Missteps Seen in Muslim Chaplain's Spy Case-NYT

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

Today's New York Times has an article about the persecution of Capt. Yee, the Muslim Chaplain who was detained on charges of 'spying'. Here are some pertinant paragraphs:

Reservists serving as counterintelligence officers at the camp were apprehensive that they might miss some sign of infiltration of the base but were relatively inexperienced in how to handle such matters.

There was confusion over which documents might be classified and which were not. For example, defense lawyers have questioned whether documents in the chaplain's baggage were truly classified, and that is now being formally reviewed.

Some senior officers at Guantánamo were skeptical about the wisdom of having Muslims and Arab-Americans involved in the interrogations of prisoners and other camp operations, and there was smoldering suspicion over what they were doing when they met with one another, according to military officials.


Note the last paragraph. It seems what drew suspcions to Capt. Yee was that-gasp-he asked fellow Muslims on staff to dine with him after Friday prayers! Like it is unusual for ministers to ask parishoners to dine with them after services!

Another thing mentioned in this article is that a non-Muslim officer was accused of basically the same thing Yee was accused of, and he wasn't even arrested, much less detained in solitary confinement for over 70 days, often forced to wear leg manacles. Capt. Yee was also denied the information as to the direction to Mecca so that he could pray properly.

This is outright religious discrimination by the military, imho, and worrisome to anyone in this country who believes in religious liberty.

Link to full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/national/04YEE.html?pagewanted=1&th