Free Republic

Pentagon probes its Muslim school choice WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A school the Pentagon relied on to train Muslim military chaplains is under investigation for possible ties to al-Qaida, ABC News reported Tuesday. For the last six years, the Pentagon used an unaccredited school in Leesburg, Va., to train and certify most of its 13 Muslim chaplains. But in the last 18 months, the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences also has been part of a federal investigation into possible financial ties to al-Qaida, ABC reported. One of the chaplains mentioned in correspondence between the Pentagon and the...

Just broke on CNN......this is a civilian translator!

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Following the arrests of a Muslim chaplain and an Arabic translator for suspected spying at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, two senators are calling for a full investigation of terrorists' attempts to recruit members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Muslim-American groups fear the investigation may become a "witch hunt" for followers of Islam. "How, in our most sensitive Army prison [at] Guantanamo, the most sensitive of Army facilities, were there breaches?" asked Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) Thursday. "When you hear that, at Guantanamo, security has been breached, you say to yourself, 'Well, what's happening at...

<p>WASHINGTON — A Muslim activist whose Virginia home was searched as part of a federal investigation of terrorist financing was arrested shortly after arriving back in the United States, law enforcement officials said.</p> <p>Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi (search) was taken into custody at Dulles International Airport on Sunday after a flight from London, officials said. The charges against al-Amoudi were expected to be unsealed following an initial court appearance Monday.</p>

<p>September 29, 2003 -- THE news last week that two Muslim military personnel, James Yee and Ahmad al-Halabi, had been arrested on suspicion of aiding Al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantnamo Bay (with another three Muslim servicemen under watch) seemed to prompt much surprise. It should not have.</p>

<p>The government is trying to determine whether Syria is engaged in espionage against the United States in light of an investigation of security breaches at a prison camp in Cuba, a top White House aide said yesterday.</p> <p>"We're looking into it, and we'll see what's there," said Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser.</p>

or the last five years, Qaseem A. Uqdah, a Marine Corps veteran, has been visiting military bases around the world in search of Muslim officers and enlistees who might make suitable chaplains.In his role as a recruiter, Mr. Uqdah is not employed by the military. Instead, he is an independent middleman who runs a group that is authorized by the Pentagon to nominate Muslim chaplain candidates. He said he is paid nothing for his efforts and is motivated by his belief in Islam.One of the clerics Mr. Uqdah recommended to the Pentagon — Capt. James J. Yee, a Chinese-American convert...

ON CAPITOL HILLSenate panel probes Muslim subversion Investigation to look at recruitment of Islamic chaplains for military Posted: September 27, 2003 By J. Michael Waller© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com With a Muslim army chaplain imprisoned in a Navy brig as an alleged terrorist spy, the military must rethink how it recruits and screens Islamic clergy, according to a key Senate ally of the administration's counterterrorism policies. "I'm gratified that military authorities have taken action to investigate what may be an alarming breach of security in our armed services, and I strongly recommend that the Pentagon review its policies in regard to the recruitment of...

Many Chinese Americans are feeling dread in the wake of the arrest of Capt. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain stationed at Fort Lewis Army Base, Wash. The case brings back memories of the prosecution -- some would say persecution -- of Dr. Wen Ho Lee. Lee, the Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, was arrested by the FBI in 1999 on espionage charges and found not guilty after months in solitary confinement. President Clinton later apologized to him, though Dr. Lee's career as a scientist was already ruined. Yee's arrest is as troubling as Dr. Lee's, says Ling Chi Wang, a...

The arrest of two Muslim-American servicemen based at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, (a developing story originally broken by this newspaper), raises some complex questions about the conflicting loyalties of Muslim-American soldiers in the war against radical Islamic terror. Dueling it out are two policy imperatives dear to our tradition of government: equal treatment of all regardless of race and religion, and the need to guarantee national security. The threshold must be high for a policy to curtail one of these fundamental values in favor of defending the other — but it is a threshold that can be met in extreme cases....

