My name is Steve Jabar. I am fighting for justice. This is my story: In late 1990, I came to America looking for peace and freedom.
I had escaped from Iraq’s persecution and injustice under Saddam Hussein. My family knows all too well our share of persecution. My father was arrested, tortured and murdered by Saddam when I was just 10 years old. We never had what you would call a normal life.
As a child, I went with my youngest Uncle to prisons looking for my father. We looked through piles of bodies on the chance that we might find my father. We faced injustice.
As a young man, I became a freedom fighter “Peshmerga”. I witnessed the tragic Anfal campaign and Halabja where Saddam used chemicals against Kurds.
As a political opponent to Saddam and his regime, I left Iraq to find a safe haven for my family. That effort brought us to America. My family (wife, son and I) were granted Asylum within few weeks of our arrival. In April 1996, we became naturalized citizens. My youngest, my daughter, was born in Buffalo, NY.
In 2002 the United States government began planning to go to war against Iraq. Not all Americans wanted this war, and I was one of them. I know Iraq. I was born and raised in Baghdad and fought as a freedom fighter against Saddam’s regime for over 11 years. I openly warned Bush administration that Iran will swallow Iraq and the internal power vacuum in Iraq would pave the way for Al Qaeda. I shared the opinions of the millions in the organized peace rallies all over the United States.
War is ugly. I lived many years in war torn situations to want that for anyone. I lost many dear friends to war. The consequences last a lifetime. I did not want war for my American or Iraqi brothers and sisters.
If using my voice in protest would prevent Americans from being killed, I wanted to protest. If using my voice in protest would prevent Iraqi casualties, I was willing to protest. I did not want Al Qaeda and extremists killing 4,488 American soldiers and crippling over 35,000 in Iraq. And over 4.4 million Iraqis, mostly women and children have been displaced from their homes because of the war. These numbers are real. And they are horrifying.
Even though the federal government in 2002 employed me with Homeland Security as an Asylum officer, I decided to participate in the many Peace Rallies as a private citizen on my personal time. This is the right of any U.S. citizen. I went to rallies in Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, New York City and Washington D.C. I spoke against the war in panel discussions, on the radio, and I gave interviews for national and regional newspapers and local TV.
As someone who lived through the horrors of a dictatorship, I cherish these longstanding basic human rights that the US Constitution guarantees to all its citizens, including the right to speak freely against an ugly war that was going to destroy Iraq and the region and benefit Islamic extremists and criminals.
Sadly, the war in Iraq did happen. Even though I was against the war, US government saw that my knowledge and experience would be useful for the good of America and Iraq. I agreed to work for the Department of Defense as a political and cultural advisor for Ambassador Bremer’s team for Baghdad central office under Coalitional Provisional Authority (CPA). And later, worked for senior US Army generals in Iraq from 2004 -2009.
Little did I know that thousands of miles away, while I was focusing on daily missions and helping to save American soldiers lives in Iraq, that in Buffalo, NY there was a secret agenda against me by the Buffalo Joint Terrorist Task Force.
WHY you ask?
It was because of: BIAS, DISCRIMINATION, HATE, the color of my skin, my heritage was from Iraq. And especially, it was for being a part of PEACE RALLIES talking against going to war in Iraq.
I was working as a part of a team with top US Army Generals and Colonels’ for the United States government in a war zones fighting Al-Qaida. At the same time the Buffalo Joint Terrorist Task Force, known as the JTTF, was working to destroy me. They did this full well knowing what I was doing in Iraq. They knew I was a DHS Asylum officer, DOD contractor as a senior political and cultural advisor, with security clearance, taking daily risks, saving lives and having the full trust of USA’s top officials. Yet, the Buffalo JTTF had a different agenda against me. While the US military and DOS officials valued my expertise, and trusted me with their lives, only two greedy, self-promoting government agents in Buffalo worked to destroy my life.
It was in 2006 that I became aware of the plot against me, by the Buffalo JTTF. They planned:
1. To: “neutralize me” (these are their words. And I have it in writing).
2. And to: blindfold me and take me to an undisclosed place to interrogate me.
3. They published an article against me in “Washington Time newspapers” in D.C. accused me of being Saddam’s intelligent agent, Spy and ordered by him to join DHS to grant Asylum to Saddamists.
4. Testified against me in 2005 and 2006 in a senate committee. As the only Iraqi- American officer at DHS, they used their accusation against me to keep 70 million dollars that the Bush administration gave to DHS. CBP did not want that money to go to USCIS, the DHS branch I worked for.
5. Accused me of being an “Al-Qaida” suspect.
6. Forged and replaced two pages from my government “SF86 – security clearance” form, to back up their Spy and “Al-Qaida suspect” accusation against me.
7. Ordered the Regional Security Office (RSO) at our embassy in Baghdad to deport me out of Iraq.
8. Sent memos to DOD, DHS and DOS warning them against me as an “Iraqi American who talks against USA government policies and is a Spy of Saddam”.
