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Monday, May 24, 2004
Portland lawyer deserves apology
Brandon Mayfield is out of jail, now that Spanish authorities seem to have turned away from him as a suspect in the Madrid bombings. He deserves an apology from U.S. authorities.
On May 6, FBI agents arrested Mayfield, a Portland lawyer who happens to be Muslim, and held him on a warrant as "a material witness" in the terrorist bombings case. Spanish investigators had a fingerprint that reportedly bore a resemblance to Mayfield's.
At the time, the FBI said very little, but unfortunately some officials maligned him anonymously.
Newsweek magazine reported that "a top U.S. counterterrorism official" said Mayfield's fingerprint was an "absolutely incontrovertible match." Now, the Spanish say they have matched that print or another one to an Algerian with a police record.
Whatever additional evidence might come out, Mayfield is hardly alone among those of Muslim or Middle East background in finding themselves held for long periods on security matters while authorities leak wild stories. Shortly before his arrest, Mayfield expressed concern to his mother about Army Capt. James Yee; he noted that after a long imprisonment, Yee had been cleared without any apology.
Mayfield and others, probably including some still held in Guantanamo and Iraq, deserve apologies.
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