
So, theres that.
He became the enemy.
But also, its just an amazing story.
Particularly with the perspective of time, looking back at this forgotten battle, this forgotten guy.
It also tells a bigger story that relates to the world weve created today.
What is it about him that fascinates us?Well, I think hes a reflection.
Hes this ordinary American, you know?
Just this kid from a suburb, whose parents seem like just any other American parents.
He fits a certain stereotype of America.
Hes white, and I think probably that had something to do with it.
The American medic who first saw Lindh, his first thought was, Is this a CIA undercover guy?
Im sure that Al Qaeda thought the same thing.
He believed in it.
But I think all of us were idiots when we were 20 years old.
I know the guys who createdHomeland.
Lindh was one of the inspirations for them, too.
He actually had a big impact on the culture.
It seemed kind of ridiculous.
But he came to represent something much, much more.
Its interesting to unpack it.
It feels like a different era, doesnt it?
[Lindh initially claimed to be Irish when interrogated by the CIA.]
Again, why didnt he say something there?
Because he could have gotten out.
He could have said, Can we talk somewhere else?
He never has answered that question clearly, even when the FBI asked him.
Maybe he was traumatized.
Maybe its as simple as that.
Maybe he didnt know who these guys were or whether to trust them.
Id ask him about that.
Id ask him how his views have changed over time.
A lot of people now will say, Oh, hes a terrorist.
He supported ISIS while he was in prison.
Id be very curious to know how his views have changed, now that hes a grown man.
Clearly it was a leaked document, and Ive never been able to get any more information about it.
Youve spent a lot of time in these regions and with this broader story.
When youre covering a war, its easy to get caught up in that.
It is weirdly fun.
Everyone bought into this collective mind-set.
People bought into that.
A lot of journalists were writing about that.
Those emotions only take you so far.
Theyre not ultimately that interesting.
We have to look for other emotions that come into play, whatever it may be.
Theres lots of other examples.
Conflict has to be driven by emotions that are complex, otherwise its not interesting.
Thats very hard to convey in journalism.
I was doing this project once for HBO, before Lindh, about the FBI and homegrown terrorism.
I remember having this long conversation with Wolf Blitzers producer.
Could never find the time!
How can you never find the time, when you have an hour-plus every night?
Its because theyre just driven by whatever the narrative is that day.
You noted that with the Lindh story, you powered through despite nobody wanting to speak to you.
We dont know the full story of the hunt for bin Laden.
Ultimately, thats what cost him his regime.
That story is Shakespearean and will be told at some point, properly.
Back in 2001, John Walker Lindh seemed unique: What the hell was this guy thinking?
The organization that planned the most attacks in the United States was the FBI.
Thats not to say there werent some crazy people who wanted to go off and join.
But they took vulnerable people.
Its weird to think that he was on the winning side, after all that.
The Taliban are back in power.
In the long run, his side won.
Detainee 001premieres on Showtime on Friday, September 10 at 9 p.m.
