As reported by: Muslim Public Affairs Council - http://www.mpac.org
Military Drops Charges Against Airman Ahmad Al-Halabi
(Los Angeles, 9/23/04) – MPAC commends the military prosecutors who yesterday dropped espionage charges levied at Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi in July 2003. Al-Halabi spent 10 months in prison after being charged with spying while working as a translator at Guantanamo Bay, a charge which carries the death penalty.
Al-Halabi’s case is just the latest in a string of federal terrorism related cases which have crumbled in recent months. Last month, James Yee, who also faced charges of spying and mishandling classified documents while serving as a chaplain to Guantanamo Bay detainees, was honorably discharged from the U.S. military after being detained for seven months. Last week, the U.S. army also dropped charges against Jackie Duane Farr, a colonel accused of removing classified documents from the base in Cuba.
Taken alone, these military related cases could be viewed as an anomaly. However, the U.S. government’s track record in counterterrorism efforts demonstrates how legitimate efforts to capture domestic terrorism threats have painted patriotic American citizens who seek to serve their country as “foreign” villains out to destroy the very nation they claim to serve. The detention of over 1,400 Arab and South Asian males, the INS Special Registration program which required men from 22 countries (mainly Arab and Muslim) to undergo interviews, the Transportation Security Administration’s newborn “national watch list” – such ill-conceived efforts demonstrate the defective nature of the wide net cast in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The rush to catch and detain potential threats has resulted not only in heightened anxiety about national security, but also cast suspicion on the loyalty of America’s six million Muslims.
Making our country safer is a goal of all Americans, one which would better be served by concerted public diplomacy developed in consultation with American Muslims. The exoneration of the so-called Guantanamo “spy ring” should remind officials that suspicion cannot act as a substitute for evidence, especially when innocent lives and civil liberties are on the line.