<p>WASHINGTON -- The probe into alleged spying by U.S. troops assigned to a high-security camp in Cuba that houses al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners now includes two new suspects, Pentagon and FBI officials said Thursday.</p> <p>Navy and Air Force investigators are closely watching a Navy cook and an airman who once were assigned to Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Neither has been detained or charged, military officials said, but their activities raised suspicion among investigators in the wake of the recent arrests of a senior airman and an Army chaplain who had contact with detainees at the camp.</p>

Muslims in military getting close look by governmentBy LISA HOFFMANSeptember 25, 2003 Not since the McCarthy hearings 50 years ago have so many allegations surfaced that America's military may contain enemies of the state. In 1953, it was communists that Sen. Joe McCarthy saw as infiltrating the Army. Now, a spate of indictments and convictions over the past few years is raising questions in some quarters of Capitol Hill and elsewhere about U.S. troops who are members of the Muslim faith. Senior Air Force Airman Ahmad al Halabi, an Arabic translator, stands charged with espionage in connection with the U.S....

This ought to shut up our European detractors who've been screaming that we are torturing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Not only do we provide the inmates there with medical care, surgery, dentistry, reading matter, familiar and religiously permitted foods, copies of the Koran and religious services -- we've also provided spies. Two, at least -- and counting -- to judge from news reports. The first is Capt. James Yee, 35, who served as a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo. Yee is a Chinese American who was raised a Lutheran but converted to Islam while in the military. After converting, he resigned...

The Air Force translator charged with spying at the U.S. military's prison camp for terrorists was under investigation even before he arrived at Guantanamo Bay, court records show. Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, 24, who was born in Syria, had been under scrutiny since November 2002, apparently days before he began an assignment as a translator at the prison camp for some of the world's worst terrorists. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations began investigating al-Halabi "based on reports of suspicious activity while he was stationed at Travis Air Force Base and while deployed to Kuwait and Guantanamo Bay," a...

Damascus expressed its surprise yesterday on the Pentagon's arrest of an American soldier of Syrian origin who worked in the prison of Guantanamo, based on charges of espionage for Syria and leaking classified information. Syria's Minister of Information Ahmad Al Hassan said that this accusation against Ahmad Al Halabi is "baseless." He wondered how a person could be appointed for a total secrecy job and then be discovered as working for another party? "This doesn't make sense," he said. The arrest of Al Halabi, who is an Air Force translator who worked in Guantanamo, was simultaneous to the arrest of...

<p>A whole lot of people are proclaiming themselves to be stunned that a former resident of Springfield [NJ] who spent four years in Syria somehow ended up having the political and religious beliefs common to Syrians.</p> <p>The former James Yee is a 35-year-old U.S. Army chaplain who grew up in Springfield and who is being held on unspecified charges stemming from his work among Muslim combatants captured in Afghanistan and being held in Guantanamo Bay. Yee has an interesting life story. After graduating from Jonathan Dayton High School, he won an appointment to West Point. After graduation, he left the Army and decided to go to Syria, a country that was then and is now on the list of nations supporting terrorism. He converted to Islam, changed his first name to Yousef, married a Syrian woman, and returned to the United States.</p>

<p>September 25, 2003 -- Less than a week after Army Chaplain Capt. James J. Yee was detained on suspicion of espionage, a second U.S. serviceman stationed at the Guantanamo Bay terrorist camp - Air Force translator Ahmad al-Halabi - has been arrested and charged with the same crime. Moreover, three other military personnel at Guantanamo are said to be under investigation for possessing classified information, and for having improper contact with prisoners.</p>

The United States is investigating the extent of Syria's role in alleged espionage at the Guantanamo detention center for hundreds of Afghan war prisoners, a top general said, as a probe widened to other US services.An Air Force translator, Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, was arrested July 23 on charges of espionage and aiding the enemy by attempting to send intelligence, names and serial numbers of prisoners to Syria, and carrying a laptop computer with 180 classified notes for delivery to Syria."If it turns out that this guy is guilty, and it turns out that he was talking to Syria...

