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May 20th, 2008
Exonorated Former Army Chaplain James Yee an Obama Delegate
Posted by Keith KamisugiAngelica Jongco shared with us the news (DailyKos post here) that former Army Captain James Yee won an Obama-pledged delegate spot in the Washington State delegate last Saturday. Yee even did a homemade video (above) for his delegate candidacy.
Yee, the Muslim Chaplain for the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay and a West Point graduate, was arrested and imprisoned in a Naval brig for 76 days in September 2003 while being falsely accused of spying, espionage, and aiding the alleged Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners.
Yee was held in solitary confinement and subjected to the same sensory deprivation techniques that were being used against the prisoners in Cuba that he had been ministering to. After months of government investigation, all criminal charges were dropped.
With his record wiped clean, Chaplain Yee was reinstated to full duty at Fort Lewis, Washington. He tendered his resignation from the U.S. Army and received an Honorable Discharge on January 7, 2005. Upon separation he was awarded with a second Army Commendation medal for "exceptionally meritorious service."
The Olympian newspaper report quoted Yee as saying that his experience left him as "living proof that civil liberties have been eroded since 9/11."
"I came out and basically reiterated that Sen. Obama is really the only candidate that consistently campaigns on rejecting torture without exception, on closing Guantanamo Bay, restoring habeas (corpus) and adhering to the Geneva Conventions," said Yee.
Yee’s bio info from justiceforyee.com.
