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Fmr. Army Chaplain James Yee on the Abuse of Prisoners at
Guantanamo, His Wrongful Imprisonment and Anti-Muslim Sentiment
in the Military
Fmr. Army Chaplain James Yee on the Abuse of Prisoners
at Guantanamo, His Wrongful Imprisonment and Anti-Muslim Sentiment
in the Military
We spend the hour looking at the extraordinary case of Chaplain
James Yee - one of the first Muslim Chaplains commissioned
by the U.S Army. Yee was posted in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in
2002, but less than a year after serving there, he was accused
of espionage by the military and faced charges so severe,
that he was threatened with the death penalty.
The military leaked information about the case to the press
and the media went on a feeding frenzy. Chaplain Yee was vilified
on the airwaves as a traitor to his country and accused of
being a mole inside of the Army. Then the military's case
began to unravel. The charges were eventually reduced and
eight months later, dropped altogether. Chaplain Yee has written
a book about his experiences called "For God and Country:
Faith and Patriotism Under Fire." [includes rush
transcript - partial]
James Yee was born in New Jersey and graduated from West
Point military academy in 1990. Shortly afterward, he converted
from Christianity to Islam in the 1990s and underwent religious
training in Syria. After the September 11th attacks, Yee became
a frequent government spokesman, helping to educate soldiers
about Islam and build greater religious tolerance in the military.
In November of 2002, he was selected to serve as Muslim Chaplain
at Guantanamo Bay where at that time, nearly 700 detainees
were being held by the government for suspected terrorist
activities. Yee's duties as chaplain gave him unrestricted
access to the detainees and suspicion of him grew amongst
his non-Muslim colleagues.
In September 2003, Yee was secretly arrested on his way to
meet his wife and daughter for a two week leave. He was accused
of spying and of being an operative in a ring that aimed to
pass secrets to al-Qaeda from suspected terrorists held at
Guantanamo Bay. Yee was locked away in a navy prison and spent
76 days in solitary confinement. The military leaked information
about the case to the press and the media went on a feeding
frenzy. Chaplain Yee was vilified on the airwaves and on the
Internet as a traitor to his country and accused of being
a mole inside of the Army. Then the military's case began
to unravel. First the charges against Yee were reduced and
eventually they were dropped altogether.
Chaplain Yee's new book, "For God an Country: Faith
and Patriotism Under Fire," recounts his ordeal in detail.
He also writes about the abuse and mistreatment of the detainees
that he witnessed when he was there.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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