Usual Suspects

The State of Union's Mystery Suspect
An anti-war activist and a congressman's wife weren't the only ones detained by the Capitol Police.
For close to an hour the man, who was born in India but is an American citizen, was questioned by the Police, who thought he resembled someone on a Secret Service photo watch list, according to Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer. Eventually, the police realized it was a case of mistaken identity and let him go.

The man, who did not want his identity revealed after the disturbing incident, was a personal guest of Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings. Read the full story[Link].

- on Time.com on Feb4th, 2006.

Police Investigate Why Indian-Born Man Was Detained at State of Union

In other news from Washington, the Capitol Police, Secret Service and FBI have launched an investigation into why a U.S. citizen of Indian descent was detained for over an hour after he attended the State of the Union as a guest of a member of Congress. Police said the man resembled someone on Secret Service photo watch list. After Bush's address ended, 10 law enforcement officers surrounded the man as he exited the chamber of the House. They whisked him away to a room where they questioned him for close to an hour. After the incident the man told his Congressman, Alcee Hastings, that the experience was "maybe just the price of being brown in America." At the same event anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested and removed for wearing a t-shirt that read "2,245 Dead. How Many More?" in reference to US troops killed in Iraq. The charges were later dropped.

- on Democracy Now today.