Please buy this book... I read it, and couldn't put it down!!
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| Muslim defendant goes on the offense |
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By DOUG ESSER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire," by James Yee; Public Affairs; $24.
James Yee answers the headlines with his side of how a Muslim Army chaplain was charged with spying for al-Qaida at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
In "For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism
Under Fire," written with Aimee Molloy, Yee says that although he was a West Point graduate, he came under suspicion as a Muslim chaplain because of his religion.
"We say that the war on terror is not against Islam, but that's not how it felt most days at Guantanamo," Yee writes.
It was a desire to ease religious tensions that had led the third-generation Chinese-American from New Jersey into a career as an Army chaplain. He was serving at Fort Lewis, Wash., on Sept. 11, 2001.
The terrorist attacks presented Yee with more opportunity to bridge cultural differences. By November 2002, he was the Muslim chaplain for Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay, where about 700 enemy combatants were held all Muslims. He also served a small community of Muslim translators.
Yee tells how prison conditions tore him between military loyalty and concern for brother Muslims. He describes how an us-vs.-them mentality led to everyday brutality in the cells. He reports complaints
of abuse during interrogations amounting to torture.
Yee calls himself a no-nonsense guy, and his story is presented in an easy-to-follow, mostly chronological account that at times seems almost too objective.
Why wasn't he more outraged at frequent searches called "the credit card swipe" when guards would press their fingers into a detainee's buttocks? Why weren't other officers restraining aggressive guards in riot gear who would crush an inmate for refusing to cooperate? Although Yee supported the mission, his attempts to encourage tolerance raised suspicions. He and other Muslims working on the base became known as a clique. Yee describes how he found out later that some suspected they were a spy ring.
He was pulled into the gulag Sept. 10, 2003, when leaving for a visit home to Olympia, Wash., where he was to meet his wife and daughter arriving from a stay in Syria.
Yee describes how federal agents accused him of spying because some personal papers
phone numbers, a to-do list, notes about Syria were mistaken for classified documents.
He was taken to the Navy brig at Charleston, S.C., and held for 76 days in solitary confinement. It wasn't much different from Camp Delta, but now it was his skin the shackles were cutting into. "I was well aware of the irony," he writes.
The charges, which carried a possible death penalty, eventually collapsed for lack of evidence. To cover its errors, Yee says, the military spitefully charged him with adultery and having pornography on his computer. The accusation pushed his wife to consider suicide.
Yee maintained a professional distance as a chaplain, and that distance is evident in the reserved voice of the book. He also says his religion helped him control his emotion, and the book has a controlled tone.
His strongest language is critical of "vindictive" military officers who pushed the sex charges.
"I came to understand just how craven the people
behind this ordeal were. This was just another attempt to turn public attention away from the real questions that my case raised civil liberties and what was happening inside Guantanamo and steer it toward accusations that would sensationalize the hearing and in the process humiliate me."
His faith in Islam was strengthened during the ordeal.
Eventually, all charges were dropped.
Yee hoped to continue as a Muslim chaplain at Fort Lewis, but he describes a hostile environment. His career was over. He resigned, effective Jan. 7, 2005, and received an honorable discharge.
Yee's book is an indictment. "How can we expect nations to join us in our war against terror when we are denying the detainees the very rights we claim to be fighting for abroad?"
His experience raises troubling questions, among them: "Was I used as another means of creating fear in order to justify a need for more expansive executive powers?"
This is a powerful book that
exposes how fear and ignorance can lead to an abuse of justice.
Finally, it's a thumping good prison story, with elements of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Shawshank Redemption."
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Salaam (Peace be upon you), Andrea (Saleema)
"To God belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth. Whether you show what is in your own selves or conceal it, God will call you to account for it. Then He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills, for God is Able to do all things." (Qur'an 2:284).
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.}
(Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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