Missteps and Confusion Seen in Muslim Chaplain's Spy Case

[Judi Lynn]

Missteps and Confusion Seen in Muslim Chaplain's Spy Case
By NEIL A. LEWIS and THOM SHANKER

Published: January 4, 2004


WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 — As the Muslim chaplain at the military base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, Capt. James J. Yee often invited some of the Islamic members of the garrison to his quarters for dinner on Friday after he conducted weekly services.

On at least two occasions, his guest was Senior Airman Ahmad I. al- Halabi, an Air Force translator at the camp, where hundreds of captives from the Afghan war have been held and interrogated for the last two years.

Airman al-Halabi was later arrested on several charges, including suspicion of trying to pass secrets to Syria or some other foreign government, a charge that has since been dropped.

Military officials now say the dinners with Airman al-Halabi, as well as Captain Yee's own connections to Syria, set in motion the arrest, lengthy detention and possible court-martial of Captain Yee, a tangled legal episode that has proved awkward for the military.
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/national/04YEE.html?ex=1073797200&en=dbfe809e16ada216&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

[La_Serpiente]

1. the fucking sons of bitches

For his part, Captain Yee was placed in solitary confinement in a naval brig for 76 days, much of the time in leg irons and manacles. One of his lawyers, Eugene R. Fidell, said that Captain Yee's jailers would not tell him the time of day or the direction of the compass points to help him pray to Mecca for most of that time. Mr. Fidell said that Captain Yee was treated in a worse fashion than the detainees at Guantánamo to whom he used to minister.

How fucking barbaric. And this is the US government.

Who knows what they are doing to the other detainees there.