Oh, please...all but two of the 9/11 hijackers were "legit". No one (not even an airhead from L.A.) goes to a war zone to make an historical documentary. I lived in Los Feliz and I know news of the war made it into the local media.
How do you define "legit"? By legit, I meant that he was not a terrorist, and his story, if investigated, would have checked out. You are using the term as meaning "in the US legally". We are talking about two different things. You are also convicting this guy, an American citizen raised here, of being a terrorist based on the following:
1. He is of Iranian origin; and
2. He was found in Iraq.
I expect that kind of logic from John Murtha, when talking about allegations against Marines, but most Freepers are more intelligent than that.
Whether you think it was smart or not for him to be in Iraq, that is why he was there. He wasn't having any trouble in Iraq (lots of Iranians live in Iraq, having migrated there to escape the Mullahs), his trouble occurred when he encountered a US checkpoint. I don't have a problem with the military holding him upon encountering him. However, what they needed to do was check out who he was and confirm that he was not a terrorist. If I remember the details correctly, what they did was, they threw him in the local slammer and ignored him entirely for like a month. Then, when it turned out he was "legit", i.e., not a terrorist, but a film maker who was actually working on a project like he said, then they dragged their feet before finally releasing him.
You won't find anyone here who is more favorable to the military than I am. But they, like any huge organization, can make mistakes, and for mistakes that should not have been made, which can be compensated under our law, I have no problem with someone seeking such compensation.
What I think you need to do is not classify all Iranians as terrorists. The ones in the US are doctors, lawyers, engineers and professionals, they are taking the valedictorian spots in all the LA schools (away from the Asians, I might add) and are the best citizens you could want. You might want to engage brain before pounding the keys.