9. Asked in memos and verbally that DHS and DOD take my clearance away and fire me.
10. Stopped and harassed my daughter, brother and x-wife at Canadian border and airports since 2006 to present time. And, delayed the arrival of my middle brother to the states for over two years until I got Senator Schumer, UNHCR and Secretary Tom Ridge involved to help bring him to the states.
11. Put my name on government watch list and passed my name to foreign countries such Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and United Arab Emirate where Islamic extremist exists as officials at airports and borders. I was stopped and “questioned” by officers of those countries any time I entered those countries from 2009 to my recent trip to Iraq in July 2016.
I have evidence of all the above points. Some of evidence is internal official emails among the few Buffalo FBI and IRS agents, which became apparent to me during the discovery phase of my court case. One of those documents is a “secret” document. It shows that the FBI in Buffalo has been after me since early 2004.
Since the Buffalo JTTF could not prove their lies that I was:
1. A spy or was
2. An Al-Qaida suspect, or
3. Was connected to any foreign political group, which was also a part of their theory.
The JTTF conspired another story. The story revolves around building a Radio Station in Iraq 2004-2005.
n the absence of an established Iraqi banking infrastructure and in the fog of war, the United Nations granted monies to a stateside NGO, Opportunities for Kids International, led by American, Debbie Bowers and myself, for the building of a radio station to promote democratic ideals while the country was being rebuilt. Through the painstaking determination and the grassroots efforts of ordinary Iraqis, Radio Almahaba – Voice of Iraqi Woman was born as a platform for free speech, women rights and human rights in a nation ravaged by oppression.
Radio Almahaba still exists today as a podium for the ideals of Democracy and Freedom, encouraging women to vote, participate in civil society and in the political process. It is unique because the station does not have an affiliation with one political party or one particular religion. At the time of establishment, Radio Almahaba was the first of its kind in all the Middle East to specialize in women’s rights and broadcast these issues on air, which no other government in the region would allow. Respected newspapers such as (NY Times, WP, Chicago Tribune, The Sun, The Guardian, USA today and other EU, Iraqi and middle eastern newspapers) visited the radio and published reports about it.
This should have been something the United States supported or at least cheered to succeed. That was my hope since in Washington leaders talk about supporting democracy throughout the world.
The Buffalo JTTF pushed their lies to a Grand Jury in 2009 (I was in Iraq) where we were indicted with 14 charges against us.
Because of the lies and wrong agenda against me:
I lost my security clearance
I lost my ability to work in my profession
I lost my house and property
I was put on a Terrorist Watch List
I lost my good reputation from the reckless slander and
I lost precious time, 16 years of my life
Counselors around me advised me to be patient and work through the democratic court system.I, along with great witnesses, Generals, Colonels, my boss from Homeland Security, a former USA captain and White house staff under Obama’s administration, waited years to tell my story in court.
In fact, it took ten years to get to our case. In August 2016, the trial finally took place in Buffalo, New York. We held on to the hope that my story would finally be told.
Our expert legal team, Mr. Mark Mahoney and Mr. Patrick Brown both criminal lawyers from Buffalo were prepared to challenge the many lies.
Much to our disappointment, our evidence of JTTF’s bias and other condemning documents was not allowed to be shared with the jury. Witnesses were treated with disrespect. The two female prosecutors were seeking persecution rather than seeking out the truth.
Per the decision of the jury and judge, rulings dismissed the counts almost completely leaving one 1001 charge, “false statements to a Federal Agent”. An act that did not occur. As a result, must face a sentencing in the next month.
I am homeless, jobless and have no health insurance. Since 2011, I became a financial burden of friends and family, particularly my brothers, who support me financially and in all other aspects.
This unfair, biased investigation, Grand Jury and Trial will happen to other Americans if we do not bring this story to light. I want the nation to see the “secret” document and all other scary emails that were written against me as if Saddam is alive and those agents were Saddam’s agents not FBI and IRS agents.
Using this unexpected, painful groundless case against me, I am sorry to say I lost total trust in at least the WNY federal injustice system. Other few good American citizens in Buffalo were indicted by the same JTTF for “conspiring against government policies”. One of those victims was lucky to tell his story on 60 minutes. His indictment case was dismissed. The few agents in Buffalo are acting like an “untouchables gang” and they are harming good citizens without any fear of any accountability from DC or NY officials. I feel like I am living in Iraq not in USA.
My real crime was, talking against the war in Iraq in 2003, when top Republican and Democrat officials acted like they were in competition to vote to go to war. Yet, 2016 election candidates condemned the “decision to go to war”, while I am still getting hunted for the right and moral decision I took in 2002-2003.
I wrote to President Obama, Senator Schumer, Senator Gellibrand, Congressman Higgins, Congressman Collins, seeking their involvement in ordering an investigation to when, why and who ordered this groundless investigation against me and who authorized putting my name on watch list? I am still waiting for answers from all or any of those officials who are officially and morally obligated to protect me as an American citizen from any “domestic and foreign” attack. Fascism and Nazism rose to power because the carelessness of officials and citizens throughout history.
I am in urgent need to tell my story to the nation. I want them to be the judge in defending the truth and bringing justice and peace to our lives, again. This is the only way to force WNY justice system to respect and support justice.