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Two Members of Armed Forces at Guantanamo Bay Held as Spying Suspects
Aired September 24, 2003 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Two members of the U.S. armed forces who worked at the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are now being held as spying suspects. Is there a connection between the two cases? A senior Air Force enlisted man who worked as a translator for suspected al Qaeda detainees is now charged with spying. Word that Ahmad al-Halabi was under arrest comes just after news that an Army chaplain is suspected of spying. The chaplain, Captain James Yee, has not yet been charged.
Jeffrey Toobin here now joins us to talk about these developments from a legal sense -- good morning to you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Howdy.
HEMMER: Did this surprise you, first of all?
TOOBIN: Shocking.
HEMMER: My gosh.
TOOBIN: Unbelievable. I mean you would -- this is like a spy novel or something. I mean you would think this has got to be the most secure place...
HEMMER: That's right.
TOOBIN: ... in the entire American military and here you have not one, but two actual spying cases and apparently the investigation is continuing.
HEMMER: We talked with Colonel Pat Lang last hour. There's a suggestion in here that the privacy that's been lent toward these detainees may be that private. He counters and says the United States does not have enough Arabic interpreters to even understand the conversation that may take place in Guantanamo Bay.
TOOBIN: Well, the shortage of interpreters has been a problem in American foreign policy for generations at this point. But, you know, the legal questions here are really incredible. I mean you, how do you collect evidence in such a secure facility? How do you have a trial where you have to protect classified information? A lot of difficult questions at work here.
But you can be sure if they really believed these people were spying, they will throw the book at them. And the translator -- at least in theory, this remains to be determined -- is facing the death penalty for this.
HEMMER: Yes, well, a magistrate ruled earlier, the 15th of September, that they can hold at least one of these men for a period of two months based on the evidence they've already collected.
TOOBIN: That's right.
HEMMER: What does that tell you about the evidence they have?
TOOBIN: Well, it tells you that they are, they're not confident enough to file charges yet, but that you can be sure they're working really hard. It's a very interesting, peculiar case, particularly about the translator, where there's more evidence public so far. You know, at one point it's very serious charges, passing information to Syria. That's the heart of it.
HEMMER: Through e-mails.
TOOBIN: Right, through e-mails. There's also charges involving giving prisoners baklava, which doesn't strike me as an earth shaking, you know, don't make a federal case out of it.
HEMMER: What does it tell you, though, if you have diagrams of the prison itself? I mean the implication here is that there might have been a jail break at some point.
TOOBIN: It's hard to imagine a legitimate reason why a translator should have some of this stuff, but we'll see what his defense is and listen to him.
HEMMER: And it could be the death penalty ultimately if this goes in that direction and everything is proven?
TOOBIN: They are both potentially facing the death penalty. The translator, al-Halabi, is actually already charged with a crime that could carry the death penalty. There have been on charges filed yet against the chaplain, Captain Yee. But, you know, he could get it, too.
HEMMER: And Barbara Starr and Jamie McIntyre warn us that there could be more arrests, possibly with a naval connection too.
TOOBIN: Amazing. Amazing.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff.
Talk to you later.
TOOBIN: See you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Spying Suspects>
Aired September 24, 2003 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Two members of the U.S. armed forces who worked at the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are now being held as spying suspects. Is there a connection between the two cases? A senior Air Force enlisted man who worked as a translator for suspected al Qaeda detainees is now charged with spying. Word that Ahmad al-Halabi was under arrest comes just after news that an Army chaplain is suspected of spying. The chaplain, Captain James Yee, has not yet been charged.
Jeffrey Toobin here now joins us to talk about these developments from a legal sense -- good morning to you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Howdy.
HEMMER: Did this surprise you, first of all?
TOOBIN: Shocking.
HEMMER: My gosh.
TOOBIN: Unbelievable. I mean you would -- this is like a spy novel or something. I mean you would think this has got to be the most secure place...
HEMMER: That's right.
TOOBIN: ... in the entire American military and here you have not one, but two actual spying cases and apparently the investigation is continuing.
HEMMER: We talked with Colonel Pat Lang last hour. There's a suggestion in here that the privacy that's been lent toward these detainees may be that private. He counters and says the United States does not have enough Arabic interpreters to even understand the conversation that may take place in Guantanamo Bay.
TOOBIN: Well, the shortage of interpreters has been a problem in American foreign policy for generations at this point. But, you know, the legal questions here are really incredible. I mean you, how do you collect evidence in such a secure facility? How do you have a trial where you have to protect classified information? A lot of difficult questions at work here.
But you can be sure if they really believed these people were spying, they will throw the book at them. And the translator -- at least in theory, this remains to be determined -- is facing the death penalty for this.
HEMMER: Yes, well, a magistrate ruled earlier, the 15th of September, that they can hold at least one of these men for a period of two months based on the evidence they've already collected.
TOOBIN: That's right.
HEMMER: What does that tell you about the evidence they have?
TOOBIN: Well, it tells you that they are, they're not confident enough to file charges yet, but that you can be sure they're working really hard. It's a very interesting, peculiar case, particularly about the translator, where there's more evidence public so far. You know, at one point it's very serious charges, passing information to Syria. That's the heart of it.
HEMMER: Through e-mails.
TOOBIN: Right, through e-mails. There's also charges involving giving prisoners baklava, which doesn't strike me as an earth shaking, you know, don't make a federal case out of it.
HEMMER: What does it tell you, though, if you have diagrams of the prison itself? I mean the implication here is that there might have been a jail break at some point.
TOOBIN: It's hard to imagine a legitimate reason why a translator should have some of this stuff, but we'll see what his defense is and listen to him.
HEMMER: And it could be the death penalty ultimately if this goes in that direction and everything is proven?
TOOBIN: They are both potentially facing the death penalty. The translator, al-Halabi, is actually already charged with a crime that could carry the death penalty. There have been on charges filed yet against the chaplain, Captain Yee. But, you know, he could get it, too.
HEMMER: And Barbara Starr and Jamie McIntyre warn us that there could be more arrests, possibly with a naval connection too.
TOOBIN: Amazing. Amazing.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff.
Talk to you later.
TOOBIN: See you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Spying Suspects>
