Hole cow! He lost 5 years of his freedom and did : rate the comment

We want your opinion!
Please vote on the ballot you see below.
No registration required.

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.

Register to submit choices

Ballot #100463 : SEE RESULTS

Comment:

show your vote with comment?

v 2.0

Welcome, You landed on Bestandworst.com! Please Vote on the ballot on the left!

Hole cow! He lost 5 years of his freedom and did nothing and basically has no idea why. The US government acted criminally doing that.

entered by : patch22us
Submitted on : Aug 13,2006 8:26:33 pm

COMMENTS

Many are still being held in prison. The same happens in Australia with illegal immigrants in "detention centres", but normally it's for two years.

Five years, or any time at all for an innocent person is always wrong.

by Lovelynice on Sun Aug 13, 06 5:58pm [+]

Voted : He got a raw deal
That was terrible.

by skylab on Sun Aug 13, 06 7:40pm [+]

Hole cow! He lost 5 years of his freedom and did nothing and basically has no idea why. The US government acted criminally doing that.

by patch22us on Sun Aug 13, 06 8:26pm [+]

Voted : This has been happening ever since 9/11, he's one of many
The USA PATRIOT Act has further enabled Bush and his masters to engage in terrorist activities like this and more.

by wideheadofknowledge on Sun Aug 13, 06 8:35pm [+]

Voted : Sucks, but no big deal
Only if america was perfect like the rest of the world and never made mistakes....

by US_MarineCorp69 on Sun Aug 13, 06 11:17pm [+]

The rest of the world try to correct their mistakes, not cover them up and then cry foul when someone questions their authority

by Guest User from [82.35.252.51] on Mon Aug 14, 06 3:10am [+]

I watched a documentary last night about the aftermath of hurricaine Katrina on imates of a New Orleans prison, we all saw the pictures of these people sat on a bridge, I was quite horrified to learn that prisoners were still being held without charge or access to a lawyer for a year for petty crimes such as sleeping on the pavement/sidewalk, I have to say I was quite shocked at the injustices going on there.

by minni_the_minx on Mon Aug 14, 06 4:06am [+]

Voted : This has been happening ever since 9/11, he's one of many
Not my America -- as you said.

by mojo on Mon Aug 14, 06 5:16am [+]

Voted : We need to set this country on the right track again
Exactly, TS. This is not the America we knew. Anyone who really believes themself to be a patriot should be incensed.

by Cathexis on Mon Aug 14, 06 6:39am [+]

I didn't think Id see any sucks but no big deal votes

by TomSmith on Mon Aug 14, 06 9:51am [+]

Voted : We need to set this country on the right track again
*And* he got a raw deal.

by Truthseeker013 on Mon Aug 14, 06 3:05pm [+]

If true, then despicable.

Can't be entirely sure that this isn't just some rhetoric.

However; the case of Jose Padilla does demonstrate that the Bush admin doesn't entirely respect its citizens by holding him incognito for nearly three years.

by Noblese_Oblige on Mon Aug 14, 06 6:34pm [+]