Posted on 07/06/2005 8:55:23 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
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 say he had been detained because of a misunderstanding involving a taxi driver who had been driving Kar and his cameraman around Baghdad. They last heard from him on June 28.
The Defense Department confirmed to both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times that Kar, who lives in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, was in U.S. military detention outside Baghdad. He has not been charged with a crime and will have a hearing to determine whether he is a security threat, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Kar's relatives, however, told both papers that Los Angeles FBI Agent John D. Wilson told them weeks ago that Kar's story had checked out, that he had passed a government polygraph test and that he had been cleared of any charges.
"He's cleared," one of Kar's aunts, Parvin Modarress, quoted Wilson as saying, according to the New York Times. "They were waiting for a lie-detector machine, but they finally got it. He passed the lie-detector test."
Wilson told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that he had met with the women but said he could not speak further. Cathy Viray, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles FBI office, said she could not comment on the matter.
Frustrated, Kar's relatives plan to file a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday that challenges Kar's continued detention in Iraq. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and other civil liberties lawyers are representing Kar, Modarress and Kar's cousin, Shahrzad Folger, against President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Army Maj. William H. Brandenburg, overseer of military detention operations in Baghdad.
"Mr. Kar is now imprisoned by the United States military in Iraq without the slightest hint of legal authority," said Mark D. Rosenbaum, the ACLU's Southern California legal director. "His arbitrary military detention is unaccompanied by any charge, any warrant, any writ or any process. So far as either the civilian or the military court system is concerned, Mr. Kar has simply disappeared into detention without a trace."
Kar was born in Iran, but spent most of his childhood in California, where he attended high school in San Jose and then joined the Navy, where he served for years, the papers said, quoting court documents. He received an undergraduate degree in marketing from San Jose State University and received a master's degree in technology management from Pepperdine University in the mid-1990s.
Kar became interested in the history of ancient Persia about three years ago.
A taxi... Who'd a thunk it.
But he doesn't have time to talk to AnnaZ.
Must have fallen to the dark side
The U.S. Constitution does apply to U.S. citizens in Iraq, however.
Outside of members of the U.S. Military it does not.
It was yahoo.
Here ya go..
U.S. holding 5 Americans for Iraq activity
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437637/posts
According to another article it was the Iranian-American who had several washing machine timers in his possession; I think one of the others who was detained has since been cleared but not this guy.
[Cyrus] 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.
Sounds a bit like a teenager blaming his 'friends' for leaving the crack vial in the car. Wonder if His Majesty left his prints on the timers or timer bag?
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