Translator's Lawyers Cite Contradictions (Gitmo)

[Snazzy]

Translator's Lawyers Cite Contradictions
Detainee Letters' Status As Classified Is at Issue

By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 24, 2004; Page A02

Attorneys for an Air Force translator at the Guantanamo Bay prison who faces a variety of criminal charges said military officials have offered contradictory explanations about whether they consider information found in his possession to be classified. The continually changing reasons make it difficult to determine the basis for many of the criminal charges against him, the lawyers contend.

...

"Halabi remains in jail and has been in pre-trial confinement for nine months, and still the government does not have a consolidated, consistent or intelligible position on the classification of information" in the case, Halabi's attorneys wrote. "Each time the defense points out the flaws in the classification logic, a different reason for classification of information is created or invented."

The legal documents were filed one month after the U.S. military dropped all criminal charges against Army Capt. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain who also worked at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba for al Qaeda and Taliban suspects. Yee's case was racked with disputes about whether the documents he possessed were properly deemed classified. Yesterday, two Democratic senators on the Armed Services Committee, Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.) and Carl M. Levin (Mich.), asked the Pentagon to investigate the military's treatment of Yee.

...

An Air Force investigator stated that he spent 800 hours examining the Halabi Web site for evidence, and officials said last month they still suspected that there are hidden features in the site that allow outsiders to gather information secreted there. Last fall, the government dropped some charges that Halabi used the Internet to send secrets to unauthorized people.

....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A37734-2004Apr23?language=printer

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(had to quote that last part--they're talking about a geocities website that they spent 800 hours investigating--which is absolutely ridiculous.)