<p>September 25, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - An Air Force translator at the terrorist prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was caught downloading secrets from the military's ultra-secure computer network and e-mailing the files to Syria, Pentagon officials revealed yesterday. The brazen act of betrayal by Syrian-born Air Force Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, 24, was among new details that emerged in the spy scandal at the high-security prison that could involve four other officers.</p>

MIAMI - (KRT) - Soldiers who knew Army Capt. James Yee at Fort Lewis, Wash., say they are baffled by the Muslim chaplain's detention on his return from a prison for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay. ``We can't figure it out. He would be compassionate with prisoners - but not a traitor. A lot of us feel we know him well. He cares a lot, but he plays by the rules,'' said a sergeant from the 29th Signal Battalion, where Yee was a Muslim chaplain before going to Guantanamo. The soldier asked to remain anonymous because the Miami-based U.S. Southern...

<p>Defense and intelligence officials expect to make more arrests in the expanding espionage probe at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and are investigating a third serviceman who they suspect provided Syria information about terror suspects being detained there.</p>

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 — An Air Force translator at an American prison camp for captured militants and suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has been charged with espionage and passing military secrets to Syria, the Pentagon said today. The translator, Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi, faces more than 30 criminal charges, including accusations that he tried to slip prison maps, cell-block information, names of prisoners and messages from them to an agent of the Syrian government. If convicted of the spying charges, he could face the death penalty. A military lawyer for Airman al-Halabi, Maj. Kim E. London, disputed the...

WASHINGTON - An investigation into possible security breaches at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for terror suspects has expanded to a third member of the military, Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said Wednesday. The arrests of an Air Force translator and a Muslim Army chaplain — both worked at the Cuban base and have apparent ties to Syria — have shaken Defense Department officials. About 660 suspected Taliban or al-Qaida members are being held at the high-security base. "We don't presume that the two we know about is all there is to it," Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of...

American officials suggested yesterday that the arrest of two servicemen on suspicion of espionage at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp could be part of one of the most damaging spy rings uncovered in the US military since the cold war. Captain James Yousef Yee, an army chaplain, and senior airman Ahmad al-Halabi, an air force translator, were both allegedly caught in possession of classified information about the camp's detainees, infrastructure and operations. Capt Yee was born a Chinese Christian but converted to Islam in 1991 and studied in Syria before rejoining the army. Mr al-Halabi is Syrian-born, and allegedly had...

In a widening spy hunt, a US Air Force airman who served as a translator at a detention center for Afghan war prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has been charged with espionage and aiding the enemy, a Pentagon spokesman said. The man, who was detained July 23 on his return from the base at Guantanamo and is being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, was identified by the Pentagon as senior airman Ahmad I Al Halabi, a 24-year-old Muslim from Detroit. NBC News reported that an indictment charges Al Halabi was sending intelligence, names and serial numbers by...

Sep 24, 2003 Air Force Translator Charged With Espionage at Guantanamo Bay Prison By Matt Kelley Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Military officials have charged an Air Force translator at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for terror suspects with espionage and aiding the enemy for allegedly trying to send information about detainees to Syria. The Pentagon's disclosure of the case against Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi of Detroit comes three days after officials said a Muslim chaplain at the base had been arrested. The chaplain, Army Capt. Yusef Yee, has been held without charge since his Sept. 10 arrest....

<p>A U.S. Air Force enlisted man has become the second service member to be accused of espionage at the U.S. naval base prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he translated interrogations of Arabic-speaking Taliban and al Qaeda terror suspects.</p> <p>Also yesterday, a Pentagon policy document revealed that the military appointed its Muslim chaplains based on suggestions or training from three U.S. Muslim groups, each of which was linked to radical elements of Islam.</p>

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The apartment of jailed Army Chaplain Yousef Yee was raided last week by federal agents, a local Islamic cleric says. Yee's wife, Huda, and 4-year-old daughter, Sara, still live in the apartment at the northern end of Olympia, The Olympian reported Tuesday. The complex is a few miles from the Army's Fort Lewis, where the Islamic chaplain was stationed before he was sent to minister to inmates at the U.S. prison camp for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Imam Mohammad Joban of the Islamic Center of Olympia said Mrs. Yee told him federal agents retrieved...

In Defense of the Constitution Anti-CAIR Press Release 025/03 September 24, 2003 -          CAIR’s Ismail Royer Strikes Again; Muslim Schools Front for Islamic Terror? CAIR’s Ismail Royer Strikes Again; Muslim Schools Front for Islamic Terror?        It was reported in the Washington Post recently that Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has renewed his request for an investigation into two institutes that train Islamic chaplains for the armed forces.  This is in response to the recent arrest of Army Capt. James Yee, an Islamic chaplain attached to the detention facility located at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.        While ACAIR commends...

