Posted on 09/23/2003 10:46:10 PM PDT by Pro-Bush
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.
The two men knew each other, an Air Force spokesman said, but officials said they didn't know if there had been any conspiracy to breach security at the prison camp.
The charges against al-Halabi, however, include an allegation that al-Halabi failed to report unauthorized contacts between prisoners and other military members. Those other military members are not identified.
Al-Halabi, 24, is being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Air Force Maj. Michael Shavers said Tuesday. The most serious charges against him, espionage and aiding the enemy, could carry the death penalty.
A military attorney representing al-Halabi, Air Force Maj. James E. Key III, denied the charges, telling The Washington Post: "Airman al-Halabi is not a spy and he is not a terrorist."
Al-Halabi worked for nine months as an Arabic language translator at Guantanamo Bay, a job that ended shortly before his July 23 arrest as he arrived in Jacksonville, Fla., on a flight from the prison camp.
When he was arrested, al-Halabi was carrying two handwritten notes from detainees that al-Halabi intended to turn over to someone traveling to Syria, the charging documents say. He was also carrying his personal laptop computer, which contained classified information about detainees and 180 messages from detainees al-Halabi intended to send to Syria or Qatar, the documents allege.
Al-Halabi is accused of taking pictures of the prison camp and having unauthorized contact with the inmates, including giving them baklava desserts. The documents allege he contacts with the Syrian Embassy to the United States that he failed to report as required.
Al-Halabi, who joined the Air Force in January 2000, is Syrian. He also is accused of lying to the Air Force by falsely claiming to have become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2001.
The charges accuse al-Halabi of sending e-mails with classified information "to unauthorized person or persons whom he, the accused, knew to be the enemy." The Air Force documents do not say who the enemy is.
Syria and the United States have normal diplomatic relations, although Syria is on the list of countries the U.S. says are state sponsors of terrorism.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other administration officials accuse Syria of having a chemical weapons program and of helping Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime before and during the war. Syrians have made up the largest number of foreign fighters captured in Iraq since the war ended, Rumsfeld said during a visit there earlier this month.
Syria has denied helping Saddam's regime or having a chemical weapons program.
Secret documents al-Halabi is accused of trying to pass to Syria include details of flights to and from the Guantanamo Bay base, names, serial numbers and cell numbers of prisoners, a map of the base and other military documents.
Al-Halabi is charged with eight counts related to espionage, three counts of aiding the enemy, 11 counts of disobeying a lawful order, nine counts of making a false official statement and one count of bank fraud.
The bank fraud charge involves allegations al-Halabi used false information in credit card applications for several prominent banks. It's unclear whether those allegations are related to the espionage charges.
Pentagon officials said a broader investigation into possible security breaches at Guantanamo Bay continues.
About 660 suspected al-Qaida or Taliban members are imprisoned at the U.S. Navy base. American officials are interrogating them for information on the terrorist network.
The military has classified many details about the prison camp and the detainees and has not identified any of the men being held there.
Espionage and aiding the enemy are military charges that can carry the death penalty, said Eugene Fidell, a civilian lawyer in Washington and president of the National Institute of Military Justice. The commanding general in charge of al-Halabi's case would have to decide whether military prosecutors could seek the death penalty in this case, Fidell said.
---
AP Military Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.
Jaysus Aich Crispy Critter
Goodbye Al-Halabi. By giving that info to the enemy it lets them know who we're holding, maybe info that leads them to changing their attack plans. Maybe uncovering some spys we may have.....arrrrggggg.
Is that hanging or by firing squad? Does anyone know?
Guilty.
-ccm
Al-Halabi is accused of taking pictures of the prison camp and having unauthorized contact with the inmates, including giving them baklava desserts.
Gotta snicker at that.
But take a look here:
The documents allege he contacts with the Syrian Embassy to the United States that he failed to report as required.
He also is accused of lying to the Air Force by falsely claiming to have become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2001.
Please tell me they didn't take his word for it...
Secret documents al-Halabi is accused of trying to pass to Syria include details of flights to and from the Guantanamo Bay base, names, serial numbers and cell numbers of prisoners, a map of the base and other military documents.
al-Halabi was carrying two handwritten notes from detainees that al-Halabi intended to turn over to someone traveling to Syria, the charging documents say. He was also carrying his personal laptop computer, which contained classified information about detainees and 180 messages from detainees al-Halabi intended to send to Syria or Qatar
And of course bank fraud is the cherry on the sundae.
TOWNHALL.com: "PROMISE, PROGRESS AND SETBACKS ON THE WAR WITH JIHADISTAN" -Column by Mark Alexander (COLUMN SNIPPET: "There are additional intelligence reports this week supporting previous evidence The Federalist reported in November of '02 that Iraq shipped some of its biological and nuclear WMD stores to Syria and the Bekaa Valley. This comes on top of last week's assessment from Israel's Mossad that Syrian strongman Bashar Assad allowed Saddam's primitive nukes (possibly with cores for three) to transit through Syria to a protected site in Lebanon's heavily fortified Bekaa Valley.") (September 22, 2003) (Read More...)
John Loftus was saying -- or at least implying -- on Batchelor & Alexander that Saudi Arabia is behind the whole ring. If al-Halabi was reporting to the Syrians, it's apparently a bit more complicated than that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.