: Muslim Chaplain At Guantanamo Becomes A Detainee Himself

Over the past year, Muslim soldiers in the US military have served with distinction and even made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Unfortunately, there are Muslims who taint us all with their behavior, and only time will tell if the news surrounding Muslim chaplain Yousef Yee – who tended to suspected Al-Qaida prisoners at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba – will put him in one camp or the other. Under great secrecy, Yee was arrested this weekend on suspicion of becoming too sympathetic to the situation the detainees find themselves in. While there are few details in the arrest, it seems that Yee left the camp upon completion of his service with diagrams of the prison and detainee locations. Yee now shares space with fellow Americans Yaser Hamdi (fought with the Taliban) and Jose “Dirty Bomb” Padilla. Yee converted to Islam while a student at West Point, studied Islam and Arabic in Syria, then returned to the Army as one of 17 Muslim chaplains. While there are many more examples of Muslims performing their duties in the military without incident, even if Yee escapes the legal no-mans-land in which he finds himself, it marks yet another unneeded blow to the American Muslim community.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.