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How Many Miles to Babylon?
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Cyrus Kar, the Los Angeles documentary filmmaker who was imprisoned in Iraq for 55 days while the US government determined that he was not a threat, has been telling his story in press conferences and on Nightline.
Kar says US soldiers manhandled him and called him "terrorist," while he explained that he was a US citizen and a veteran of the US Navy, and tried unsuccessfully to get the soldiers to let him call the US embassy. Eventually, because of his US citizenship, he was transferred from Abu Ghraib to another, nicer, prison, and eventually released.
Kar's point in telling the story is that soldiers who had no evidence that he had done anything wrong treated him as though guilty, and that this behavior could potentially alienate people who might otherwise have been allies and supporters of the United States. Now the line in some circles is that Kar is "inciting" people. How is he the one inciting anyone? He's not the one calling people "terrorist" and hitting them with no evidence. Part one of his story aired on Nightline last night, and part two will air tonight (Thursday).
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