(F)BI Apologizes to American Lawyer

[ze_dscherman]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Offering a rare public apology, the FBI admitted mistakenly linking an American lawyer's fingerprint to one found near the scene of a terrorist bombing in Spain, a blunder that led to his imprisonment for two weeks.

The apology Monday came hours after a judge dismissed the case against Brandon Mayfield, who had been held as a material witness in the Madrid bombings case, which killed 191 people and injured about 2,000 others.

SNIP

Karin J. Immergut, the U.S. attorney in Oregon, denied Mayfield had been a target because of his religion and maintained that the FBI had followed all laws in the case.

Court documents released Monday suggested that the mistaken arrest first sprang from an error by the FBI's supercomputer for matching fingerprints and then was compounded by the FBI's own analysts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4130085,00.html

[RebelOne]

1. Boy, oh boy, I hope this guy will be able to sue

the FBI for false imprisonment.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Compounded by the FBI's anti-Islamic stance

sorry, but I think the government is guilty of deciding that Muslims are guilty until proven innocent. We've seen this in the persecution of Chaplain Yee and the translator from Gitmo, both of whom were put in the brig for lengthy periods, only to be found innocent of all charges. Now this. After reading the piece on Ann Coulter, especially her tirades against Islam, I sort of wonder if hers isn't the mindset of a lot of Americans in government positions.

[gottaB]

3. let's not confuse matters

We have two separate things here: (1) Using antiamerican tactics, such as illegal detentions, extortion and torture, to silence muslims as part of a cover up of the torture of people who are being persecuted because they are muslims; (2) illegally detaining and torturing people because they are muslims.

Two entirely different animals here.

[Don_G]

4. A News "Presenter" On ABC

Just said, "Boy, does the FBI have 'red faces' over this."

Will Mr Mayfield be allow to "spank" the SAC in the Portland office?

[Webster Green]

5. This will provide him with a nice little nest egg.....

It will probaby be worth the aggravation in the long run.

[Ganja Ninja]

6. This temporary distraction brought to you by Bush Co and ...

it's subsidiary the GOP. Paid for by the American tax payers. All rights trampled.

[truthisfreedom]

7. supercomputer. so the spin is a machine f*cked up and it's really nobody's

fault at all. just another glitch in the system. now what about the other 10,000 or more people being held in CIA prisons all over the world? how many glitches are destroying people's lives and tearing their families apart?

bushco is glitch city. and they don't give a rat's ass who suffers.

[dryan]

8. I don't understand

If everything was destroyed by the bomb in Madrid, how did the police even find a fingerprint on the detonator? This just doesn't make any sense to me.

[July]

9. After they searched his house. Mission accomplished. n/t

[Moderator]

10. Duplicate topic, please discuss here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x579830