Oh, let's not forget the MSM, the ACLU and the Democrats that seem to all be rooting AGAINST us winning this war!
Let us continue to pray for our soldiers!
Posted on 07/06/2005 8:22:11 PM PDT by JediForce
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military in Iraq has detained five Americans for suspected insurgent activity, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. The five have not been charged or had access to a lawyer, and face an uncertain legal future.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to identify any of them, citing the military's policy of not providing the names of detainees. They are in custody at one of the three U.S.-run prisons in Iraq.
One was identified by his family and U.S. law enforcement officials as Cyrus Kar, an Iranian-American filmmaker and U.S. Navy veteran.
Saying Kar is being held unjustly, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the government on Wednesday in an effort to secure his release.
Three of those being detained are Iraqi-Americans, Whitman said. The fifth is a Jordanian-American the Pentagon previously had acknowledged holding.
One of the Iraqi-Americans allegedly had knowledge of planning for an attack and a second possibly was involved in a kidnapping, Whitman said. The third was "engaged in suspicious activity," Whitman said, declining to be more specific. They were captured, one each, in April, May and June.
Whitman said the Iranian-American was arrested with several dozen washing machine timers in his car; such items can be used as components in bombs. Military officials said he was arrested with a cameraman and a taxi driver.
Whitman said there did not appear to be any connections among the five.
If there are charges, it is not immediately clear whether U.S. courts or Iraq's judicial system would handle the cases.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has visited each of the detainees, Whitman said.
In Los Angeles, Kar's relatives said he was born in Iran and came to the U.S. as a child.
They said Kar, 44, was in Iraq to film scenes for a documentary on Persia's founder when Kar was arrested by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Baghdad on May 17, a date confirmed by military officials.
"He just had the misfortune to get into the wrong cab," said Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU's legal director. "Our position is that if the government has any evidence against him, bring him home and charge in a court and then proceed accordingly."
His family said that an FBI agent in Los Angeles told them Kar had been cleared of any charges and that the washing machine timers allegedly belonged to the taxi driver, who was transporting them to a friend.
"I'm here to beg President Bush ... to release an innocent boy," Kar's aunt, Parvin Modarress, said at a news conference announcing the suit challenging Kar's detention. "He went to Iraq to do his dream work, to make a documentary."
The FBI searched Kar's Los Angeles home in May, said a U.S. law enforcement official who spoke said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
The ACLU's suit, filed in Washington, contends that Kar's detention violates his constitutional rights, federal law, international law and U.S. military regulations.
"He's just sat there in limbo. Whatever the government's authority, it certainly doesn't allow them to do that," Shapiro said. He pointed to rulings that allow prisoners held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their detention.
Whitman said the five Americans were being held in accordance with laws governing armed conflict.
The Jordanian-American, who was captured in a raid late last year, is suspected of high-level ties to Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist and leading al-Qaida ally in Iraq. Officials announced the capture in March of the Jordanian-American.
A panel of three U.S. officers rules on whether each prisoner is properly held; that has already taken place for the Jordanian-American. Whitman did not say whether the three Iraqi-Americans or the Iranian-American have been through this process.
Whitman said it is not certain whether they will be turned over to the Justice Department or to Iraq's legal system, which has handled the prosecution of other foreign fighters.
The closest parallel to their situation may be the two American citizens captured opposing U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
John Walker Lindh and Yaser Esam Hamdi, two Taliban foot soldiers, held U.S. citizenship when they were captured in late 2001.
Lindh, a California native now in his early 20s, pleaded guilty in civilian court to supplying services to the Taliban government and carrying explosives for them. He received a 20-year prison sentence in 2002. He has since sought to have it reduced.
Hamdi was born in Louisiana and grew up in Saudi Arabia. He was held by the U.S. for three years before being released to his family in Saudi Arabia in October 2004. He gave up his American citizenship as a condition of his release.
Whitman said their cases do not necessarily set a precedent for the handling of the five Americans captured in Iraq because Afghanistan had no functioning government at the time Lindh and Hamdi were captured.
Strange that he would have to be in Iraq right now, in the middle of a war, to film an ancient-historical documentary. Not to mention those pesky washing machine timers that just happened to pop up.
Let us continue to pray for our soldiers!
"He just had the misfortune to get into the wrong cab"
Yeah, right - I believe that .. don't you ..??
If you do .. I have this statute without a head I know you'll love.
Traitors
I wonder how many more there are?
I think Iraq is a little outside the territory of the ACLU. Maybe they should change thier name to the insurgent civil liberties union or camel jockey liberties union.
If one of them is Mark Morford, I recommend not using the panties on him.
yup , several dozen timers , WHOOoaa , beat it out of 'em
These Americans should face Iraqi justice. An American caught in Thailand smuggling dope goes before a Thai court and does time in a Thai jail. Why should it be any different in Iraq?
Oh, of course. Natch.
Every Iranian-American must think it "perfectly natural" to fly into a deadly combat zone where a Sunni terrorist would kill a Shiite/American "documentarist" as soon as spit on him.
And of course nobody in Baghdad would suspect that this "Iranian-American" might be a "spy" for the "occupation forces".
Nope, it all rings true to me. He's obviously a victim of an overaggressive American foreign policy and "Pol Pot tactics."
He can't help it if he was in a taxi full of IED components while toting his videocam.
Great graphic.
Sounds like if they are "immigrants" they just made a case for deportation and stripping their citizenship. (I know they are in Iraq) I guess we know how they got the moment by moment shots of planes being shot down and american pilots being shot point blank. The pigs were carrying camera's around in a taxi. Hang em high. Oh yeah Who are the ACLU etc going to sue if Dennis gets a few of the terrorists at Gitmo.
That might hold water if this person was on American soil trying to kill Americans.
/Flip aclu
Good point. In fact,
Domestic Americans are held to the (reasonable) standards of laws in other countries,
while being held to our American Federal and State laws as well.
An American Breaking an American law in another country is
still illegal even-though it may be legal in said country.
Someone correct me if I am wrong.
hash in amsterdam
>>"Our position is that if the government has any evidence against him, bring him home and charge in a court and then proceed accordingly."<<
Fast fair trial in Iraq, fast fair execution in Iraq. Family wants the body, cash up front first.
Well, There you go. Hash is illegal in America according to federal laws.
Including State laws.
And any American who violates their State and Federal Laws during a visit to
another country, can be prosecuted in America.
Not many read the fine print before going on vacation.
Yet, ignorance of laws is no excuse for breaking them. Is it?
That innocent boy should hang.
The "worried" family can have him back AFTER the vivisection, and we harvest his organs for someone in NEED of life, rather than someone committed to TAKING INNOCENT life be allowed any further BREATHING PRIVILEDGES!
After today in England...NO MORE!
The ACLU is NOW A VIABLE TARGET-RICH ENVIRONMENT!!!
Payback's a "Hillary", huh BASTARDS?!
I say let him out and let's see what happens
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