Third man held in Guantanamo spy probe

Washington Times ^ | 10/01/03 | Guy Taylor

[kattracks]

An ex-U.S. soldier contracted by the military as an Arabic-language translator has become the third person arrested in connection with an espionage investigation at the U.S. naval base prison for suspected al Qaeda and Taliban members in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

[Fred Mertz]

The latest on the new guy.

[YaYa123]

The biggest story going now should be the security failures at Guantanamo. Who screened these guards and translators? Was it FBI? or Pentagon?

What a mess...and as Dean said tonight, these guys had to be in cahoots with each other, had to have a higher up orchestrating this. Scary.

[aristeides]

More news on Yee too.

[aristeides]

We don't know. This could have been a big sting operation.

[Shermy]

Gephardt?

[Eroteme]

From the criminal complaint (U.S. v Ahmed Mehalba) at

http://news.findlaw.com/wp/docs/terrorism/usmehalba93003cmp.pdf


Mehalba had a CD labeled "Backup #3 for MO's Profile" in his handwriting, according to the FBI affidavit.

Mehalba acknowledged that an uncle was an official with an Egyptian army intelligence unit.

So this guy washes out of intelligence school, his girlfriend at the same school was a car thief and had a stolen laptop with counterintelligence manual info and his uncle is in the Egyptian army intelligence unit, and he applied to be an airport screener at Boston Logan just two days after the 9/11 attack and is rejected...

...but he "slips thru" screening to get a job translating at Gitmo? Well, what matters is Mehalba and his handlers thought so.

[Shermy]

Yep, sting. You were right from the beginning.

I hope.

[Shermy]

Possibly he was an spy for Egypt keeping an eye on things, rather than for Islamists.

Different than the others.

Or uncle is an Islamist.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

The biggest story going now should be the security failures at Guantanamo. Who screened these guards and translators? Was it FBI? or Pentagon? They were not screened because of liberal PC pols not allowing the hard questions to be asked. The camel's nose is under the tent, and they won't be able to get him out. It is no difference with the American hating Mexicans stealing across our border with impunity. They too are the seeds of our destruction, these criminals one and all are to be protected by the liberals at all costs.

[Fred Mertz]

I later asked Mehalba if any of Mehalba's family was in the military, Mehalba admitted that his brother was an engineer in the Army.

Uh-oh.

[af_vet_1981]

The 12-page criminal complaint also makes reference to the December 2001 case of Army Spc. Deborah M. Gephardt, a student at the Army's Counter-Intelligence School at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., who had been arrested for vehicle theft at that time.

Mr. Mehalba reported for the interrogator course at the Army's intelligence school at Fort Huachuca in November 2001 and was discharged in May 2001 when he failed to complete the course, according to Pat Dillingham, a spokeswoman at the fort.

Citing an FBI report of Spc. Gephardt's arrest, the criminal complaint filed against Mr. Mehalba says a search of the specialist's "quarters revealed a stolen laptop and classified counterintelligence training material." The complaint also said Mr. Mehalba told authorities upon his arrest that he and Spc. Gephardt "were in the Army together" and that she was his girlfriend at Fort Huachuca.

Mr. Mehalba "once told Gephardt that [his] uncle was an intelligence officer for the Egyptian Army," the complaint said.

I wonder who was responsible for hiring him. How could the agencies involved be this incompetent ?

[af_vet_1981]

They were not screened because of liberal PC pols not allowing the hard questions to be asked.

I don't think the politicians are directly responsible for security clearances, although they have some influence. What level of clearance was required for his work and who investigated him ? Are there moslems investigating and clearing other moslems ?

[SLB]

It seems like the contractors I work with here have a slightly easier time getting through the clearance process than we do. Go figure. Isn't it the same process run by the same people? When my clearance was due for review they were about 3 years behind. I just got through the process about 18 months ago. Pretty good now compared to 30 years ago - or so it seemed to me.

[Eroteme]

I later asked Mehalba if any of Mehalba's family was in the military, Mehalba admitted that his brother was an engineer in the Army.

That the question was even asked suggests the interrogator already knew the answer.