On Monday, the University community had the opportunity to hear a firsthand account of what occurs behind the walls at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, site of the notorious U.S. military prison. Former Muslim Chaplain of the prison James Yee revealed the acute anti-Islamic sentiment subjected upon prisoners, a sentiment that he himself suffered.
“It is not in our character as a nation to desecrate religious freedom,” Yee said.
“We all know about Guantanamo’s negative reputation, but it was more compelling to hear about it in his voice – this is faith and patriotism under fire,” said Kulsoom Hasan ’07, president of the University’s Muslim Students Association (MSA).
A third-generation Chinese American living in Fort Lewis, WA, Yee comes from a family with strong military roots.
“All of the men in my family have served in the armed forces,” Yee said. “We see it as our duty, a way of paying back to our country.”
It was not until 1991, after Yee’s graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point, that Islam became an integral part of his life. Raised a Lutheran, inter-faith dialogue with college students motivated him to read deeper into Islamic doctrine.
“When I first heard about Islam, I rejected it,” Yee said. “But then I learned about all the similarities between Christianity and Islam, and that Islam, too, was a reconfirmation of my belief that there is one God.”
Just five months after his conversion to Islam, Yee was deployed to Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the Gulf War. He and several other Muslim military personnel traveled to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, where Yee said he gained a new appreciation of the diversity of Muslim believers.
“At first I thought I would stand out as a Muslim of Chinese heritage,” Yee said. “But I was overwhelmed by the diversity of people at Mecca.”
Yee then realized just how much more he wanted to learn about Islam, and was also struck by the lack of Muslim chaplains in the military. He left active duty to pursue religious studies and returned to duty in January 2001 as one of a handful of Muslim chaplains in the armed forces.
Immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City, Yee was asked to share the knowledge of his vocation. He held briefings and lectures for soldiers who had questions about the Islamic faith and was later chosen as Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay.
In Cuba, Yee acted as advisor to the camp coordinator and chaplain to the prisoners.
“Most importantly, I would listen to these prisoners, who were held in open-air cages made of steel mesh,” he said.
Yee explained that he was involved with detention at Guantanamo, but not with intelligence gathering operations, which he said would have been unethical in his position as chaplain. Nevertheless, through his contact with prisoners, he learned about many aspects of the interrogation process.
“Guantanamo’s secret weapon is the use of religion against these prisoners in the course of interrogation, to break them,” Yee revealed.
Yee described the way in which prison guards desecrated prisoners’ copies of the Qur’an while searching their cells, violently rifling through the Muslim holy book or kicking it across the floor. Interrogation methods often sought to degrade prisoners by taking advantage of the limited male-female contact in conservative Muslim communities.
Yee said that he was able to make some changes on behalf of the prisoners, but only within the detention operation.
“I suggested a procedure for cell-searches that took into account respect for the Qur’an and the need for security” he said. “But I had no influence on the interrogation chain of command.”
When Yee did approach his superiors about interrogation practices, he was told to take two weeks of vacation. He was then arrested on charges of espionage and holding classified documents, a case that made national headlines. Yee was held for 76 days in solitary confinement at a maximum-security detention center.
“I was treated like a U.S. enemy combatant,” Yee said. “As an American citizen and a Muslim chaplain, I was denied my rights in custody.”
After Yee was released, he was given an honorary discharge from the services. The claims made against him were never substantiated.
“I was targeted because of my patriotism,” Yee said. “As a Muslim and a Chinese, I was fighting for American values and that upset people.”
In the lengthy question and answer session that followed, Yee addressed concerns about the legitimacy of operations in Guantanamo Bay.
“There must not be any more torture or cruel and degrading treatment,” he said. “Also, everything that goes on there must be completely transparent. The entire world looks down on the U.S. today for things like Guantanamo. We need a proper trial process for prisoners, based on international standards like the Geneva Convention.”
The University’s MSA hosted Yee.
“All the departments in the social and behavioral sciences were very supportive, as were the WSA, Amnesty International, and President Bennet,” said MSA President Kulsoom Hasan ’07 about the $4,000 cost of bringing Yee to campus.
“It was intriguing to hear someone from a military background, with objections phrased through the military lens,” Lichten said.
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