Muslim chaplain?s pretrial hearing to begin Dec. 8

[thedrifter]

December 02, 2003

Muslim chaplain?s pretrial hearing to begin Dec. 8

By Jane McHugh
Times staff writer


FORT BENNING, Ga. ? The Article 32 hearing for the Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba accused of improper handling classified materials from the detainee prison camp will begin Monday, Army officials said.
Capt. James Yee?s hearing was supposed to start here today and was projected to continue through at least Thursday, but investigators discovered they had accidentally given a sheet of classified material to court officials, including defense attorney Eugene Fidell.

The classified material was a handwritten paper by Yee that contained sensitive information that was supposed to be viewed only by people with the proper security clearance, said Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for the Southern Command, which is in charge of the investigation of the case.

Contacted in Washington, Fidell denied the paper was classified.

Neither Fidell or Army representatives at Fort Benning would describe the document.

Costello said that an investigation has been started into how the classified document ended up in the hands of unauthorized readers.

The delay in the Article 32, or pretrial, hearing was granted by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, commander, Joint Task Force, Guantanamo Bay, who is the special court-martial convening authority in Yee?s case.

The charges against Yee include two counts of violating a general order, on Dec. 20, 2002 for allegedly taking classified materials to a housing unit at Guantanamo and again on Sept. 9 for allegedly transporting classified materials to the United States without putting them in proper containers.

He also has been charged with adultery, viewing pornography on his Army-issued computer, and making a false statement to an official at Guantanamo in February. Details of those charges have not been released.

The Army assigned Yee to Guantanamo Bay military prison, where about 660 suspected terrorists are being held, in November 2002 from Fort Lewis, Wash. He was arrested Sept. 10 in Jacksonville, Fla. as he returned for a stateside visit. He was jailed at the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. and released Nov. 25.

Yee now is assigned here while his case proceeds.

?He is working with the post chaplain doing routine administrative duties in the office,? Costello said. Fidell would not allow interviews with Yee.

Yee?s duties at Guantanamo have not been fully described by the Army. But Costello said he had access to the camp?s 650 detainees and ?his primary function was (to act as) Muslim adviser to the commander of JTF Guantanamo.?

Yee?s Article 32 hearing will determine whether sufficient evidence exists to court-martial him. It is expected to be interrupted by the introduction of classified material as evidence, during which reporters will be asked to leave the room, Costello said.

A lay Muslim leader has replaced Yee in Cuba, and a new Muslim chaplain is due at the camp in mid-December, he said.

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Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: December 01, 2003

Confidentiality isn?t what it used to be

By Nicole Gaudiano
Times staff writer

Just last year, a Navy Muslim chaplain led the call to prayer for detainees at a U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Lt. Abuhena Saif-ul-Islam made the call over a loudspeaker five times a day and occasionally walked through camp, chatting with detainees through their chain-link cell walls.

Asked whether rules of confidentiality would keep him from revealing a potential U.S. threat, he said he?d have to decide how to bring that information to superiors.

?I am bound by confidentiality,? he told a reporter last year. ?If I hear [of a potential problem], I?ll have to make that judgment when I hear that. I?ll see if we can maintain that confidentiality and prevent the situation.?

So much has changed in a year.

Since Army Capt. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain, was charged with breaching security at the camp, those who continue to work for Joint Task Force-Guantanamo no longer speak in terms of ambiguity. Not only is there no Muslim chaplain at JTF-Guantanamo, there?s no confidentiality. Period.

?The content of the conversation is always not on a confidential level,? said Army Reserve Chaplain (Maj.) Daniel Odean, the Joint Detention Operations Group chaplain. ?I let them know that upfront. The chaplain?s mission runs parallel with the mission here.?

After serving a 10-month stint at Guantanamo, Yee was arrested in September and charged a month later with failing to obey general orders. He allegedly took classified material to his home and wrongfully transported classified material without proper containers.

Two other translators also were charged, one of them Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi, who expressed sympathy for the detainees and is accused of espionage, court documents reported.

A new Muslim chaplain will begin working at the camp in December, but officials have declined to identify him other than to say he is an Army officer.

Until he arrives, the six chaplains working with the predominantly Muslim detainees are all Christian. Asked whether the detainees have confidence in a Christian chaplain, Odean said, ?I never have been told that. All I know is, we?re working diligently and hard to make sure they have what they need.?

Odean said the chaplains? primary function is to dispense authorized items ? a prayer cap, prayer beads, oils and a Koran.

?We don?t have a counseling kind of relationship,? said Army Lt. Col. Steve Feehan, head chaplain for JTF-Guantanamo.

Sometimes detainees will take the lead in their own prayers. Odean said he has heard some initiate the call to prayer while he was passing through the cellblock.

Odean said his other function at the camp is to support the service members there. He acknowledged that concern for those detained may play into their stress, but that?s as far as such concerns should go.

?We?re striving to do the right thing, but we never want to forget why we?re here and what brought us here,? he said. ?Part of the chaplain?s job is making sure people stay objective.?

Staff writers Christian Lowe and Karen Jowers contributed to this story.


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Sempers,

Roger