Domestic Targets

With war on, opposition to Fed�s pursuit of Iraqis and others wanes

Comments (0) By Sara Catania Thursday, Mar 27 2003

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He was moved twice, he said, first to Pasadena then to Lancaster. He said he was never told how long he would be held. When he was finally released, he was told to return with $1,500 in bond money, but when he brought the payment, the fee had been waived. The government’s unexpected largess brought Abed little comfort. He worries that the worst is yet to come. “I feel afraid, but I also feel that I must speak out,” he said. “As you can see from my experience, this war has done a lot of damage here already.”

Abed’s story angers Al-Wardi. “This is a law-abiding, tax-paying, hard-working person who did everything the government told him to do,” she said. “It is incredible to me that we are treating people this way.” The last time the U.S. waged war on Iraq, Al-Wardi was 16, and that event shaped her life. She joined her parents and her younger brother at protests and decided to devote herself to immigration and war crimes law. These past few months, she said, have been a trial by fire in her short legal career. In addition to her clients, she is worried about her relatives in Iraq — nearly 100 of them live in Baghdad. “With all that’s been happening, I feel like I’ve gotten so old,” she said. “I used to think U.S. policies applied to everyone. I might not always agree with them, but at least everyone was subject to them in equal measure. Now I see that it’s not true. I’ve lost a lot of faith in the system.”