[Marxism] Once a Suspect, Always a Suspect?

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

Before the invasion of Iraq began, Gil Christner wrote a satire
spoofing the George W. Bush administration's futile attempt to
connect Al-Qaida to Saddam Hussein: "Powell Offers Proof of
Saddam-Osama Link":
<blockquote>In sum, here are Gen. Powell's arguments:
<blockquote>1. In December of 2002, actor Sean Penn went to Baghdad,
home of Saddam Hussein.

2. Sean Penn is married to actress Robin Wright Penn.

3. Robin Wright Penn made the movie "Forrest Gump" with Tom Hanks.

4. Tom Hanks made the film "Apollo 13" with Kevin Bacon.

5. Kevin Bacon made a Visa card commercial with Indian-born character
actor Sahid Benjali.

6. Sahid Benjali used to bartend at the Lingerie Club in Hollywood.
In the early 80's he served drinks to Carmen bin Laden, a former USC
student, who is Osama's sister-in-law (estranged).</blockquote>After
Gen. Powell's presentation, there were several heated discussions,
with many of the delegates making angry responses, some of which were
not too flattering to the case being made.

"6 degrees? Fah!" said Ahmad Abul Gheit, the delegate from Egypt. "I
can get from Saddam to Osama in 5 people! Including Madonna!"

"5 people? I can do it in four," retorted Elinor Hammarskjold, the
Swedish delegate. "And I don't need to use Kevin Bacon! Just give me
the Farrelly Brothers and a pool boy in Bel-Air!" Where upon the
entire floor of the U.N. erupted into arguments.

Eventually the winner emerged: Tanzania delegate Mark J. Mwando was
able to get from Saddam to Osama in 2:

1. In 1983, Saddam Hussein met with then U.S. Envoy Donald Rumsfeld,
working on behalf of the Ronald Reagan-George Bush Sr. administration.

2. George Bush Sr. was formerly the head of the CIA, the organization
which armed Osama bin Laden and provided training to his followers in
the 80's.

For coming up with the winning entry, Delegate Mwando was treated to
a party platter from the Carnegie Deli on 7th Ave. "This is
wonderful," Mwando said as he munched on a dill pickle. "I can feed
half of Tanzania with this!"

Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could not be reached for comment.
However, director Peter Farrelly was reported as saying, "Far out."
(<em>Democratic Underground,</em> <a
href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/02/07_link.html";>February
7, 2003</a>)</blockquote>It turns out that a story of "degrees of
connection" fit for satire killed not only thousands of Iraqis and
hundreds of US and allied troops but may also have led to Nick Berg's
13-day detention in Iraq, which Nick's father Michael Berg believes
has led to Nick's death, making it impossible for Nick to leave Iraq
on March 30 as he had intended to.  According to Nicole Weisensee
Egan:
<blockquote>Yesterday, the Daily News reported that another reason
that Nick Berg had been held for so long was that the FBI was
checking into some contact he may have had with terrorists while he
attended the University of Oklahoma.

Last night, Fox News reported the terrorist may have been Zacarias
Moussaoui, an accused 9-11 conspirator. But the FBI said that was
merely a coincidence.

Michael Berg said his son had attended the university and had been
taking a course at a remote campus, near the airport, and had to take
a bus to get there.

"Some terrorist people -- which no one knew were terrorists at the
time; they were just going as students -- were also taking that bus,"
Berg said. "And someone asked him basically if he could use his
computer. And he did. College kids did it all the time. And it turns
out this guy was a terrorist and he used my son's e-mail address --
amongst many other people's e-mail who he did the same thing to.

"He was not a friend of my son's, not even an acquaintance," Berg
said. "Just a guy sitting next to him on the bus. The FBI was
satisfied with that."

A senior law-enforcement official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said Nick Berg had volunteered information about the 2002
investigation when he was detained in Iraq. The official said that an
e-mail address traced to Berg had been used by an unidentified
individual with purported connections to terrorism.

The investigation showed that Berg had never met the suspect
individual and had not given the e-mail address to that person.
Investigators concluded that Berg's e-mail address had been spread
among dozens of people with links to the university.

The suspect individual appears to have been acquainted with Zacarias
Moussaoui, an al Qaeda adherent now in federal custody and awaiting
trial on conspiracy charges stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks, the
official said.  ("Berg's Dad Blames President," <em>Philadelphia
Inquirer,</em> <a
href="http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/8663883.htm?1c";>May
14, 2003</a>)</blockquote>If it is indeed an FBI investigation in
2002 which had already confirmed Nick Berg's innocence to the FBI's
satisfaction that triggered or prolonged the US military detention of
Nick in Iraq, does that mean that, once you get investigated by the
FBI, you will always remain a potential suspect even if the
investigation prove that you are not guilty?
--
Yoshie

* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/>
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/>
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
<http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>,
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>

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