Guantanamo PHYSICIAN/Translator Is Arrested

Yahoo News ^ | 9/30/03 | Curt Anderson

[Dr. Scarpetta]

A PHYSICIAN working as a translator at the U.S. prison camp for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was arrested Tuesday, a federal law enforcement official said.

The official, describing the apprehension at Boston's Logan International Airport, identified the suspect as Ahmed Mehalba. The official, who discussed the case on grounds of anonymity, said Mehalba had stopped in Boston Monday after arriving on a flight from Cairo.

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement noticed documents that appeared to have come from the prison camp and that they suspected of being classified. The FBI was called in to interview Mahalba, who denied the documents were his, the official said.

After the interview, the FBI arrested Mehalba on charges of making false statements. He was being held in Boston and further charges are possible, said the official, who declined to describe the nature of the documents in Mehalba's possession.

[Peach]

Another military arrest.

[Peach]

Clarification: A physician working as a translator at Gitmo arrested. We must have been pretty desperate to get translators and didn't adequately vet these people.

[Semper Paratus]

Have to assume now that the entire GITMO operation is compromised and have to do a 100% personnel turnover for the entire operation right through to the Pentagon.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

How naive can we be? We shouldn't trust these Muslims anymore than we trust Democrats.

[Kozak]

The US government needs to start a crash program to train more Arabists. They should crank them out at the translator schools, and offer things like free tuition for any college student who studies Arabic and agrees to a term of service in return. This is a terrible situation we are in now. We're almost blind and deaf when it comes to this 5th column.

[Peach]

Naive is right. Sheesh. So many enemies - the extremists, the press, the Rats...

[FreePaul]

Unfortunately we have too many democrats in government positions of trust just as we have too many muslims in those positions.

[Peach]

Excellent ideas.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

This is a terrible situation we are in now. We're almost blind and deaf when it comes to this 5th column.

These increasing situations make us appear to be incompetent. I used to read spy novels and thought we were on top of things. Now I don't read them or see that type of movie anymore because I'm convinced they're not believable, and we're NOT as CAPABLE as Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum makes us out to be.

[friendly]

If al Queda has so easily infiltrated the military, is it not obvious (to anyone who has flown recently) they have infiltrated the airport screener corps??? What could be more clear??

It is the easiest way to get al Queda hijackers on to a plane.

And for that matter, I question if al Queda has not infiltrated the democrats and the media, at least to some extent. Remember Hillary's attempt to disguise contributions in her federal paperwork from the terrorist American Muslim Foundation as the "American Museum Foundation"!!!! The leader of that wonderful orgainzation was arrested yesterday as a terrorist agent.

[Uncle Miltie]

Jihadis have regular mail service in Gitmo, for crying out loud. SNAFU alert!

[Dr. Scarpetta]

If al Queda has so easily infiltrated the military, is it not obvious (to anyone who has flown recently) they have infiltrated the airport screener corps??? What could be more clear??

What a thought! The people at the Pentaton and Homeland Security should be plotting out these possibilities.

[Peach]

I used to read spy novels too but stopped when the Cold War appeared over.

We only hear the bad news and think, although there is certainly room for improvement, we are doing a reasonably good job.

Since the spy game isn't science, the room for error is enormous and mistakes will be made.

Watching Military Blunders on the History Channel shows that we've definitely made mistakes militarily, too, but overall, we've prevailed.

And I agree with you - we are definitely NOT as competent as Clancy would have us believe!

[freeperfromnj]

Remember Hillary's attempt to disguise contributions in her federal paperwork from the terrorist American Muslim Foundation as the "American Museum Foundation"!!!!

We never saw Katie Couric or Charlie Gibson cover that story now, did we

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Remember when we were thinking about evacuation plans after 9/11? I used to think I should plan something and share it with family members so we could all meet in case of an attack, but I never got around to it. Maybe it's time to re-visit that idea.

[Semper Paratus]

and we're NOT as CAPABLE as Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum makes us out to be

Government conspiracy theories from the Left and Right all start with the premise of conspirators who know and have every angle double covered.

You're right. The government is not and cannot ever be that clever.

[Peach]

It's probably a good idea to have a back-up plan on where to meet in the event of a national emergency occurring in your area.

I'd even have a back-up to the back-up! We live in an area that is so far off the beaten track in the south, that this isn't really a concern of ours. Naive of us, perhaps.

If we still lived in the Northeast, we'd have plans.

[Physicist]

My suspicion is that they had a list of people they didn't quite trust, and sent them to Gitmo to see whether they would betray their mission. These Gitmo spies all seemed to have classified papers in their possession when they were picked up, which suggests that the authorities had them under pretty close supervision, and knew what they'd find.

We definitely do need to train many trustworthy people in Arabic.

[rstevens]

You folks amaze me. Intelligence agents have for hundreds of years used double agents and or allowed known enemy agents to infiltrate our intelligent areas, of our chosing.

It is my guess that these infiltrators were known from the very beginning and indeed, allowed to infiltrate Gitmo.

This type of intelligence utilization is very effective in confusing the enemy, and obtaining vital information on enmemy contact people. Think back! How many arrests have our guys made over the past few months? Where do you think info on them came from? Don't be fooled, our guys know exactly what is happening in this business.