James Yee
James J. Yee (Chinese: 余百康 or 余优素福, also known by the Arabic name Yusuf Yee) (born c. 1968) is an American, former United States Army chaplain with the rank of captain. He is best known for being subject to an intense investigation by the United States, but all charges were later dropped.
Yee, a Chinese American, was born in New Jersey and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1990. Shortly afterward, he converted from Christianity to Islam in 1991, undergoing religious training in Syria and meeting his wife, a Palestinian Arab, with whom he now has two children.[1]
Guantanamo
In his appointed role as chaplain, Yee ministered to Muslim detainees held at Guantánamo Bay naval base purportedly related to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, some of whom are suspected al Qaeda terrorists and members of the Taliban. Yee was awarded two distinguished service medals for his work there. [2]
When returning from duty at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, he was arrested on September 10, 2003, in Jacksonville, Florida, when a U.S. Customs agent found a list of Guantanamo detainees and interrogators among his belongings.[1] He was charged with five offenses: sedition, aiding the enemy, spying, espionage, and failure to obey a general order. These charges were later reduced to mishandling classified information in addition to some minor charges.[1] He was then transferred to a United States Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina. The government did not name the country or entity for whom it suspected Yee was spying.
All court-martial charges against Yee were dropped on March 19, 2004, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller "citing national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence"[2], and he was released to resume his duties. In April the noncriminal charges of adultery and storing pornography on government computers were dropped. He retired from the US military with an honorable discharge in January, but he is also seeking an apology.
In October 2005 Yee published his book, For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire. [3] In it Yee writes that he was kept in solitary confinement for seventy-six days, and that he was forced to undergo sensory deprivation. He also wrote that General Geoffrey Miller routinely incited the guards to hate the detainees. He alleges serious mistreatment of prisoners [3] [4]. Yee argues that most of the detainees had little or no intelligence value:
- "The people down in Guántanamo probably know as much about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida as any private in the military would know what's going on inside the Pentagon."
References
- ^ a b "Muslim chaplain proposes to resign", by James Polk and Bob Franken, CNN, 5 May 2004
- ^ "Charges dismissed in Yee case", United States Southern Command Public Affairs Office, 19 March 2004
- ^ Yee, James (2005). For God And Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 1-58648-369-2.
External links
- JusticeForYee.com
- Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly Deborah Potter interview PBS October 7, 2005
- Fmr. Army Chaplain James Yee on the Abuse of Prisoners at Guantánamo, His Wrongful Imprisonment and Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the Military - Democracy Now (audio/video) (1 hour)
- The Strange Case of Chaplain Yee, New York Review of Books (December 15, 2005)
- Suspicion in the Ranks, Seattle Times
- 余上尉父母纽约筹款 chinapressnewyork.com.
- Mercury News article on the dropping of charges against Yee
- USA Today cover story on the dropping of charges
- The Ordeal of Chaplain Yee USA Today. (May 16, 2004)
- Muslim U.S. Army Chaplain Resigning, Wants Apology, Reuters. (Aug 3, 2004)
- How Dubious Evidence Spurred Relentless Guantánamo Spy Hunt, New York Times. (Dec 19, 2004)
- Muslim Chaplain Recalls Guantánamo Ordeal, Newsday, October 4, 2005 (or [5]
- American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council (AMAF and VAC)