Ahmad I. al-Halabi liked to fiddle with robots in high school. He lived in one of the nation's biggest Arab-American communities, and went straight into the Air Force after graduation. He planned to marry his fiancee days after his tour as an Arabic translator ended on Guantanamo Bay. But now al-Halabi, a senior airman — once honored as "Airman of the Year" — is in custody at an Air Force base in California, facing allegations of espionage that could bring the death penalty for the 24-year-old son of Syrian immigrants. The supply clerk-turned-translator is the second member of the U.S....

Spy mystery at Guantanamo Bay as Syria denies link to accused US air force worker By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 25 September 2003 Syria has flatly denied having links with the US Air Force translator at the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention camp, who has been charged with trying to hand secret information about the base to the Damascus government. In the first public comment of the case, Ahmad al-Hassan, the Syrian Information Minister, called the reports "baseless and illogical" yesterday, adding: "Would the CIA fail to find a translator it trusts and had previously trained for a job of such...

The group that vetted accused terrorist spy James "Yousef" Yee to serve as a US military chaplain isn't talking to reporters. Meanwhile, news of the arrest of a second US serviceman who dealt with al Qaeda detainees at the US naval base in Guantanamo has people asking just how deeply the terrorist enemy has penetrated the United States armed forces. Response from the Wahhabi Lobby so far is typical: a combination of (1) hiding from reporters, (2) complaining that the alleged spies were being picked on because they are Muslim, and (3) changing the subject. The American Muslim Armed Forces...

<p>September 24, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - A U.S. airman who spied for Syria is among five Americans suspected of espionage at the terrorist prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military sources revealed yesterday. Senior airman Ahmad al-Halabi, who worked as an Arabic translator, has been arrested and charged with espionage, the Pentagon said.</p>

Two held over US fears of radical cell in forces By David Rennie in Washington (Filed: 24/09/2003) The United States military is urgently investigating a potential radical Muslim cell among its own servicemen at the Guantanamo Bay prison as it emerged yesterday that two more members of the garrison are in custody. Senior Airman Ahmad I al-Halabi, an Arabic language translator, was secretly arrested a month ago, Pentagon officials said last night. He is being held at an air base in California and is charged with more than 30 counts of espionage, aiding the enemy, disobeying a lawful order and...

Guantanamo man charged with spying By Rupert Cornwell 24 September 2003 An American serviceman who worked as a translator at the Camp Delta prison for al-Qa'ida and Taliban terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with spying, the Pentagon said yesterday. Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, who worked as an Arabic language translator at the camp in south-eastern Cuba where 660 people are in custody, was arrested two months ago. He is being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. He is facing 32 charges, including nine counts relating to espionage and others including disobeying orders and making false...

WASHINGTON (AP) - An air force translator at the U.S. prison camp for suspected terrorists has been charged with espionage and aiding the enemy, counts that could carry the death penalty, a military spokesman said Tuesday. Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi is being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, facing 32 criminal charges, spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers said. Al-Halabi worked as an Arabic language translator at the prison camp for al-Qaida and Taliban suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Shavers said. The air force enlisted man knew the Muslim chaplain at the prison who was arrested earlier this month,...

A SECOND member of the US military has been detained because of a security-related matter at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba where hundreds of Afghan war detainees are being held, a US defence official said today. The official, who asked not to be identified, said an enlisted person taken into custody by the air force had served at Guantanamo and was detained for a "security related issue" at the base. The action was disclosed just days after the military acknowledged the arrest of a military chaplain at the base, Captain James Yee, a Muslim convert who was taken into...

Per CNN just now. He was taken into custody a month ago. No info on his identity past saying he has an arab sounding name.

