Free Republic

The wiry Los Angeles aspiring filmmaker was an unlikely prisoner inside a cell block that included Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's deputy, and other high-level officials of the former regime. But after 54 days of detention, Cyrus Kar, a 44-year-old Iranian American, was released Sunday and headed to the relative safety of a Baghdad hotel outside the U.S.-protected Green Zone. Kar, speaking to reporters, described long, frustrating days in solitary confinement with little information about his status or reason for being held. At the same time, Kar said he was well-treated while he was held and understood security concerns in war-torn...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military is holding five U.S. citizens suspected of insurgent activities in Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday. They were captured separately and don't appear to have ties to one another, spokesman Bryan Whitman said. He declined to identify them, citing a Pentagon policy that prohibits identification of detainees. Three of those being detained are Iraqi-Americans; another is an Iranian-American; the fifth is a Jordanian-American, Whitman said. The three Iraqi-Americans were captured in April, May and June, officials said. The Iranian-American was captured May 17, one official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of...

LOS ANGELES - Cyrus Kar's family says his passion for the documentary film he was working on about an ancient Persian ruler led to his being locked up in a military jail outside Baghdad in May. Kar was arrested after Iraqi security forces allegedly seized several dozen washing machine timers — components frequently used in terrorist bombs — in the taxi in which he was traveling. Kar says the timers were owned by the driver. Now, relatives of the 44-year-old Iranian-American and U.S. Navy veteran have sued the government to gain his freedom. They contend Kar's detention tramples on his...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An Iranian-born U.S. citizen and Navy veteran was detained in Iraq by American forces after troops said they found a common component for improvised explosive devices in his taxi, according to U.S. defense officials. His family says Cyrus Kar, 44, was in Iraq to film scenes for a documentary on King Cyrus the Great, founder of Persia, when he was arrested at a checkpoint in mid-May. He had also filmed in Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey and Afghanistan and consulted with scholars, they said. Kar's family first learned of his troubles May 24, when he called them to...