Free Republic

<p>The Bush administration decided to arrest Army Capt. James J. Yee because it feared he would reveal information that could aid terrorists and endanger the lives of military guards at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, a law-enforcement source said.</p>

    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma:Click the banner to visit Tinker Air Force Base Tinker Air Force Base   Past Tinker Air Force Base was named in honor of Major General Clarence L. Tinker of Pawhuska, Okla. General Tinker lost his life while leading a flight of LB-30 "Liberators" on a long-range strike against Japanese forces on Wake Island during the early months of World War II.Tinker’s history began in 1940 when a group of Oklahoma City civic leaders and businessmen learned that the War Department...

The Arabists Among Us By James M. Hutchens ________________________________________ In 1995, a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year,” was Robert D. Kaplan’s The Arabists. It is a fascinating and insightful account of how the State Department of the United States government became, and remains, pro-Arab. Basically, it is a story of how, over the last two centuries, the children of missionaries to the Muslim world of the Middle East, have been pipelined through Ivy League schools into the State Department. Once embedded there, in the Office of Near Eastern Affairs, their love for the Arab peoples and culture...

ASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — An Islamic chaplain in the United States Army who ministered to detainees at the camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where the military holds captured militants and suspected terrorists is now himself under arrest while the Army investigates his activities, military and law enforcement officials said today. The chaplain, Capt. James J. Yee, also known as Youssef Yee, has not been charged either by the military or by civilian authorities, the officials said. His case is being investigated by the Army and if he is charged, it would most likely be under the military justice code, they...

<p>Military officials yesterday confirmed that a Muslim chaplain who was counseling al Qaeda prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base has been detained since Sept. 10 after being found in possession of classified documents.</p> <p>The Washington Times first reported yesterday that Army Capt. James. J. Yee is being held at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C., charged with sedition, espionage, aiding the enemy, spying and failing to obey a general order.</p>

Muslims in the U.S. military are as loyal as any, chaplain says Saturday, October 20, 2001 By MIKE BARBER SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER FORT LEWIS -- Each Friday, soldiers in battle-dress camouflage here remove their boots, face Mecca and prostrate themselves, heads bowed to the carpet in obedience to Allah. In the military base's Islamic Chapel Center, they recite their Jumah prayers, following the lead of Capt. James Yee, a West Point graduate and a convert to Islam who is chaplain of Fort Lewis' largest battalion. (and now charged with espionage, aiding the enemy and spying) More than a month after...

<p>An Army Islamic chaplain, who counseled al Qaeda prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base, has been charged with espionage, aiding the enemy and spying, The Washington Times has learned.</p> <p>Capt. James J. Yee, a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., was arrested earlier this month by the FBI in Jacksonville, Fla., as he arrived on a military charter flight from Guantanamo, according to a law-enforcement source.</p>

Operation Adopt-a-Village brings America to IraqBy Pfc. Joshua HutchesonSeptember 15, 2003 MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 15, 2003) – The 426th Forward Support Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) is using care packages as a way to build bridges with the people of Iraq. Under Operation Adopt-a-Village, the 426th is collecting and sorting care packages to be given to people in two local villages, said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kelley, battalion commander. Col. Ben Hodges, commander, 1st Brigade, 327th Infantry Regiment, shared the idea of finding cities in America who would send care packages to Iraqis with Kelley. “I...

TIKRIT, Iraq, (Agencies): Your average American soldier in post-war Iraq may want better food, more rest time and above all to go home, but the infantrymen out on night patrol in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit have only one wish - to get shot at. The soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment swear they have divine protection and say the easiest place to be attacked is in what they call ‘RPG alley.’ The mile-long main street’s two-storey homes, cafes and furniture shops are daubed with ‘Saddam is our leader’ graffiti and the road is holed by grenades. But the...

                                            Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to:Click the banner to visit Fort Jackson From its early days in 1917 when fighting men were needed during World War I, Fort Jackson has had a proud history of training quality soldiers for America’s Army. Fort Jackson is the largest and most active Initial Entry Training Center in the United States Army, providing training to almost 50% of the men and women who...

Remarks as delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, The Pentagon, Washington, DC, Thursday, September 11, 2003. SPEAKER HASTERT: Thank you, Chaplain. It's a great honor for me to be here today. All of us reflect back at where we were and what we were doing two years ago this day. I remember after watching the first and second planes go into the world Trade Tower and getting that news and actually seeing the second plane on television, wondering what has happened, knowing that this was no accident, that -- what would happen next? And I was receiving...

