Posted on 01/13/2004 3:09:44 AM PST by SandRat
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- While some of the most serious charges against the Arabic translator accused of spying at the Guantanamo Bay have been dropped, he still faces court-martial for charges including espionage counts.
Proceedings against Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi were scheduled to begin Tuesday morning at Travis Air Force Base, military officials said.
U.S. Air Force officials last month dropped some of the most serious charges, but al-Halabi still faces 17 of the 30 charges filed following his arrest in July after nine months at the Cuba prison.
They include espionage counts, disobeying an order, making false official statements, mishandling classified documents and lying on a credit application.
The Air Force hasn't said why it dropped the single count that carries the death penalty - a charge of "aiding the enemy." Also dropped were counts dealing with e-mailing information about Guantanamo detainees and transmitting information to unauthorized recipients.
His civilian lawyer, Donald G. Rehkopf Jr., said last month that "the gut of the case was gone." He could not be reached for comment Monday.
Al-Halabi was expected to appear in person to hear the charges outlined against him, but was not expected to enter a plea.
A naturalized American who was born in Syria, al-Halabi was arrested July 23 at Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida at the start of a leave from Guantanamo, when he was heading to Syria to marry his fiancee.
The airman was the first of four workers at Guantanamo Bay to be arrested as part of an investigation into possible security breaches at the prison for some 660 suspected al-Qaida or Taliban members.
Most charges were also dropped against a former Muslim chaplain at the prison, Army Capt. James Yee, who has pleaded innocent to charges of mishandling classified information, disobeying orders, committing adultery and storing pornography on his military computer.
A civilian interpreter, Ahmad F. Mehalba, pleaded innocent to charges of lying to federal agents by denying that computer discs he was carrying had classified information from Guantanamo.
On Nov. 29, Col. Jack Farr, an Army Reserve intelligence officer on six-month assignment to Guantanamo Bay, was charged with transporting secret documents without proper containers and with lying to investigators.
Most charges were also dropped against a former Muslim chaplain at the prison, Army Capt. James Yee, who has pleaded innocent to charges of mishandling classified information, disobeying orders, committing adultery and storing pornography on his military computer.
The U.S. military brass doesn't have the nuts to admit that they blatantly violated federal law and their own regulations for granting security clearances to these people. That's why the military is dropping the serious charges and only trying them on charges that will merely get them kicked out of the military. It's nothing but a big CYA campaign. I'm disappointed, I thought that at least the Commander in Chief and SecDef had enough integrity to step up to this. Guess not.
The Security clearance and background checks are handled by non uniformed personnel and most of the time anymore it's contractors. The odds are pretty good that they were allowed to go to a lesser charge in return for information.
BTW, how long has it been since you last read the UCMJ?
That's for sure. would like to know why they dropped the serious charges.
The perp has cut a deal to give up a bigger fish for a lesser charge and lesser punishment.
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