Guantanamo Spy Cases Evaporate (Muslim Chaplain Not A Spy)

[Whoa_Nelly]

Last September, top officials of the Navy prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told a military judge in Florida that the prison's Muslim chaplain, Army Capt. James Yee, would soon be charged with mutiny, sedition, espionage, spying and aiding the enemy -- crimes that could lead to his execution.



Based on those allegations, Yee was held in solitary confinement in a Navy brig in South Carolina for 76 days. But authorities never charged him with any of those offenses. Instead, Yee will face much less serious charges, such as mishandling classified materials and adultery, when the case against him resumes at a hearing at Fort Benning, Ga., scheduled for Feb. 4.

At the same time Yee was being detained, Air Force Senior Airman Ahmad I. Halabi, who worked as an Arabic translator at Guantanamo Bay, was also in solitary confinement 3,000 miles away, held in California on charges of espionage and aiding the enemy. In time, the most serious of those allegations have been withdrawn as well.

Some experts on military law and the men's lawyers say the prosecutions of Yee and Halabi have been riddled with inconsistencies and oddities that cast doubt on the government's original fears that a spy ring was operating in the high-security prison for alleged al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44930-2004Jan24.html?nav=hptoc_n

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. shows what I've felt all along

the military is very uneasy about Muslims in its ranks. And there is an anti-Muslim bias in this country. I've experienced it personally, as have other Muslims I know.

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. That is probably partly true...

...but, I think that, in this case, it was easy to use Yee as a pawn to stir up more of the old "Hold Americans hostage to fear", and to show that the Kingpin theives in the WH are so on top of getting the "bad guys". Many are in the unfortunate position of pawn when it comes to the BFEE and the PNAC pushing their agenda forward.

[bobthedrummer]

2. In some places there must be a hysteria greater than the McCarthy

and HUAC era about godless communism.
Spies?
How about some adultery for the priest/mullah?
His military career is toast now IMO.
Discrimination and war on terror hysteria in action=injustice, IMO.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. He's an imam, not a mullah

Sufis don't have mullahs. Yee is an Islamic scholar, which is what an imam is.

[bobthedrummer]

11. Thanx!

eom

[KoKo]

4. He's accused of "adultery?" What? The article doesn't explain that one.

"......But authorities never charged him with any of those offenses. Instead, Yee will face much less serious charges, such as mishandling classified materials and adultery.."

Since when does the Military charge folks with adultery?

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Also thought that was a strange item/twist in the article

eom

[plurality]

7. all the time

A friend of mine got booted we he was serving in Kosovo because of a homemade movie he made with his girlfriend. It's commonly used when they're looking for an excuse to get rid of you. He ended up serving 30 days in the stockade before he got a less than honorable discharge over it.

[atreides1]

12. Adultery is a Violation of Military Law

Actually it is a violation of the UCMJ and the Manuals of Courts Martial.

It's just not used a lot, and in this case it's being used because they have to save face. And there might be something to the charge
of bias against Muslims in the military.

As for the Airman, the man was a supply clerk, he was picked for the job because he spoke Arabic. The problem with that was he was never
given any training as an interrogator(sp). It's sort of like taking
a quarterback off of a football team and making him a goalie for a
womens soccer team, it ain't going to work!!!

[plurality]

5. maybe they were documenting abuses there...

and the Army had to find some way to shut them up.

We can't have the world thinking we run concentration camps can we?

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. When the story of arrests broke in September...

that was my first thought. I thought it was more likely that arrests were made because of trying to get information to groups such as the International Red Cross, which was also in the news at the time as not being allowed access to Gitmo and prisoners. The IRC had major concerns about violations of the Geneva Convention, and quite soon after that, they "dropped" trying to get into the camp. When that was reported, I suspected that there had been more bullying going on from BushCo, and the IRC had to back down since it was going to be "proven" that those arrested were part of a spy ring. The IRC would be implicated as "combative participants", e.g., "bad guys", and possibly be held suspect for the reasons of wanting to make conact with the prisoners.
IMHO

[Whoa_Nelly]

10. Another twist to the story, exhibiting that's there is no end to the evil

From the article:
In an unusual episode last month, military investigators raided offices used by Halabi's military lawyers at an Air Force base in California, temporarily seizing one computer and copying its hard drive in a search for evidence against the airman.

Rehkopf protested the search in a letter to Air Force officials, calling it "bizarre" and "a conscious disregard of the attorney-client relationship."

Apparently, that incident was under the radar. At least, I never read a story about that happening. Anyone else have that info?


on edit: Found only this one blogspot about that incident, and this is from an AP story:

Government searches defense attorney's office in Gitmo translator case

The AP reports this morning that Air Force investigators, holding a search warrant from a military judge, searched the offices of an attorney who is representing Airman Ahmad Halabi, charged with misconduct at Guantanamo Bay. The article didn't say exactly what was searched or what was seized, or why the search was executed.

Air Force investigators searched the offices of Halabi's military attorneys Thursday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, his civilian attorney, Donald G. Rehkopf Jr., said yesterday. The investigators, who had a military warrant, copied the hard drive of one lawyer's computer, Rehkopf said.

The search raised the possibility that two military defenders, Majs. James Key III and Kim London, could be called as witnesses against Halabi. That could mean they would have to be taken off the case and new defense attorneys would have to start from scratch.

Air Force agents also burst into a room where Halabi was meeting with his attorneys last Wednesday and took hours to return documents and a laptop computer to him when he was taken from a jail at Vandenberg to Travis Air Force Base, Rehkopf said. Travis, also in California, is Halabi's home base, where proceedings against him will be held.

more...
http://philcarter.blogspot.com/2003_12_14_philcarter_archive.html

[DinahMoeHum]

13. Tee hee, as I've always said, Bush and Asscroft can't kick

a duck in the ass unless they stand on a brick; and even then, the odds are 50/50 they'll miss.

All that headache and heartache over nothing.


:evilfrown: