CNN: Officer accused of mishandling intelligence data

[absyntheNsugar]

(CNN) -- An Army intelligence officer assigned to a task force guarding al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been charged with improperly handling classified material and lying to investigators probing the alleged security breach, U.S. Central Command said Saturday.

Col. Jack Farr, who has been serving at Guantanamo Bay for six months on temporary assignment, was charged with one count of failing to obey a lawful order and one count of making a false official statement, according to a statement from Central Command.

<snip>

Yet a different officer this time...sounds to me like there might be some dissension in the ranks.



http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/29/guantanamo.arrest/index.html

[Elidor]

1. A Tale of Four Spies

"Col. Jack Farr...is accused of wrongfully transporting classified material without a proper security container in October and making a false statement in the course of the investigation into his handling of classified material.

"Army Capt. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain at Camp Delta who worked with suspected Taliban and al Qaeda detainees...has been charged with three counts of failing to obey an order and one count each of adultery, making a false official statement and conduct unbecoming an officer. Military officials accuse Yee of taking classified material to his home and transporting it without property security containers or covers.

"Ahmed Mehalba, a civilian translator who worked at Guantanamo...is charged with knowingly and willfully making materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations...U.S. Immigration officials found him carrying CD-ROMs and paper documents that are allegedly related to the detainees at Guantanamo.

"Air Force Senior Airman Ahmad al Halabi, an American citizen of Syrian descent who served as a translator at Camp Delta, faces more than 30 charges, including espionage, aiding the enemy and making false statements...Halabi allegedly e-mailed information about operations at Guantanamo Bay to people in Syria. His translations of statements by detainees have been retranslated because military officials fear they were not reliable."
----------
What the fuck is going on at Camp X-Ray? It would seem to be a very systematic effort to destroy the lives of some of the closest witnesses to the treatment of the prisoners, particularly those who may have shown some degree of empathy for the prisoners. Capt. Yee certainly would seem to fall into this category. And the Bush administration would have us believe that airman Ahmad al Halabi is not only a spy, but an incredibly stupid spy who took the insane risk of distorting his translations. Likely he has some empathy, too. But if he's a spy, he's a very poorly trained one.

But perhaps the Pentagon is telling the truth. Let's see if we can sum up their version of it and see what it looks like:

In setting up the most secure prison on earth, with ultra-secret military security and no public access; to interrogate the government's most important witnesses in the "war on terrorism"™; the Pentagon inadvertently employed four spies, including two translators, a chaplain, and an intelligence officer, each of them seemingly working for a different country.

So the question is: is the government lying through its teeth about these charges or is CentCom incredibly, infuriatingly incompetent and desperate to cover it up? Or both? You be the judge. Either way it's disgusting.