Clashes Led to Probe of Cleric - Guantanamo Bay

[dArKeR]

Flare-Ups Over Muslim Prisoners' Treatment in Cuba Are Cited

Military authorities launched an investigation of Army Capt. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain at the Guantanamo Bay prison, after a series of confrontations between him and officials over the treatment of al Qaeda and Taliban detainees there, according to military officials and other informed sources.


Yee, who ministered to the inmates at the U.S. Navy prison in Cuba, protested what he believed were lives of unrelieved tension and boredom experienced by his fellow Muslims in captivity, the officials and other sources said.

Some interrogators at the prison complex objected after concluding that Yee's private, one-on-one meetings with inmates interfered with their attempts to fully control the prisoners' environment, numerous sources said. Some detainees appeared less cooperative in interrogations after visits from Yee, the sources said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9560-2003Oct23.html

Set him up?

[thebigidea]

1. ah, there's a "surprise"

I recall a few posters here theorizing as much when this case first got splattered all over FOX.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. So the chaplain is being prosecuted for being a chaplain

how dare he try to help the people he was brought in to help!

Seriously, the UN should check on the conditions at Gitmo. I have heard all kinds of horror stories about it. And remember, NONE of these men has been formally charged with anything. NONE have had any kind of trial. NONE have been allowed to get in touch with family that I know of. I have heard that there is physical as well as psychological torture going on. If the chaplain there hadn't protested these things, I'd have wondered about the chaplain.

I hope that the Democrat who is elected President in 2004 shuts down Camp X-Ray as one of his first acts in office.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

5. He wasn't brought in to help them!

He may have thought so, but I have no doubt the military's intention was that he was supposed to act as part of the process of breaking down their defences by telling the prisoners that they had offended Allah and the only way to redeem themselves was to confess all to the interrogators.

He was supposed to be the spiritual version of the good cop, encouraging and cajoling them to make amends by spilling their guts.

[La_Serpiente]

3. I am sure Yee was just trying to be their spiritual advisor

and help them with whatever they could. There were probably some racist or "macho" soldiers who had no sympathy or respect for the inmates. Just how the right views the left, they probably saw Yee as a traitor.

[MaineDem]

4. Kick

:kick:

[dArKeR]

6. Gitmo Suspects Faulted POW Policy - CBS

The military chaplain and translator in custody on charges of violating security rules at the Guantanamo Bay prison first came under suspicion when they complained about conditions there, a newspaper reports.

The Washington Post reports Capt. James Yee confronted superiors about the boredom and tension faced by the prisoners. So did Air Force Senior Airman Ahmad Halabi, a translator on the base.

Authorities arrested Yee Sept. 10 as he arrived at a Jacksonville, Fla., naval base on a flight from the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba. Officials have said he was carrying classified information about the base with him when he was arrested.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/23/attack/main579647.shtml

Bush is so evil! Framing and locking up innocent American citizens now for Bush's political gain!

[Jack Rabbit]

7. We need to keep watch on this

This could be the Dreyfus Affair of the phoney war on terror.

[TacticalPeek]

8. Guess I'll wait in hope of some facts re: Yee, et al.

snip

Grover Norquist's best friend is Karl Rove, the White House chief of staff, and apparently Norquist was able to fix things. He got extreme right wing Muslim people to be the gatekeepers in the White House. That's why moderate Americans couldn't speak out after 9/11. Moderate Muslims couldn't get into the White House because Norquist's friends were blocking their access.
OLBERMANN: How does this tie back into the thing that apparently pulled the stopper out of the drain, if you will-The developers at Guantanamo bay? How rotten is the system of the interpreters and the chaplains-the Muslim Chaplains that Alamoudi was involved in setting up?
LOFTUS: It's as rotten as it gets. Think of the Muslim chaplain's program that he set up as a spy service for al-Qaeda. The damage that's been done is extreme. It wasn't just sending home mom and dad messages from the prisoners. These guys, this network in Guantanamo, stole the CIA's briefing books. Everything that the CIA knew about al-Qaeda is now back in al-Qaeda hands. That's about as bad an intelligence setback as you can get.
OLBERMANN: John, how does this end up? How far will the investigation into this necessarily have to go to get to the bottom of it?
LOFTUS: There's a lot more to go. Norquist had a lot of other clients. There's a whole alphabet soup of Saudi agencies that funded terrorism in this country. They had an awful lot of protection. And, one of the things we may find about 9/11 is that people out in the field weren't allowed to connect the dots and questions will be asked weather guys like Grover Norquist were part of the problem?
OLBERMANN: I got chills down my spine. The former Justice Department official, John Loftus of radio's 'Loftus Report.' As always John, many thanks.
LOFTUS: You're welcome.

'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Oct. 23
http://www.msnbc.com/news/984616.asp

:shrug:

[lostnfound]

9. Baklava? Wow. Who'd a thunk it?

He's a West Point grad with a heart.
"He has also expressed sympathy for and has had unauthorized contact with the detainees, including providing unauthorized items of comfort to the detainees" such as baklava pastries, the document added.

How dare he. No wonder they deem him a threat to national security.

[VeniceBeat]

10. Grover's New Residence?