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New York Times Comment – March 24, 2004
Captain Yee: Military Injustice
More than six months after Capt. James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guantánamo, was arrested on suspicion of espionage, the military has dropped the charges. Military officials insist that the prosecution was halted only to keep sensitive information from becoming public. What they really are trying to hide from view, it seems clear, is not national security secrets, but the incompetence and mean-spiritedness of their prosecution.
Captain Yee was arrested last September after inspectors found what they claimed were suspicious, perhaps classified, papers in his luggage. Captain Yee spent 76 days in a naval brig, much of the time in leg irons, and prosecutors suggested that they might seek the death penalty. As the investigation proceeded, it became evident just how weak the accusations were. The military downgraded the charges to mishandling classified data. But it added charges that Captain Yee had engaged in an extramarital affair and had kept pornography on his government computer.
At a hearing in December, the government revealed that it had never bothered to make a formal determination that the documents Captain Yee was charged with carrying were actually classified. The hearing was adjourned so prosecutors could make this basic determination. But before it was, the government made public the more salacious charges. As Captain Yee's wife and 4-year-old daughter looked on, a fellow officer testified under a grant of immunity about having an affair with him.
In dropping the prosecution last week, the military refused to clear Captain Yee, contending that it had acted only because of "national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence." But there is no reason to believe this is true. Lawyers on both sides had security clearances, and sensitive evidence, if any existed, could have been kept confidential. In a final unpleasant touch, rather than letting go of the accusations of possessing pornography and having an affair, the military formally reprimanded Captain Yee this week, based on those allegations. These are matters the military rarely investigates. The reprimand appears to be the military's feeble attempt to make Captain Yee look bad...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/opinion/24WED1.html
Washington Post comment – March 23, 2004
Smearing Captain Yee
The military's prosecution of Army Capt. James Yee came to an ignominious end last week when authorities dropped criminal charges of mishandling classified information, adultery and downloading pornography on a government computer. These charges were already the dregs of what was billed last September as a major spy scandal at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Mr. Yee served as a Muslim chaplain to detainees. At the time, officials let it be known that the Chinese American convert to Islam was under suspicion of espionage, sedition, aiding the enemy and other dire offenses.
As the case fell apart, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller and his team could not muster a touch of grace or forthrightly admit error. The military announced on Friday evening that it was dropping charges, thus guaranteeing that Mr. Yee's exoneration -- and its own embarrassment -- would not get much news play. And the announcement continued to insinuate that the prosecution had been somehow justified. The military dropped the charges of mishandling classified information because of "national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence," the news release stated. And the statement went out of its way to note that the military had rejected Mr. Yee's offer to submit to a debriefing, because "relevant law enforcement agencies could not support Yee's request for immunity" from any further prosecution. The implication is that, notwithstanding the dropping of all charges, Mr. Yee had done something warranting prosecution with terribly sensitive materials.
Perhaps this is the case. Having not seen the material in question, we do not know. But Mr. Yee's lawyer, Eugene Fidell, denies any suggestion that his client mishandled classified material; indeed, he questions whether the material was classified at all. And he said in an interview Monday that prosecutors had refused to tell him whether a classification report on the materials had ever been completed, let alone give him a copy...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19206-2004Mar23.html
Miami Herald - March 23, 2004
The Army shouldn't further smear his reputation
The U.S. Army is being disingenuous in dismissing criminal charges against Capt. James Yee, the Muslim chaplain who ministered to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison. No national-security issues exist today that didn't exist when prosecutors charged Capt. Yee with mishandling classified information.
Yet the Army locked him up for 76 days in a maximum-security brig and could have pursued a 13-year sentence against him. But this week, Capt. Yee got an administrative slap on the wrist -- a written reprimand for adultery and downloading pornography.
Still, the Army implies that Capt. Yee was guilty of the charges it dropped. That decision came about because revealing evidence during a court-martial proceeding ''would have compromised national security,'' according to SouthCom spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Costello.
How ironic. Prosecutors themselves mistakenly sent classified documents to Capt. Yee's lawyers. By the Army's logic, no accused spy could ever be court-martialed without risking a compromise of national security.
If the Army was so sure of Capt. Yee's guilt, then it should have pursued the criminal charges or accepted his offer to undergo a full debriefing in exchange for immunity. Capt. Yee has already been punished, personally and professionally. The Army shouldn't further smear his reputation.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/8261082.htm
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