<p>WASHINGTON — An Air Force airman who worked at the U.S. prison camp for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (search) has been charged with espionage and aiding the enemy, a military spokesman said Tuesday.</p> <p>Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi worked as an Arabic language translator at the prison camp for Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects, spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers said. The Air Force enlisted man knew the Muslim chaplain at the prison arrested earlier this month, but it's unclear if the two arrests are linked, Shavers said.</p>

Two more U.S. service members working at the prison on the grounds of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (search) are in custody, under suspicion of espionage and possible improper communications with the camp's detainees, senior military officials told Fox News Tuesday afternoon. One of the accused is in the Navy, the other is in the Air Force, officials said. Their roles at the camp have not been disclosed yet, nor their ranks and religion. Fox News has learned they both were detained roughly two weeks before Islamic military chaplain James Yee (search) was arrested. Officials declined to tell Fox News...

While Islamic Army Chaplain James Yee sits confined to a South Carolina military brig, his wife and daughter wait at their home on the northern edge of Olympia for news of the man they love. Yee is accused of aiding the 660 al-Qaida suspects, Taliban fighters and alleged terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base on the island of Cuba. Yee has not yet been charged with a crime, but he was allegedly carrying classified documents containing cell diagrams and other material involving the detainees, newspaper reports have said. On Sept. 15, a military magistrate determined there was...

"When I go into the field,” Captain Yousef Yee once said, “I have a copy of the Qur’an and next to it a copy of the U.S. Constitution.” Well, at least two of the documents he was carrying weren’t classified. But when FBI agents arrested this American Muslim Army chaplain recently, much of what he was carrying was. Al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo may have seen this material. Yee has been charged with espionage, sedition, aiding the enemy, spying, and failure to obey a general order. Officials are contemplating a treason charge. No one would have guessed it would come to...

<p>A pro-military group called on the Pentagon yesterday to tighten the security review for Muslim chaplains following the arrest of Capt. James Yee in an espionage investigation.</p> <p>"Here you have a guy who was trained in Syria, which is on the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism, and he comes back over here and is commissioned as an officer," said Michael Waller, a researcher for the Center for Security Policy. The group has previously warned of radical Muslim influences infiltrating U.S. institutions.</p>

<p>Almost exactly six months ago, at the start of the liberation of Iraq, this column warned that a "fragging" incident at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom "could be the precursor for a far larger and more dangerous problem, both for the military and for American society more generally. Call it the 'Fifth Column syndrome.' "</p>

Probe of 2 Groups That Train Muslim Chaplains Sought By John Mintz and Susan SchmidtWashington Post Staff WritersTuesday, 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...

Capt. Yee and the charges he may face: * Sedition and Mutiny, violation of Article 94, UCMJ* Aiding the enemy, violation of Article 104, UCMJ* Spying, violation of Article 106, UCMJ* Espionage, violation of Article 106a, UCMJ* Failure to obey a general order, violation of Article 92, UCMJAll Punitive Articles

Arrest for suspicion of espionage a shock to those who knew chaplain at Fort LewisBy Ray Rivera and Cheryl PhillipsSeattle Times staff reporters Shortly before the United States attacked Taliban forces in Afghanistan, a number of Muslim soldiers stationed at Fort Lewis took a troubling question to their chaplain, Capt. James Yee: Is it OK to kill fellow Muslims? Yee, one of the few Muslim chaplains in the military, said he replied: "It comes down to justice. Whether Muslim or non-Muslim, criminals need to be brought to justice." Today, Yee finds himself behind bars at a military brig in South...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A military and intelligence investigation into possible security breaches at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is under way following the arrest of a U.S. Army Islamic chaplain, Bush administration sources said.</p> <p>Capt. James Yee, who has not been charged, is being held in the brig in Charleston, South Carolina, on suspicion of espionage and treason.</p>

Almost exactly six months ago, at the start of the liberation of Iraq, the Center for Security Policy warned that a "fragging" incident at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom "could be the precursor for a far larger and more dangerous problem, both for the military and for American society more generally. Call it the ‘Fifth Column syndrome.'" This ominous forecast was prompted by a disturbing possibility: Sergeant Asan Akbar, the alleged perpetrator of a lethal grenade attack on his superiors who commanded the 101st Airborne on the eve of the unit's "jump off" into Iraq, "could have gotten murderous...

Anchor on FOX News just announced a US Captain, last name "Yee" (sp?) was taken into custody at Gitmo. He was detained carrying classified documents and had counseled Muslim detainees there. developing.... nothing on FOX website yet Prairie