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| Ex-Guantanamo Bay Translator Indicted |
| 2003-11-13 |
| A former Guantanamo Bay translator arrested after he was found with classified documents at Logan International Airport was charged Wednesday with gathering defense information and making false statements. The grand jury’s indictment alleges that Ahmed Fathy Mehalba, who has been in federal custody since his arrest, lied to investigators when he told them he was not carrying any government documents from Guantanamo Bay. Customs agents found 132 compact discs in his luggage, including one that contained hundreds of classified documents labeled "SECRET." Awkward, those. He also allegedly lied about not understanding the meaning of the term "secret" with regards to the classified documents and about not receiving a security briefing. The security briefing will be documented, that’s SOP. "As today’s indictment makes clear, the Department of Justice will prosecute those who jeopardize the nation’s security by mishandling classified, sensitive information important to the war on terrorism," Attorney General John Ashcroft said. Mehalba, 31, was arrested Sept. 29 as he arrived in Boston after visiting his Only 30 years? He’s getting off cheap. A phone call to the Boston office of his attorney, Michael Andrews, was not answered. I wouldn’t want to talk about this moron either. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 "If you choose to live in a country, then you are obligated to defend it," he said. (from Steve's post) How true this is. Unfortunately I personally know that many people who come to live here would not lift a finger to defend this country (Canada, US, take your pick). The ultimate test of citizenship, we may yet get a chance to use it. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2003-11-13 3:17:08 PM |
| #3 Customs agents found 132 compact discs in his luggage, including one that contained hundreds of classified documents labeled "SECRET." They used to execute traitors like this |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-11-13 2:09:36 PM |
| #2 You're wrong, Anonymous: Muslim Defends U.S., Land He Loves It took 14 surgeries, one of them lasting 11 hours, to repair the damage done to Sgt. Wasim Khan's right leg when a rocket-propelled grenade tore into his ammunition truck during a June battle in Iraq. Then there were two more surgeries to repair an eye. Khan, 27, still has marks on his arms and other parts of his body hit by shrapnel. But the worst damage was to his leg, where, Khan says, "It looked as though someone had spooned out a big chunk of it." Yesterday, Khan, who is a practicing Muslim and who prays five times a day on a small rug in the Richmond Hill apartment he shares with his cousin, Mohammed Nasim, stretched out on a couch, his wounded leg propped on a plump pillow. He showed me pictures taken at the hospital, including one with President George W. Bush and Bush's wife, Laura. "They were great," said Khan, who was born in Pakistan and arrived in America in 1997. "The president sat on my bed and shook hands with me and thanked me for fighting for the country and then he called me 'my fellow American.'" Khan has been in the Army for more than five years and still has two more years to go. He talks about signing on for another stint because he loves being in the Army and especially with the First Armored Division soldiers who were his tent mates. And he is proud now to be an American citizen, taking the oath at a ceremony in the hospital. "If you choose to live in a country, then you are obligated to defend it," he said. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-11-13 2:03:44 PM |
| #1 I'm terribly ambivelant about this. Part of me says all practicing muslims in the military should be on orders to Greenland or the South Pole. The other part of me says send them through airborne school without a parachute. Decisions, decisions. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-11-13 1:27:38 PM |