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ballot no 100463

political : U.S HOLDS INNOCENT MAN FOR 5 YEARS!

[+] serious ballot by TomSmith
created Sun Aug 13, 06

This is sick. This is not the America I thought I knew. The article was much longer but you can read it on the AP site.

9/11 Detainee Released After Nearly Five Years
By TOM HAYS, AP

TORONTO (Aug. 13) - The date was Sept. 12, 2001, but Benemar "Ben" Benatta was clueless about the death and destruction one day earlier.

About a week before, Canadian officials had stopped Benatta as he entered the country from Buffalo to seek political asylum. On that Sept. 11, he was quietly transferred to a U.S. immigration lockup where a day passed before sullen FBI agents told him what the rest of the world already knew: terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

It slowly dawned on Benatta that his pedigree - a Muslim man with a military background - made him a target in the frenzied national dragnet that soon followed. The FBI didn't accuse him of being a terrorist, at least not outright. But agents kept asking if he could fly an airplane.

He told them he couldn't. It made no difference.
"They gave me a feeling that I was Suspect No. 1," he said in a recent interview.

The veiled accusations and vehement denials would continue for nearly five years - despite official findings in 2001 that he had no terrorist links and in 2003 that authorities had violated his rights by colluding to keep him in custody.

Of the estimated 1,200 mostly Arab and Muslim men detained nationwide as potential suspects or witnesses in the Sept. 11 investigation, Benatta would earn a dubious distinction: Human rights groups say the former Algerian air force lieutenant was locked up the longest.

His Kafkaesque journey through the American justice system concluded July 20 when a deal was finalized for his return to Canada. In the words of his lawyer, the idea was to "turn back the clock" to when he first crossed the border.

But time did not stand still for Benatta: The clock ran for 1,780 days. The man detained at 27 was now 32.

"I say to myself from time to time, maybe what happened ... it was some kind of dream," he said. "I never believed things like that could happen in the United States."

In a nation reeling from unthinkable horrors inflicted by an unconventional enemy, it could. And did.

How can this happen in the United States. I thought we stood for innocent until proven guilty. Are you as pissed as I am after reading this?

He got a raw deal

We need to set this country on the right track again

Sucks, but no big deal

This has been happening ever since 9/11, he's one of many

He was being held for violating U.S. immigration laws, therefore the detention was proper.

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This BALLOT CHOICE created by : TomSmith
Submitted on : Aug 13,2006 5:33:33 pm