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Army chaplain fights charges at Fort Benning
By RICHARD WHITT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FORT BENNING -- Testimony about illicit sex and pornography dominated the preliminary hearing here Monday for a Muslim Army chaplain initially suspected of espionage.
Army Capt. James J. Yee, who ministered to 660 suspected al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was investigated as a possible spy but never charged with espionage. Instead, the Army charged Yee, 35, with improperly transporting classified documents, lying to investigators, storing pornographic material on his government computer and adultery -- a crime under military law.
The preliminary hearing, which continues today, is to determine whether there is enough evidence to move forward with a court-martial.
If convicted of all counts, Yee could face dismissal from the Army and up to 13 years in prison.
Critics have argued the Army is out to damage the chaplain's reputation because investigators failed to make spy allegations against him stick. Yee was held for 76 days in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., as the initial allegations were investigated. His detention led to congressional hearings on the Pentagon's process for clearing Muslim chaplains for service.
One of Yee's civilian attorneys, Eugene Fidell, said it was "quite disgraceful that this officer's reputation was tarnished in a way that can never be repaired."
Yee's attorneys repeatedly claimed prosecutors were sandbagging their client by withholding information.
Col. Daniel Trimble, the presiding officer in the military tribunal and who acts much like a civilian judge, granted defense attorneys repeated delays to read documents and prepare themselves to question witnesses.
At one point Monday, a frustrated Fidell blasted Army prosecutors for dumping a "blizzard" of paper documents on him, calling it "trial by ambush."
Yee, a West Point graduate who was transferred to Fort Benning after his release from Charleston, is married to a Palestinian woman who lived in Syria.
Authorities arrested Yee when he arrived at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station on Sept. 10 as he was beginning a leave from Guantanamo.
Testifying by telephone from Jacksonville, Immigration Special Agent Sean Rafferty said Monday he intercepted Yee at the airport after receiving a tip that the chaplain might be in possession of classified documents.
Citing security concerns, Rafferty did not describe in detail the documents Yee was carrying. The agent said none was stamped "classified" but that he found numerous handwritten notes and drawings that he determined were suspicious. Among the documents, which were turned over to the FBI, was information about Guantanamo detainees and their interrogators, Rafferty said.
Navy Lt. Karyn E. Wallace, 36, the first witness at the hearing, testified she had a sexual relationship with Yee while they were stationed at Guantanamo. Testifying under a grant of immunity, Wallace, who is now based in San Diego, said she met Yee in early June and the relationship grew into a romantic and eventually a sexual one after about a month.
Wallace said their relationship lasted until Sept. 8 or 9.
"How would you characterize your relationship?" Trimble asked.
She answered that it was "romantic" and, when asked again, described it as "sexual." Asked how many times she and Yee had sexual relations, she replied, "Twenty? I don't know."
Yee sat impassively across the courtroom as Wallace testified.
Yee's wife, Huda, her head covered in a floral scarf, shut her eyes during Wallace's testimony. She occasionally held the couple's 4-year-old daughter on her lap.
The two women met briefly outside the courtroom and in a brief exchange Huda Yee could be heard uttering "*****" to Wallace.
Army investigators testified Yee used his military computer to view materials in violation of military code. Special Agent Jennie Callahan, who examined the hard drive, said Yee had conducted Yahoo searches on pornographic Web sites. Yee also had looked at Web sites for prostitutes, she said.
A recommendation on whether to proceed with Yee's court-martial could be several weeks away, according to Army officials.
By RICHARD WHITT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FORT BENNING -- Testimony about illicit sex and pornography dominated the preliminary hearing here Monday for a Muslim Army chaplain initially suspected of espionage.
Army Capt. James J. Yee, who ministered to 660 suspected al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was investigated as a possible spy but never charged with espionage. Instead, the Army charged Yee, 35, with improperly transporting classified documents, lying to investigators, storing pornographic material on his government computer and adultery -- a crime under military law.
The preliminary hearing, which continues today, is to determine whether there is enough evidence to move forward with a court-martial.
If convicted of all counts, Yee could face dismissal from the Army and up to 13 years in prison.
Critics have argued the Army is out to damage the chaplain's reputation because investigators failed to make spy allegations against him stick. Yee was held for 76 days in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., as the initial allegations were investigated. His detention led to congressional hearings on the Pentagon's process for clearing Muslim chaplains for service.
One of Yee's civilian attorneys, Eugene Fidell, said it was "quite disgraceful that this officer's reputation was tarnished in a way that can never be repaired."
Yee's attorneys repeatedly claimed prosecutors were sandbagging their client by withholding information.
Col. Daniel Trimble, the presiding officer in the military tribunal and who acts much like a civilian judge, granted defense attorneys repeated delays to read documents and prepare themselves to question witnesses.
At one point Monday, a frustrated Fidell blasted Army prosecutors for dumping a "blizzard" of paper documents on him, calling it "trial by ambush."
Yee, a West Point graduate who was transferred to Fort Benning after his release from Charleston, is married to a Palestinian woman who lived in Syria.
Authorities arrested Yee when he arrived at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station on Sept. 10 as he was beginning a leave from Guantanamo.
Testifying by telephone from Jacksonville, Immigration Special Agent Sean Rafferty said Monday he intercepted Yee at the airport after receiving a tip that the chaplain might be in possession of classified documents.
Citing security concerns, Rafferty did not describe in detail the documents Yee was carrying. The agent said none was stamped "classified" but that he found numerous handwritten notes and drawings that he determined were suspicious. Among the documents, which were turned over to the FBI, was information about Guantanamo detainees and their interrogators, Rafferty said.
Navy Lt. Karyn E. Wallace, 36, the first witness at the hearing, testified she had a sexual relationship with Yee while they were stationed at Guantanamo. Testifying under a grant of immunity, Wallace, who is now based in San Diego, said she met Yee in early June and the relationship grew into a romantic and eventually a sexual one after about a month.
Wallace said their relationship lasted until Sept. 8 or 9.
"How would you characterize your relationship?" Trimble asked.
She answered that it was "romantic" and, when asked again, described it as "sexual." Asked how many times she and Yee had sexual relations, she replied, "Twenty? I don't know."
Yee sat impassively across the courtroom as Wallace testified.
Yee's wife, Huda, her head covered in a floral scarf, shut her eyes during Wallace's testimony. She occasionally held the couple's 4-year-old daughter on her lap.
The two women met briefly outside the courtroom and in a brief exchange Huda Yee could be heard uttering "*****" to Wallace.
Army investigators testified Yee used his military computer to view materials in violation of military code. Special Agent Jennie Callahan, who examined the hard drive, said Yee had conducted Yahoo searches on pornographic Web sites. Yee also had looked at Web sites for prostitutes, she said.
A recommendation on whether to proceed with Yee's court-martial could be several weeks away, according to Army officials.
Looks to me like the Army is trying to save face. There's a Newsweek article too, and they said that the prosecution was unprepared for the initial hearing.
No attempt at diversion here. Nope. These are honest to goodness charges. Yep. Thats it. 
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