I don't know how I missed this Times of London article from about a month ago, by U.S. Army Captain James Yee. He's the American Army Muslim Chaplain at Guantanomo who was arrested and held as a spy before all accusations were dropped and an honorable discharge granted--but not before his marriage and family was ravaged. While this is obviously only his side of the story, the fact that the Army couldn't even get its act together to present its side of the story in any effective fashion at trial makes his tale pretty damn credible. And even more deeply disturbing.
Sometimes I wondered if I would go crazy trying to deal with the situation and being locked in solitary confinement for what turned out to be 76 days. If it were not for my military training and my religion, perhaps I would have. . . The army was doing far more harm to me privately. Martha Brewer, an agent with the Department of Defence Criminal Investigative Service, went to my apartment near Seattle and told Huda, my wife: “Your husband is not the person you think he is. He’s having an affair with three women.” . . .On November 25, with no serious charges in sight, I was suddenly released from custody. But the same day news bulletins announced that I was being charged with adultery (a criminal offence in the military) and with downloading pornography on a government computer. By revealing the new charges on the day of my release from prison, the army had captured the story. . .In February last year my lawyers reached a deal with the army that the criminal charges would be dismissed and I would resign my commission with a recommendation for an honourable discharge from Miller and other senior officers. Even so, the military continued to whisper that I was indeed a threat to the nation but it was somehow in the interest of security to drop the case against me. Miller found me guilty of adultery and possessing pornography and formally reprimanded me. Two months later — by which time my case had become a cause celebre — I won an appeal against his decision.You really should just read the whole thing. And before anyone goes off about how much better we are then country X, Y, or Z -- don't even go there. I expect better of my country and my government. This is unacceptable. Knee-jerk apologists are the most useless kind of citizen.