CNSNews.com) - A group that claims to represent atheists in the U.S. military is protesting a decision by the Naval Academy to continue letting chaplains lead a mealtime prayer for midshipmen each weekday at lunch, arguing the practice violates the cadets' constitutional rights. Bart Meltzer, director of regional operations for American Atheists and a retired U.S. Navy veteran, said chaplain-led prayer creates the impression that the government is telling people that they have to hold specific beliefs, in violation of the Establishment Clause. "Even though it's non-denominational, it's still a religious belief. It does not matter what denomination it is...

Baptism in the Tigris for U.S. Christian SoldiersSun August 24, 2003 07:28 AM ET By Andrew Cawthorne TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Nineteen-year-old Private Bill Goodwin puts down his gun, takes off his combat jacket and steps into the warm waters of Iraq's Tigris River. "I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ," proclaims his unit's Protestant chaplain, Xuan Tran, submerging the soldier completely for Sunday's baptism rite. Goodwin emerges smiling and posing for a photo to send to his family in Oklahoma before reflecting on what he has done. "I have been away for five and a half months...

By HRVOJE HRANJSKIThe Associated PressSunday, August 24, 2003; 5:16 PM TIKRIT, Iraq - With war and death on his mind, Spc. Barry Page was baptized Sunday in the Tigris River by an Army chaplain at the sprawling U.S. military headquarters on the fabled river's banks. A Southern Baptist working as a military policeman, Page said he decided to "reannounce his life to Christ" in the birthplace of civilization. "I realized death is walking in this place," said the 22-year-old from Houston, his uniform and boots soaking wet. "It can be any of us. Next time it could be me." The...

Marsh v. Chambers (1983) Background Information Ernest Chambers was a member of the Nebraska state legislature who objected to its chaplaincy policy on three grounds: the state funding of a chaplain violated the Establishment Clause; the legislature had employed the same chaplain, a Presbyterian, for 16 years, creating a preferential treatment for one religion over others; the chaplain's prayers were distinctly Judeo-Christian in content, showing a preference for one tradition over others. Court Decision By a 6-3 vote the Supreme Court permitted the practice of beginning a legislative session with a prayer delivered by a publicly funded chaplain, with...

Bishop Sprague (Of Chicago, Ill.), Living in a Figment of his Imagination, Continues to Say that U.S. Should NOT have Ousted Saddam Hussein, Bishop Sprague (and Conference): Just yesterday morning I commented to some fellow Air Force Chaplain team members, as we sat together for breakfast at our undisclosed location in the war zone, how tired I was of politicians such as Mr. Dean using patriotic military men and women (who happen to all be volunteers) as a means to put down our involvement for peace. Now I must add once again my own church leaders and Conferences to this...

FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA -- The terrorists who on Sept. 11, 2001, thought they would force the people of the United States to their knees were right in one sense, Chaplain (Col.) Lilton J. Marks III said Monday. But it was not the destruction of the country that was achieved. Instead, it caused more Americans to fall to their knees in prayer, he said. "Those who died and those who suffer still represent us all. They were Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, believers, unbelievers," Marks said of those who died and their family members and friends who survived on that...

DAYTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) ? Fire burned the rural home of a man who barricaded himself inside during a deadly police standoff, but authorities were unable to find him when they searched the rubble, Michigan State Police said. Two hours after the Tuesday afternoon fire, officials found a backpack filled with food and ammunition about three-quarters of a mile away, said Tracy Pardo, a state police communications officer. The wife of the barricaded man, Scott Allen Woodring, 40, identified the backpack as her husband's, Pardo told the Detroit Free Press for a Wednesday story. State police said Woodring was believed...

Some Defense Department chaplain services have been directing military personnel to a Web site that promotes material from radical Muslim jihadists, including two Saudis who have been identified as Osama bin Laden's spiritual advisers. The chaplains' service Web sites for the Navy and the Air Force refer sailors and airmen interested in learning more about Islam to Islamworld.net, a Web site that provides links to the lectures of fundamentalist clerics, some of whom advocate jihad against the United States and Israel. Islamworld.net includes links to lectures that denigrate Christianity and Judaism as "forms of disbelief," and to material that praises...

I am writing this to you as a mobilized Army Reserve soldier from Ft. Campbell, Ky. It humbles me to be around the men and women of our military. Their lives are given over to the service of our nation. Today, June 12, I witnessed a Special Forces soldier receive a Silver Star for valor under fire in Afghanistan. He has been home with his family less than 140 days in the past two years. Tonight, the families of the 101st Airborne Division here at Ft. Campbell will go to sleep after praying for the safety of their husband or...