Muslim Chaplain Asks Pentagon to Apologize
WASHINGTON, October 13, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Captain James Yee is asking the Pentagon to apologize for putting him through what he called a "gross miscarriage of justice", after he was accused of spying and was thrown in solitary confinement for 76 days, only to be cleared of all charges.
Yee, 37, who was sent to Guantanamo on November 5, 2002 to serve as chaplain to Muslim detainees and soldiers, left handcuffed in September 2003, only ten months after arriving, and was held in maximum security until October 24, where he wore hand and leg irons when he left his cell.
"My experience had taught me how little cultural understanding of Islam most military leaders had," Yee, who changed his name to Youssef after reverting to Islam in 1990, wrote in a recently released 240-page book, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"I am a soldier, a citizen, and a patriot. But in the eyes of a suspicious, misguided minority who have lost touch with America's national inclusiveness, above all else I am a Muslim.
"There are times when I fear that my ordeal simply stemmed from the fact that I am one of 'them' - a Muslim," he wrote.
His knowledge of Arabic, his praying and his denunciation of mistreatment of the Noble Qur'an by some soldiers fed the suspicions against him and other Muslim soldiers, according to AFP.
Yee himself said he was accused by a linguist of having a "subversive" conversation with a detainee by allegedly mocking a poster urging detainees to cooperate.
"The accusations were retold and exaggerated in backyards and on the beaches during the hot Cuban evenings, fueled by the boredom of restless young soldiers and discount vodka," he explains in the book.
Yee, a graduate of the prestigious US Military Academy at West Point, New York, quit the US military after he was cleared of espionage charges, AFP reported.
He was raised a Lutheran but later reverted to Islam. He studied Islam in Damascus in late 1990s (as he prepared to become one of the Army’s first Muslim chaplains) where he met his Syrian wife Huda.
Hostile Environment
Yee further commented in his book on the hostility soldiers display in treating both Muslim personnel and detainees alike.
"The environment at Guantanamo was incredibly hostile for Muslims, and it was impossible to ignore the palpable division that existed between many soldiers and the Muslim personnel."
He also described the harsh tactics used by guards against offending detainees.
One detainee was forcefully removed from his cell after he pushed a guard who searched the prisoner's buttocks for weapons or contraband, Yee wrote in his book.
According to Yee, a so-called Initial Force, a team of eight soldiers wearing riot gear charged the detainee's cell, forced him to the ground, tied his hands and dragged him out of the cell and into solitary confinement.
The soldiers celebrated their action and "high-fived each other and slammed their chests together, like professional basketball players. I found it an odd victory for eight men who took down one prisoner," he wrote.
About 505 detainees are held at the notorious Guantanamo camp, which was set up in 2002 soon after the US-led offensive against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001.
Similar cases
Meanwhile, there are three other men stationed at Guantanamo Bay who have been charged with “mishandling classified materials.”
Ahmad Al-Halabi, a Syrian-born US citizen and an Air Force translator, was arrested July 25, charged with 30 counts that ranged from sneaking baklava to the prisoners to espionage and aiding the enemy, according to USA Today Thursday.
Ahmed Mehalba, a civilian interpreter at Guantanamo, was arrested Sept. 29 after a Customs inspector found a CD-ROM that appeared to contain hundreds of sensitive documents in his luggage at Boston's Logan International Airport upon returning from Cairo.
Army Col. Jack Farr, 58, head of Guantanamo's prisoner interrogation unit, was arrested October 11 and charged with mishandling intelligence and lying to investigators, the paper said.
He is now at Fort Gordon, Ga., awaiting a preliminary hearing May 25 that will determine whether he will face a court-martial.
Yee, 37, who was sent to Guantanamo on November 5, 2002 to serve as chaplain to Muslim detainees and soldiers, left handcuffed in September 2003, only ten months after arriving, and was held in maximum security until October 24, where he wore hand and leg irons when he left his cell.
"My experience had taught me how little cultural understanding of Islam most military leaders had," Yee, who changed his name to Youssef after reverting to Islam in 1990, wrote in a recently released 240-page book, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"I am a soldier, a citizen, and a patriot. But in the eyes of a suspicious, misguided minority who have lost touch with America's national inclusiveness, above all else I am a Muslim.
"There are times when I fear that my ordeal simply stemmed from the fact that I am one of 'them' - a Muslim," he wrote.
His knowledge of Arabic, his praying and his denunciation of mistreatment of the Noble Qur'an by some soldiers fed the suspicions against him and other Muslim soldiers, according to AFP.
Yee himself said he was accused by a linguist of having a "subversive" conversation with a detainee by allegedly mocking a poster urging detainees to cooperate.
"The accusations were retold and exaggerated in backyards and on the beaches during the hot Cuban evenings, fueled by the boredom of restless young soldiers and discount vodka," he explains in the book.
Yee, a graduate of the prestigious US Military Academy at West Point, New York, quit the US military after he was cleared of espionage charges, AFP reported.
He was raised a Lutheran but later reverted to Islam. He studied Islam in Damascus in late 1990s (as he prepared to become one of the Army’s first Muslim chaplains) where he met his Syrian wife Huda.
Hostile Environment
Yee further commented in his book on the hostility soldiers display in treating both Muslim personnel and detainees alike.
"The environment at Guantanamo was incredibly hostile for Muslims, and it was impossible to ignore the palpable division that existed between many soldiers and the Muslim personnel."
He also described the harsh tactics used by guards against offending detainees.
One detainee was forcefully removed from his cell after he pushed a guard who searched the prisoner's buttocks for weapons or contraband, Yee wrote in his book.
According to Yee, a so-called Initial Force, a team of eight soldiers wearing riot gear charged the detainee's cell, forced him to the ground, tied his hands and dragged him out of the cell and into solitary confinement.
The soldiers celebrated their action and "high-fived each other and slammed their chests together, like professional basketball players. I found it an odd victory for eight men who took down one prisoner," he wrote.
About 505 detainees are held at the notorious Guantanamo camp, which was set up in 2002 soon after the US-led offensive against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001.
Similar cases
Meanwhile, there are three other men stationed at Guantanamo Bay who have been charged with “mishandling classified materials.”
Ahmad Al-Halabi, a Syrian-born US citizen and an Air Force translator, was arrested July 25, charged with 30 counts that ranged from sneaking baklava to the prisoners to espionage and aiding the enemy, according to USA Today Thursday.
Ahmed Mehalba, a civilian interpreter at Guantanamo, was arrested Sept. 29 after a Customs inspector found a CD-ROM that appeared to contain hundreds of sensitive documents in his luggage at Boston's Logan International Airport upon returning from Cairo.
Army Col. Jack Farr, 58, head of Guantanamo's prisoner interrogation unit, was arrested October 11 and charged with mishandling intelligence and lying to investigators, the paper said.
He is now at Fort Gordon, Ga., awaiting a preliminary hearing May 25 that will determine whether he will face a court-martial.
posted by ltf ha at 3:26 AM
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