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IRAQI NATIONALS RELEASED FROM DETENTION
Five Iraqi nationals who had been held for over two years at the Los Angeles County jail are finally free. The men were among the 6,500 Iraqi nationals airlifted out of the country by the CIA in 1996, following a brutal offensive by Saddam Hussein. When they arrived with their families, their wives and children were granted asylum, but they were put in jail.
The US government accused them of being double agents, really working for Saddam Hussein, and held them on the basis of secret evidence that neither the detained men nor their attorneys were allowed to view. After two years in custody, the men are finally free and with their families. Their case gathered international attention, and drew condemnation from former CIA director James Woolsey, who called their treatment "a stain upon the honor of the United States."
As part of the release agreement, the men have withdrawn their appeals of the deportation orders against them and consented to removal from the US, but they will not be returned to Iraq. The INS and attorneys for the Iraqis have agreed on 76 countries where they will be safe, and the State Department is to begin work on finding a country that will give them permanent asylum.