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.
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AP Military Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.
First the Washington Post:
Military prosecutors fought to keep an Article 32 preliminary hearing closed to the public. An initial order by Brig. Gen. Bradley S. Baker, a commander at Travis, to close the entire hearing was overturned within days by the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. Baker will decide whether the evidence warrants a court-martial. Much of the hearing, which began Sept. 15, was closed after prosecutors argued that national security would be compromised.
The same theme is expanded by the NY Times:
In an unusual move, the Air Force on Sept. 15 tried to close the proceedings of the airman's Article 32 hearing, the equivalent of a grand-jury proceeding. His lawyers objected, and the next day, the United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the protest and ordered the government to open the proceedings to the public, except when necessary to protect classified information. The hearing continued in both open and closed sessions through Sept. 18.
Finally, the most disturbing info from the Washington Times (which broke the story over the weekend):
The defense department documents showed that the Veteran Affairs Council was a designee of the American Muslim Foundation (AMF), which also was included in the Justice Department sweep.
The AMF was co-founded by Abdurahman Alamoudi, an acknowledged supporter of the Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Mr. Alamoudi in 2000 contributed money to the Senate campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton. She returned it after Mr. Alamoudi's anti-Jewish sentiments were made public.
The second Pentagon-approved endorser is the Islamic Society of North America. One of its board members, Siraj Wahhaj, was named in 1995 by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White as one of more than 100 "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the attempt to blow up New York monuments.
Mr. Wahhaj also served as a character witness for Sheik Omar Abel Rahman, who was convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Mr. Wahhaj was never convicted of a crime.
The disconnect between the Justice Department and the Pentagon was similar to the breakdown that led to the September 11 attacks, said Rita Katz, author of "Terrorist Hunter" and director of the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute.
"This is not intentional, but the things, the lack of sharing information, is still happening," Miss Katz said. "In this case, the Pentagon is relying on groups that the Justice Department is raiding. And neither agency was aware of what the other was doing. The system has to be re-examined and these agencies have to share more information.".
Pentagon spokesmen said this week there are no plans to review the chaplain accreditation process. Of more than 5,000 chaplains in the military, 12 are Muslims. About 4,200 Muslims serve on active military duty..
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, has called for an expedited investigation into these groups, which he says are "financed by Saudi Arabia and follow the radical Wahhabi sect of Islam.".
Put these facts together with the St. Petersburg Times report of the belief that Al-Alwani, president of the Islamic institute that trained certified Yee and Saifulislam, is believed to be "unindicted co-conspirator five," in the Al-Arian indictment. What will it take to get the military moving on the more and more obvious association between the Muslim chaplains and terrorist groups/sympathizers? A bomb at Gitmo?
Good Lord! Don't they check out something as basic as this prior to giving out a security clearance anymore?
I found a link to this on another thread:
CAIR Action Alert: Oppose "Syria Accountability" Act [Hypocrisy Alert]
CAIR Action Alert (via email) ^ | June 20, 2002 | Council on American-Islamic Relations
Posted on 06/28/2002 5:42 PM PDT by Stultis
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #335
OPPOSE SANCTIONS BILL THAT HARMS AMERICANS AND SYRIANS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/20/02) - CAIR is urging on Muslims and other people of conscience to take a few minutes and contact their elected representatives in opposition to a new counterproductive bill being considered by Congress, the "Syria Accountability Act of 2002."
The House bill number is HR4483 and the Senate bill number is S2215. They are nearly identical in terms of imposing possible trade sanctions and downgrading of diplomatic relations. The proposed legislation is not in America's best interest. It is opposed by the president and the State Department.
SEE: "U.S.-Syria Relations Not Quite as Cold"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13898-2002Jun19.html
The "Syria Accountability Act" seeks to impose sanctions on Syria and American companies seeking to trade with this important regional player. Sanctions will hurt American businesses and Syria's growing middle class most strongly.
The legislation, if passed, would:
1) further isolate Syria, 2) damage America's image in the Arab and Muslim world, 3) restrict President Bush's flexibility in dealing with a fluid political situation, and 4) generally harm efforts to bring peace and stability to the region.
The original sponsor of the bill in the House was Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX). Rep. Armey recently (5/1/02) made a public call for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
(* Note how shrill and hysterical CAIR is... and how big a bunch of liars they are)
On MSNBC's "Hardball," host Chris Matthews had the following dialogue with Rep. Armey:
MATTHEWS: Have you ever told George Bush, the president from your home state of Texas, that you think the Palestinians should get up and go and leave Palestine and that's the solution?
ARMEY: I'm probably telling him that right now. MATTHEWS: Well, just to repeat, you believe that the Palestinians who are now living on the West Bank should get out of there?
ARMEY: Yes.
(* How CAIR can equate this with "ethnic cleansing" and keep a straight face is beyond me.)
For full bill text visit http://thomas.loc.gov/home/ and type the bill number in the search field.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.) Visit
http://capwiz.com/cair/home/ to contact your representative and senator (Write your own letter or use the sample provided.) and ask them to oppose the "Syria Accountability Act of 2002."
Anymore? Yuk Yuk! In the early '60s we had a guy complete Cryptography tech school and be reassigned overseas. Shortly after he went to work, Air Force Office Of Special Investigations reported him as not cleared for classified information. Seems he was a Canadian national (naturalized), whose parents had recently emigrated from Yugoslavia!
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