Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for TSA, said those mistaken for someone on the list should work with the department's ombudsman to be removed. "People who are on the list are individuals who pose or are suspected of posing a threat to civil aviation or international security," she said.

Iqbal said he has tried working with the TSA. Officials there express sympathy, but little has changed, he said. He is still ruffled about one meeting with TSA staff, when a staff member suggested he change his name. Wouldn't an evil Asif Iqbal, he asks, have already changed his name to elude authorities?

"My name is my identity and representative of my heritage and culture," he wrote TSA authorities in August. "With the procedure put in place by TSA, I have been repetitively reminded to be ashamed of who I am."

Jamal Abdul-Wahab

On March 19, the day the war in Iraq started, police raided Abdul-Wahab's house in Richmond, Va., with rifles and automatic weapons drawn.

They handcuffed him and his pregnant wife, as well as his elderly aunt, while their four children watched, crying. Police searched the house looking for documents related to his car dealership, at one point asking if a fragrant bag of Turkish coffee was opium, he said. At another point, he said, they asked him where he kept the drugs. Thinking they were talking about prescription medicine for his children, he told them the refrigerator.

Abdul-Wahab, 45, a used car salesman who has lived in the United States since 1999, said police told him they were seeking documentation about his car dealership. He said he did nothing to warrant the raid. "My wife thought we were on 'Candid Camera,' " he said.

Abdul-Wahab's attorney, Claire Cardwell, said he was being investigated for his handling of temporary vehicle tags. Department of Motor Vehicle representatives were working with Abdul-Wahab to help him properly handle tags "and he is complying with what they are asking," she said.

Brian Matt, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, said an investigation on irregularities with titles is pending and the DMV awaits court action, but no charges have been filed. "It's not unusual for police to secure an area and persons there . . . for officer safety reasons," he said.

In the week after the raid, Abdul-Wahab kept it secret from other Richmond-area family members, worried they would cause a fuss. When he finally told them, they were irate. They believe police are investigating him because of his nationality, not because he did something wrong.

"I'm so embarrassed as an American," said Shirine Hossaini, his cousin, who was born in the United States.

Abdul-Wahab, an Iraqi refugee, said for months after the raid, "people were scared to come to my place." Inspectors returned again and again to his shop, asking about his interior-decorating choices and inspecting even the trunks of his cars, he said. Finally, in July, the visits stopped. Abdul-Wahab holds no ill will — he believes that local and state police were asked to investigate him by authorities "higher than them."

Still, he fears losing his business, particularly because he now has five children and a wife to feed. "If I don't work, I die," he said.

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E-MAIL: wehrmanj@shns.com