MILITARY VIOLATES OWN RULES ON CLASSIFIED MATERIALS

Having sexual relations outside marriage is a punishable offense under
military law.

Strange but true. And is the Commander-in-Chief perhaps subject to 
military law :  I'm not thinking of Reagan, or of Clinton, of of Kennedy, 
Eisenhower, Roosevelt in particular.

Michael 

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http://news.findlaw.com/ap/l/0000/12-3-2003/20031203090011_02.html

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003 

MILITARY VIOLATES OWN RULES ON CLASSIFIED MATERIALS IN MUSLIM CHAPLAIN'S
CASE

By PAULINE JELINEK Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The hearing for a Muslim Army chaplain charged with 
mishandling classified materials was delayed because others in the 
military accidentally mishandled classified materials in his case, defense 
officials said Wednesday.

Army Capt. James Yee was to face the military version of a preliminary 
hearing Tuesday at Fort Benning, Ga., on charges he violated security 
rules at the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But it was postponed after prosecutors discovered Monday that the legal 
staff at Guantanamo had mistakenly put a classified document into 
investigation packets delivered to Yee's attorney and to the hearing 
officer, said Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello of the U.S. Southern Command.

"It's ridiculous," said Yee's attorney, Eugene Fidell, asserting the 
development illustrates the government has a weak case that should be 
dismissed.

"I am wondering how they can with a straight face persist in prosecuting 
him when they don't themselves know what's classified and what isn't," he 
said. "It's passing strange."

The classified information officials said was inadvertently included in 
the evidence packet was 15 pages, including an appointment calendar, and 
all or some of it was handwritten by Yee, sources said on condition of 
anonymity.

The 15 pages have been retrieved from the two packets, Costello said 
Wednesday. And the postponed Article 32 hearing is rescheduled for Monday.

Fidell said he examined the document and found "there isn't anything 
classified in it."

"Given the fact that this guy was in jail for 67 days, the gracious thing 
to do would be to just drop it and let everyone move on," said Fidell, who 
is president of the nonprofit National Institute of Military Justice in 
Washington.

Yee was arrested in September and later charged with disobeying an order 
by allegedly taking classified material from Guantanamo without proper 
security containers.

Last month, the military added charges of making a false statement, 
storing pornography on a government computer and having sexual relations 
outside marriage, a punishable offense under military law.

The 35-year-old Yee graduated from West Point in 1990 but later left the 
military for four years to study Arabic and Islam in Syria. Yee rejoined 
the military as a chaplain before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had been 
counseling prisoners held at the camp for suspected terrorists since 
November of last year.

Yee is one of four men who had contact with the terrorism suspects at 
Guantanamo to face charges. An Arabic translator, Air Force Senior Airman 
Ahmad I. al-Halabi, has pleaded innocent to charges of espionage and 
aiding the enemy.

A civilian interpreter, Ahmad F. Mehalba, was arrested in the Boston 
airport and charged with lying to federal agents by denying computer discs 
he was carrying had classified information.

On Saturday, Army Col. Jack Farr was charged with "wrongfully transporting 
classified material without the proper security container on or around 
Oct. 11," and lying to investigators.

---

AP reporter Elliott Minor contributed to this story from Fort Benning,
Ga.