Are opinions respected anymore?

The controversy surrounding John Walker has me quite perplexed.\nHere's an American citizen who, at the age of 16, decided to convert from Roman Catholicism to Islam and to join a terrorist training camp in an effort to plot attacks against the U.S. Now, when I first heard the story that Walker would be charged with plotting against the U.S., I have to admit I didn't think that was fair. We live in a country where we have freedoms that are valued greatly, such as the freedom of speech, religion and press, which allow us to express our opinions freely. Teachers in classrooms all across America have taught us to respect others' opinions. When I first heard that Walker may get life in prison, I couldn't believe people were forgetting that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, including Walker. So he ended up hating the fact that he was from the U.S. So he pretended he was Irish so that people would not think he was actually American. Big deal, I thought. People hate broccoli, the Jerry Springer show, and some even prefer cats to dogs. That's their opinion.\nThat's also why I wondered why the U.S. was going to extremes to get Walker in the states for a trial. The U.S. should know that everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Why couldn't they just accept the fact that Walker hated the American way of life?\nHowever, there are two sides to every story. I had momentarily erased from my mind the fact that Sept. 11 was an indescribable day, filled with anxiety, tears, hatred, sadness, confusion, depression and anger. No one knew who had committed the act of bombing the World Trade Center and the Pentagon yet. And no one knew why. All people wanted to do for days after was help one another get through the trying times, and get the justice the victims deserve. For total justice to be done, we must arrest every member and leader of the terrorist groups who are responsible. But is Walker responsible? \nNow, wait. I want justice to be done. I want our country to be able to say that we beat terrorism. But is Walker the right target? Walker didn't find out about the Sept.11 bombings until after they occurred. He didn't actually do anything. He didn't commit any violent acts against the U.S., meaning he did not kill any U.S. citizen. He just converted to Islam (nothing wrong with that -- religious freedom) and went to Afghanistan to show his support for Islam. Although he did train at a terrorist camp, Americans knew terrorist camps existed and didn't do anything about them -- until Sept.11. Was he really a dangerous person plotting to harm Americans or a young impressionable kid caught up in emotion and influenced by people like bin Laden? We can't let our emotions overcome our reason.\nIs this going to be a repeat of McCarthyism, when communists were jailed or blacklisted because of their beliefs? It already seems so, with everyone looking for people who fit "anti-American" profiles. Walker may be anti-American, but he's entitled to his own view. I think we're wasting our time with Walker and should really be spending more time looking for Osama bin Laden. But hey, that's just my opinion.