(What a despicable county this is now )

But there was a problem. On a flight from Sacramento, Calif., to Honolulu, Mr. Fazel described his project to a fellow passenger. He later discovered that she had reported him as suspicious � perhaps to the pilot or the Transportation Security Administration � and taken a picture of him as he slept.

Maybe it was because he was vaguely foreign looking, he reasoned, and his photographic endeavor seemed menacing in a post-9/11 landscape. He also had a three-day growth of beard, he recalled. And, although Mr. Fazel grew up mostly in the United States and is an American citizen, there was his Iranian name.

In his view that woman�s report began a chain reaction, turning him into a person of interest for officials from local law enforcement agencies on up to the F.B.I. On a stop in Annapolis, Md., for example, he was interrogated about his activities and read his Miranda rights. Today, he said, his name lingers on what he thinks of simply as the �the list.� (He doesn�t know where it originated or who controls it.) He believes it has prevented him from receiving a visa to India and caused him be questioned at the border of Poland, both of which he had visited in the past. He said he has been interrogated the last four times he has entered the United States.

(snip)

Mr. Fazel drove 17,345 miles in 78 days, mailing a postcard from each city and picking it up in the next one, with the speed of the mail dictating the pace of his trip. �It was such a nice surprise to discover how reliable the postal system was,� he said, adding that some of the cards arrived within 12 hours.

But in Jackson, Miss., his journey took its bizarre twist. One night, as he sat in his van, a beam of light pierced his reverie. He heard his name over a loudspeaker and a command to step out of the vehicle with his hands held high.

Suddenly, Mr. Fazel said, he was forced to the ground, face to the concrete, and handcuffed by a city police officer. His vehicle was searched, and when the officers determined that nothing was amiss, Mr. Fazel was ordered to leave the parking lot and continue down the road.

He said the officers told him that they had received a report that he was aiming an automatic weapon at passing traffic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/ar...96400&emc=eta1

absolutely shocking

Is this a joke?

Sure doesn't sound like America...whats wrong with wanting to visit our state capitols?

Honestly... I feel like I'm in some bizarre twilight zone or some kind of dream right now... is this for real? Nah, I can't believe it is.

I'm wondering how in the heck mail service was so great. Ever since I moved to California I've gotten nothing but shoddy service and theft from the USPS.

Maybe he should try mailing himself instead of flying.

An obvious sleeper agent - I'm just surprised he hasn't had his citizenship rescinded and be sent to Gitmo - it would be one hell of an addition to his postcard collection

The only silver lining I can see is that at least one of the LEOs interviewed seemed to look honestly at the guy and not just take some info from the FBI, etc., and use it to railroad Mr. Fazel.

What I don't get, though, is how that many law enforcement agencies actually managed to cooperate and share information as well as they did such that he faced problems everywhere he went. You sure don't see that happening very often!

It sounds exactly like what Amerika has become.

Seems like he still railroaded him, but at least realized that it was a farce. And that maybe, just maybe, the guy was pissed from constantly being harassed by law enforcement.

It's all because they all want to be the one to make the Big Catch�

I feel bad for this guy, who is apparently not a terrorist. However, given his background, his ethniciy and having lived abroad, and especially the methods of Islamowackos, the attention is understandable. Mr. Fazel's difficulties starkly illustrate what we have allowed the Islamowackos to do to our country and culture. For the loss of many of our rights and our open society, we should change the Mideast, although not the way we are doing it now,with thousands of Americans paying the ultimate sacrifice in a quagmire.

No it isn't

How to get on "the list" and make terrorists.

I'm hoping he will track down the ditz who was sitting beside him on that flight and give her exactly what she deserves.

Isn't this why he was going from state to state and pointing the weapon at passing traffic??????

Seriously, it really sucks that people have to go through this and to have it continue is even worse. I was reading an article of something similar where the poor guy was harassed so bad he started carrying a GPS that recorded his every move back to a website so they could track him. He also was taking photos of himself everywhere he was, just in case there was any question.

Heck I don't even think local law enforcement knows where their kids are half the time nevermind tracking this guy all over the US!

Wow. Just wow.