The Baklava Identity

Strange doings in Gitmo, now with the arrest of an Air Force translator on charges of spying. The Syrian-born airman is charged with secreting away maps of the prison along with letters from prisoners in advance, the Air Force claims, of delivering the info to the -- still unnamed -- enemy.

That and Ahmad I. Halabi is said to have given unauthorized pastry to prisoners. If Halabi is a spy, he is an incredibly bad one.

Comments

[JDM]

"Why on earth would he deliver maps of Guantanamo to Syria?"

Not because members of the Syrian government have any Islamic terrorist contacts, that's for sure. We know that only al-Qaeda is interested in harming the US, and there is a bright line separating al-Qaeda cells from the rest of the Islamic terrorists, even though al-Qaeda is well know to be a loosly linked affiliation of Islamic terror cells, right?

"Just because he was syrian does not mean the maps were going to syria."

From the article:

"In court papers, military authorities allege that Senior Airman Ahmad I. Halabi, 24, attempted to deliver sensitive information to Syria, including more than 180 notes from prisoners, a map of the installation, the movement of military aircraft to and from the base, intelligence documents and the names and cellblock numbers of captives at the prison in Cuba."

So yes, he was trying to deliver the map, etc to the Syrian government, according to the military authotities (according to the Washington Post.)

[Stephen Fetchet]

JDM - that's probably just made up information geared toward taking away our civil liberties under PATRIOT. It was probably seized from the Airman's library account at his local public library. I blame it on Ashcroft.

Besides, the airman was just helping the poor imprisoned alleged moslem fighters from Al Qaida (a group alleged to have attacked someone, somewhere, once) exercise their First Amendment rights. They wanted to speak to their colleagues and associates in Al Qaida, and he was helping them. See? They were just exercising their right of freedom of association. No problem.

[thoreau]

All I meant is that I don't see how those maps would be useful to Syria or to any terrorist group. Guantanamo is a very secure facility with a lot of US Marines inside. I can't imagine that Syria or any terrorist group would have the resources to get people into Guantanamo, rescue the prisoners, and get out of there without the prisoners and rescuers being killed. Even if they had maps, it still doesn't seem plausible.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not suggesting that the spy should get any leniency just because there's no way his spymasters could use that information. Far from it. I'm just relieved that he wasn't bright enough to work on obtaining things that terrorists might find more useful, e.g. info on US operations in the Middle East, technical designs for weapons systems, or maps of facilities on the US mainland (which would presumably be easier to hit, hence the US moved the prisoners to Guantanamo).

In other words, thank God he didn't deliver them anything useful!

[Madog]

Even if he did get them say, technical specifications for US air to air missles, could Syria actually manufacture them? Pakistan's probably the only muslim country that could create copies from stolen plans, and even then it would probably take them years of development and whatnot.

[Anonymous]

"Pakistan's probably the only muslim country that could create copies from stolen plans, and even then it would probably take them years of development and whatnot."

So therefore it's OK for a soldier in the US army to steal these plans & deliver them to Pakistan or whoever ? Is that what you are saying ?

[thoreau]

No, it's not OK.

We're just saying that a smart spy would deliver something that's of more immediate use, like info on weaknesses in the mainland (which, for obvious reasons is less secure than Guantanamo, hence the prison is located there), or info on US operations in the Middle East. Why take a risk on info that your spymasters can't use?

And we're breathing a sigh of relief that the spy was too stupid to deliver something his spymasters could actually make use of. But that doesn't change the fact that he delivered classified information to a hostile intelligence agency.

[Madog]

Sounds like he was treating them like human beings, the bastard.

If they're anything like the Nazi prisoners my grandfather guarded, most of them are probably ordinary guys with a few die hard fanatics mixed in.

[joe]

The arrest and the guilty plea will be front page news. The intervening reduction of the charges to pastry stealing will not make the papers.

[John J. Coupal]

Madog says most of them are probably ordinary guys...

The US government transfers them from Afghanistan to Cuba, and considers them "ordinary guys"?

Sounds like a lot of transportation fuel to move "ordinary guys" around.

[dude]

Wonder why Syria would be interested in maps of Gitmo. . . anyway, hope he and that Yee guy actually get a trial at some point rather than being disappeared down the enemy combatant black hole.

[Anonymous]

"Sounds like a lot of transportation fuel to move "ordinary guys" around."

Yeah, but it's not like most of that money came out of their own pocket or anything. It's pretty easy to spend other people's money.

[Madog]

Well, ordinary for Afghanistan, as opposed to suburban America. I'm suggesting that most of them were Taliban, etc. becuase they thought it was a way to make their lives better and survived in an otherwise fucked up country.

That's why I chose Nazi soldiers to compare them to. After the war they returned home and went back to being farmers and shopkeepers, and factory workers. It was the SS that were the true believers and the troublemakers.

[Stich]

Gee, let's not just rush to judgement on this. Might be something to this and there might not be. That army hand grenade tossing sympathizer in Kuwait probably was just watching too many Bevis and Butthead episodes.

[thoreau]

Hmm...

He could very well be guilty. But a question:

Why on earth would he deliver maps of Guantanamo to Syria? As if Syria, or any other Middle Eastern nation, could actually succeed in penetrating the base and getting the prisoners out. If he is a spy, his spymasters should have slapped him and said "Idiot! Get us something we can actually use!" (e.g. info on US operations in the Middle East, designs of weapons so the Syrians can improve their weapons)

Then again, nobody ever said that traitors are the brightest bulbs on the scoreboard.

[Anonymous]

Just because he was syrian does not mean the maps were going to syria.

maybe they were going to castro? I bet fidel would love to accidentally blow up a crucial waall that might allow some of the captive to escape. maybe they were going to his nephew as an early Eid present?

[Kramer Zak]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
IP: 62.213.67.122
URL: http://www.enlargement-for-penis.com
DATE: 01/25/2004 04:52:46
Study as though you will not reach, as if you may lose it.