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THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB) |
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THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB) |
WASHINGTON (AP) - Military investigators will review interrogations of terrorism suspects involving an Air Force translator charged with spying for Syria, defense officials said Thursday.
The security probe at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp also will try to determine if Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi influenced any of the prisoners through his alleged improper contacts with them, officials said.
On Capitol Hill, the chairman of a Senate subcommittee said he would hold hearings into whether the U.S. military had been infiltrated by Muslim extremists or terrorists. Arizona Republican Jon Kyl, head of the Judiciary subcommittee on terrorism, said the Pentagon should investigate that issue as well.
Al-Halabi, 24, is charged with espionage and aiding the enemy for, among other things, allegedly e-mailing information about the Cuban base and its prisoners to someone he knew was "the enemy." Air Force officials have not identified that enemy either to the public or to al-Halabi's defense lawyers.
The airman, a native of Syria, also is accused of having improper contacts with the Syrian government and planning to send classified information to his native country. Syrian officials deny any connection to al-Halabi, and he denies being a spy or a terrorist.
Army Capt. Yousef Yee, a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, also was arrested earlier this month as part of the security investigation. Yee, 35, has not been charged but is behind bars at a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C.
At least one other member of the military at Guantanamo Bay is under investigation in the probe, defense officials say.
Pentagon officials said Thursday they don't know how much damage al-Halabi may have done. He spent about nine months as a translator at the base, arriving in November 2002. He was arrested July 23 after arriving in Jacksonville, Fla., on his way back to his home base in California.