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BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: A Muslim U.S. Army chaplain who served at the Guantanamo naval base prison camp remains in military detention. His arrest is said to be part of an espionage investigation, but no charges have been filed. The case has raised a number of questions -- most of them unanswered. Paul Miller has our report.
PAUL MILLER: Bob, the widening investigation of security breaches at Guantanamo, amid suggestions of espionage, aid to Islamist extremists, or a possible prisoner breakout, became public after the detention of U.S. Army chaplain, Captain James Yee.
James Joseph, or Youssef, Yee was raised a Lutheran in New Jersey but became a Muslim after graduating from West Point in 1990. After completing military service, he studied Islam and Arabic in Syria, then rejoined the army, becoming a chaplain in 2000.
Last November, Chaplain Yee was assigned to Guantanamo Bay, where more than 650 Muslims are detained as enemy combatants suspected of ties to Al Qaeda or the Taliban. He was the Islamic advisor to the commander at the camp and had daily contact with the detainees. He counseled them, arranged for the call to prayer to be broadcast on loudspeakers in the camp, and tried to be sure their food met Islamic dietary laws.
Captain JAMES YEE (U.S. Army Chaplain): I don't get into whether or not they are terrorists. That's not my job. My job is to look at each individual and assist them in any way that I can in order to improve their ability to worship, to perform the Islamic rites.
MILLER: Friends and colleagues say Chaplain Yee may simply have provided humanitarian assistance to fellow Muslims, but in a maximum-security facility that alone might be a violation of the rules.
PAUL MILLER: Bob, the widening investigation of security breaches at Guantanamo, amid suggestions of espionage, aid to Islamist extremists, or a possible prisoner breakout, became public after the detention of U.S. Army chaplain, Captain James Yee.
James Joseph, or Youssef, Yee was raised a Lutheran in New Jersey but became a Muslim after graduating from West Point in 1990. After completing military service, he studied Islam and Arabic in Syria, then rejoined the army, becoming a chaplain in 2000.Last November, Chaplain Yee was assigned to Guantanamo Bay, where more than 650 Muslims are detained as enemy combatants suspected of ties to Al Qaeda or the Taliban. He was the Islamic advisor to the commander at the camp and had daily contact with the detainees. He counseled them, arranged for the call to prayer to be broadcast on loudspeakers in the camp, and tried to be sure their food met Islamic dietary laws.
Captain JAMES YEE (U.S. Army Chaplain): I don't get into whether or not they are terrorists. That's not my job. My job is to look at each individual and assist them in any way that I can in order to improve their ability to worship, to perform the Islamic rites.MILLER: Friends and colleagues say Chaplain Yee may simply have provided humanitarian assistance to fellow Muslims, but in a maximum-security facility that alone might be a violation of the rules.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for the presumption of innocence and due process of law for Yee as well as for airman Ahmed Halabi, a translator at the prison camp accused of spying for Syria. Four other people are reportedly the subjects of an expanding investigation.
