Kar is now a sitting duck for insurgents who might want to kidnap him. No passport and all alone in a Baghdad hotel. Does the American Embassy have any interest in him. Are they going to escort him to the airport with a provisional passport they could issue in an hour. Probably not. They just left him, an American citizen, swinging in the wind.
Pray for him... David Bier http://www.rsicopyright.com/AP/content.html?id=D8B8UNBG0 U.S. Releases Filmmaker Detained in Iraq Monday, July 11, 2005 - 03:46:50 AM By FRANK GRIFFITHS Get Copyright Clearance Want to use this article? Click here for options! © The Associated Press. All Rights reserved. An aspiring Iranian-American filmmaker who has been detained by the U.S. military for nearly two months without being charged was released Sunday, officials said. Cyrus Kar, 44, of Los Angeles, was taken into custody May 17 near Balad when potential bomb parts were found in a taxi in which he was riding. His family had filed a lawsuit accusing the federal government of violating his civil rights and holding him after the FBI cleared him of suspicion. "Kar was detained as an imperative security threat to Iraq," the military said Sunday in a statement. "After his initial questioning, the military notified the FBI, who initiated an investigation to determine if Kar had engaged in terrorist activities." The U.S. military then convened a review board hearing on July 4 to determine whether Kar was an "enemy combatant." "Based on the FBI investigation, the testimony of Kar and the witness he called, and other witness statements, the board determined Kar was not an enemy combatant and recommended his release, which was approved," the statement said. "I am very happy to be out," Kar told The New York Times, according to a story posted on its Web site late Sunday. "My family wants me home soon, and I'll be very happy to talk to everybody as soon as I get out of Iraq." The U.S. military defended its detention of Kar. "This case highlights the effectiveness of our detainee review process," spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Alston was quoted as saying in the statement. "We followed well-established procedures and Mr. Kar has now been properly released." In Los Angeles, family members and Kar's lawyers celebrated his release but criticized the government for the filmmaker's treatment. They said Kar told them the government destroyed his laptop computer, film equipment along with 20 hours of footage and his passport. Kar, who is staying in a Baghdad hotel, told family members he was exhausted and very hungry. The Times reported that Kar won't be able to leave Iraq immediately because U.S. officials told him his passport was destroyed in the course of testing its authenticity. The government owes Kar and his family an apology "for robbing him of 50 days of his life and creating a never-ending nightmare for them," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. Kar was born in Iran but immigrated to the United States as a child. He served in the Navy and worked in the computer industry before becoming interested in filmmaking. With help from independent director-producer Philippe Diaz, Kar began working on a documentary about the Persian king Cyrus the Great. He shot of footage at archaeological sites in Afghanistan and Iran, according to his family and Diaz. He was visiting Iraq to film in and around the ancient city of Babylon, one of Cyrus the Great's conquests, according to his family. Officials and relatives say Kar was traveling with an Iranian cameraman after leaving a Baghdad hotel when their taxi was stopped at a checkpoint Balad. Iraqi security forces allegedly seized several dozen washing machine timers, which are frequently used in terrorist bombs. Balad is about 50 miles north of Baghdad. Kar's relatives say FBI agents searched his home in Los Angeles but later told them he had passed a polygraph test and had been cleared of any charges. They said agents indicated the washing machine timers belonged to the taxi driver, who was transporting them to a friend. ___ Associated Press Writer Michael Blood contributed to this story. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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