Despite the Army's claim that the records of the Muslim recruits was clean, the investigation was picked up by the FBI. Bahammou and Lyaacoubi said a year and a half after the Fort Jackson investigation, they have been asked by the FBI to take polygraph tests. The FBI would not comment, but any open federal investigation would affect the soldiers' citizenship status and background checks.
While the Muslim solders seem to be caught in a bureaucratic limbo as a result of volunteering for the U.S. Army, they remain optimistic that their lives in America will still work out. "At the end of the day, I am going to get my life back and everything," said Lyaacoubi. "I will try everything and I will never give up." |