Guilty Until Proven

CBS News - 60 Minutes ^ | April 6, 2003 | Bob Simon

[The Red Zone]

(CBS) More than a thousand people were detained as suspected terrorists after 9/11, and none has been charged with being a terrorist so far. Three such detainees tell correspondent Bob Simon their stories.

Hady Omar came to the United States from Egypt three and a half years ago. He lives in Arkansas with his wife Candy, an Arkansas native, and their daughter Jasmine.

He’s never been charged with any criminal offense, but he says he was held in custody in a maximum-security prison for 73 days because he is a Muslim.

[The Red Zone]

This could be old news, but I can't find this guy's name in the titles on FR.

[goldstategop]

Yeah, right. Better safe than sorry. And for record I don't watch 60 Minutes. Its Blame America, All The Time from the Chaddam Broadcasting Systems. Par for the course for the network that interviewed the Iraqi dictator a couple of weeks ago.

[ladyinred]

Somehow I think he is being held for some reason other than being a Muslim, but if 60 minutes said it, it must be true! :-)

[AdamSelene235]

Interesting read.

If the only evidence against this guy was going to the wrong Kinko's, I believe some heads need to roll.

[sbelew]

I saw the report. I lost all sympathy when it was admittet (you had listen carefully) that ALL of these "victims" were here ILLEGALLY.

[goldstategop]

Just like the guys who pulled off 9-11, eh?

[stanz]

Exactly. I just fired off an e-mail to Andy Rooney for that wonderful piece he did tonight on the war.

Andy Rooney: An Especially Bad War

NEW YORK, April 6, 2003

A weekly commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.

I've lived a long while now and I don't remember any more unpleasant times than these. I'm not even interested in reading the sports pages. I hate everything about this war except that we're winning it.

You can't even be critical, either, without sounding unpatriotic. It's why Peter Arnett got fired by NBC for speaking on Iraqi television.

I'm patriotic but I wish our government would stop treating this war as if they had to sell it to us with slick advertising slogans.

The White House Web site puts out a bulletin about the war with this headline: OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

Come on, all we want is the news, not a sales pitch.

They called our bombing campaign against Baghdad "Shock and Awe."

After the UN refused to approve the war, our government put together a list of countries it said supported us. They called it a "coalition of the willing."

The generals don't talk about American soldiers. It's always "coalition forces."

It's as if there were no Americans there.

Reporters have been sucked into it, too.

The word makes it sound as though we're just a few countries short of having the whole world on our side, and that isn't true. Most of the world is against us. The Administration says 49 countries are part of the coalition. I see that Eritrea, Uganda and Iceland are on our side.

The fact is, though, we're in this thing with the British, who have 45,000 soldiers there, and the Australians, who have 2,000. That's it. The other 46 wish us well or let us fly bombers over their country. Big deal.

We've practically bribed some of them. We offered Turkey $15 billion to let our troops go through there but they refused. President Bush won't be sending the president of Turkey anything for his birthday this year.

There aren't any good wars, but this one is especially bad. We want to win it quickly without more death but we're grown-up people, too. The President, Rumsfeld and the generals ought to stop treating us like children. Tell us the truth. We can take it even when it's bad.

And the only real good news will be when this terrible time in American history is over.

Among other things I told him to retire...everybody's watching Fox News anyway.

[AdamSelene235]

I saw the report. I lost all sympathy when it was admittet (you had listen carefully) that ALL of these "victims" were here ILLEGALLY.

We have a protocol for criminals. It involves lawyers and juries.

[The Red Zone]

Overstaying a visa doesn't deserve the third degree in a dungeon (or as close as we can get to that for a court to excuse it somehow).

[ummark]

Read Bernard Lewis work "The Assassins" to get a better handle on the insertion technique of radical Islamic sects in history. Patient placement of loyal converts awaiting the moment to act was the signature of the Ismaili/Naziri cutthroats who terrorized 13th century MidEast. Osama and the Wahabi Kharijite murderers no doubt are aware of this history.

[AdamSelene235]

Read Bernard Lewis work "The Assassins" to get a better handle on the insertion technique of radical Islamic sects in history. Patient placement of loyal converts awaiting the moment to act was the signature of the Ismaili/Naziri cutthroats who terrorized 13th century MidEast. Osama and the Wahabi Kharijite murderers no doubt are aware of this history.

That's nice. After the *jury* finds them guilty, I'm ok with hanging them.

[sbelew]

One of the guys was picked up on September 12 & held for 2 months. They made it sound as if he served 2 life terms.

Sorry, as far as I'm concerned there was reasonable cause to suspect he may have been a threat. Call me crazy.

As to the dungeon & torture charges - I'm sceptical. 3rd Degree? I would certainly hope he was questioned.

[i_dont_chat]

Have you stopped to think maybe this is WHY we haven't had any more terrorist activity in US?

[Sam Cree]

Very good point.

[jude24]

Have you stopped to think maybe this is WHY we haven't had any more terrorist activity in US?

I couldn't care less.

The fact that these people are held without trial for almost a year and a half, in limbo, is a gross violation of their civil rights recognized under our Constitution -- I don't see anywhere that says only citizens are entitled to a speedy trial.

If there's enough evidence to indict, by all means do so. If not, either let them go or deport them. But enough with this indefinate incarceration crap.

[jude24]

Have you stopped to think maybe this is WHY we haven't had any more terrorist activity in US?

I couldn't care less.

The fact that these people are held without trial for almost a year and a half, in limbo, is a gross violation of their civil rights recognized under our Constitution -- I don't see anywhere that says only citizens are entitled to a speedy trial.

If there's enough evidence to indict, by all means do so. If not, either let them go or deport them. But enough with this indefinate incarceration crap.

[jude24]

sorry -- network hiccup.

[cyborg]

Welcome to Homeland Security... I agree with you.

[dts32041]

Maybe good old Bob Simon needs to go back to a baghdad cell and be rescued again.

The frog lover couldn't even drive from point a to point b without be caught.