Probe of 2 Groups That Train Muslim Chaplains Sought

The Washington Post ^ | 23 September 2003 | John Mintz & Susan Schmidt

[Stultis]

Probe of 2 Groups That Train Muslim Chaplains Sought

By John Mintz and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 23, 2003; Page A03

[snip]

Six months ago, Schumer asked the Pentagon to launch an internal review of the way the military determines the reliability of Muslim clerics in the armed services, but so far no such effort has been undertaken, officials said yesterday.

[snip]

Schumer previously raised questions about two institutes that train Islamic chaplains for the military: the Leesburg-based Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS); and the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council, which helped train Yee.

Despite Schumer's request, Pentagon and Army spokesmen said yesterday there is no review of the chaplain program being conducted.

GSISS was raided by federal agents in 2002 as part of a probe of a cluster of Northern Virginia companies and institutes that have alleged dealings with terrorists. The council is an affiliate of the Alexandria-based American Muslim Foundation, which is being investigated in the same probe.

[Stultis]

For the record Republican Senator John Kyl was also behind the call for an assessment of the training and ceritification of Muslim chaplains. Naturally the Compost doesn't mention this, reserving publicity for members its party.

[Ronin]

Another for the "Why am I not surprised" file.

[meenie]

I think it would be worthwhile for the armed forces to investigate what the Muslim religion really teaches in its religion. Why investigate the messenger, when you don't know the message?

[Imal]

Yee is a 1990 graduate of West Point who commanded a Patriot missile unit before leaving the military, converting to Islam and studying for four years in Syria.

Four years in Syria? Nothing suspicious there. Just a simple student spending his time "studying" in one of the most renowned terrorist nations on earth, and certainly not there anonymously. You can bet the Syrian government knew all about him, and watched him closely -- at least (I'm taking a wild guess that they recruited him). I wonder what he studied, and who taught him while he was in Syria.

He rejoined the military in the late 1990s and became a cleric at Fort Lewis in Washington state. Ten months ago he became the imam at Guantanamo Bay, where he counseled prisoners and kept prison officials advised of detainees' morale.

I have to wonder. When he "rejoined the military", did they ever bother to ask what this guy was doing for FOUR FREAKING YEARS IN SYRIA?

What kind of background investigation did they perform on this guy? Obviously, with the benefit of hindsight, somebody missed something. Could it be... SYRIA?

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[reformedliberal]

Sunday, a CIA (or former CIA) agent stated they were *all over* Yee when he came back and implied he was the object of a huge sting. He IS detained at the moment.

[PsyOp]

Even a cursory reading of the Koran should make it clear that a devout muslim can only be loyal to Islam or an Islamic state. In fact, it can be easily argued that taking the officers oath is, in fact, a violation of Koranic law.

All declared Muslims in the U.S. military should be watched like hawks, and kept out of classified activities. IMHO.