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Reuters – April 23, 2004 Democrats Seek Probe of WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee called on Friday for the Pentagon to conduct an investigation into its treatment of a Muslim Army chaplain who was suspected of spying, detained for months and then quietly released. Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, senior Democrat on the committee, and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts said the manner in which Capt. James Yee was detained and prosecuted "raises serious questions about the fair and effective administration of military justice." They urged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a letter "to give this issue your immediate attention." The military initially held Lee, 36, on suspicion of espionage at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, where he was a Muslim chaplain ministering to terror suspects. He was arrested last September and placed in solitary confinement for 76 days. When the military finally brought charges, Yee was accused only of "mishandling classified documents," not espionage. Then, earlier this year, that charge and all other criminal counts against Yee were dropped and he was released. In a non-criminal hearing in March, Lee was found guilty on lesser charges of adultery and possessing pornography and received only a written reprimand from the Army. The senators said the Pentagon should investigate the Army's handling of the case, "including whether the extensive pre-trial confinement and the charges against the chaplain were supported by the evidence." http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=4927425§ion=news |