Skepticism on spy case is reported
A former investigator says her questioning of the evidence was ignored by military.
By Sam Stanton and Denny Walsh -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Military investigators repeatedly ignored warnings that they were overstating their evidence against espionage suspect Ahmad I. Al Halabi, instead pushing forward at all costs to prove the Travis airman was "a little fish" in an al-Qaida ring based at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The claim comes from a former member of the Air Force intelligence team that led the probe of Al Halabi, and is contained in a 74-page sworn statement, obtained by The Bee, that she gave defense attorneys last month.
"My conscience was kind of bothering me," former Air Force interpreter Suzan Sultan said in the statement. "I encountered situations while I was working with the (Office of Special Investigations) agents that I didn't feel were right. I saw things that I knew weren't right."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/9336751p-10261490c.htmlThe ordeal of Chaplain Yee
By Laura Parker, USA TODAY
Last fall, he was the Muslim chaplain who had betrayed America.
All criminal charges against Army Capt. James Yee were dropped by the U.S. government March 19, 2004.
By Erik S. Lesser, Getty Images
Accused of espionage, Army Capt. James Yee saw his notoriety bloom overnight. He was vilified on the airwaves and on the Internet as an operative in a supposed spy ring that aimed to pass secrets to al-Qaeda from suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Yee ministered to them. After his arrest, Yee was blindfolded, placed in manacles and taken to a Navy brig, where he spent 76 days in solitary confinement
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-05-16-yee-cover_x.htmTHE WORLD
Ex-Inmate Alleges U.S. Abuse at Guantanamo
A Briton held for two years says prisoners were brutally beaten and sexually humiliated.
By Sebastian Rotella, Times Staff Writer
MANCHESTER, England — A Briton who spent two years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, accused his American captors of subjecting him and other inmates to a catalog of brutality: beatings, forced injections, sleep deprivation and shackling in painful positions.
Jamal Harith, 37, described how he endured a beating in which a guard jumped up and down on his legs when he resisted an injection of an unknown drug, one of 10 such injections that left him feeling woozy and disoriented. He said interrogators forced him to spend long periods in painful positions on his knees or bound in chains that cut into his skin. On some days, according to his account, guards chained him to the floor for up to 15 hours in an interrogation room with cold air blowing in, forcing him to urinate on himself.
(snip)
Harith said he witnessed dozens of beatings inflicted by a team of guards known as the Extreme Reaction Force. A guard with a video camera often taped the incidents, he said. Inmates suffered broken arms and legs, and bloodied and swollen faces, he said.
Harith's account of conditions at Guantanamo echoed some of the reports of abuse at U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spoke with The Times last week in one of his first interviews with a U.S. newspaper.
(snip/...)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gitmo25may25,1,208... if I ever get to NZ I think this would be a good way to see your place, what do ya think?