The Army has a message for Capt. James Joseph Yee: Keep your mouth shut. Mr. Yee, you'll recall, was the army's Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until he was arrested last year on suspicion of spying. Mr. Yee was held for more than two months while the military dragged his name through the mud, but he was never charged with more than mishandling of classified materials, and the Army finally dropped all charges against him -- save administrative sanctions for adultery and downloading pornography from the Internet. On Wednesday, Mr. Yee won his bid to have the reprimand that had been issued to him removed from his record. Yet the Army has also gone out of its way to continue smearing him, writing letters to newspapers -- including this one -- that implied that Mr. Yee was, in fact, dangerous, and argued that it was "Yee, not the Army, who sullied his reputation as a Chaplain and a military officer." And behind the scenes, it turns out, the Army has done its best to make sure that Mr. Yee doesn't respond.

Earlier this month, when Mr. Yee returned to his permanent base at Fort Lewis, Wash., he was handed a memo titled "Duties, Responsibilities, and Standards of Conduct." This document helpfully reminded him that "Like any soldier, you are permitted to exercise your First Amendment rights to free speech." But it then went on to explain: "Speech that undermines the effectiveness of loyalty, discipline, or unit morale is not constitutionally protected. Such speech includes, but is not limited to, disrespectful acts or language, however, expressed, toward military authorities or other officials. Adverse criticism of [the Defense Department] or Army policy that is disloyal or disruptive to good order and discipline is similarly limited." For good measure, the memo concludes that "compliance" with its terms "is an order."

It is true that active-duty military officers accept limits on their free-speech rights. Military law forbids contemptuous words directed against the president and other specified state and federal officers, for example, not to mention disrespect toward superior officers and conduct that discredits the military. But the order to Mr. Yee appears broader than the restrictions actually in the Uniform Code of Military Conduct, and the Army did not respond to our inquiries as to its legal basis. How exactly could Mr. Yee talk in public about what must have been a nightmarish few months without risking undermining the loyalty of his listeners? Merely to describe a case that began with allegations of mutiny, sedition, and espionage and ended with adultery is to criticize it, after all. The military ought, at this stage, to be apologizing to Mr. Yee instead of muzzling him with one hand while continuing to tar him with the other.

Yee's Case Proves It: Power Corrupts

By Robert L. Jamieson Jr.
©2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
April 16, 2004

When we look back in history for an example of how petty and malicious the U.S. government can be, the persecution of Army Capt. James Yee will stand out like a skunk at the family picnic.

The government's case against Yee can be summed up in an acronym that military folks know quite well. FUBAR -- "Flubbed" Up Beyond All Recognition.

Even after the military last month dropped its long- standing criminal charges against Yee -- having accused him of possible espionage -- officials couldn't leave well enough alone.

They pumped life into claims that Yee, a Muslim chaplain from Fort Lewis, was involved in adultery and pornographic computer activity.

It was as if they were saying, why not keep dumping on the guy?

Why not keep shooting bullets at his character to discredit him among Muslims?

Why not turn public opinion against him and prompt people to write letters and Op-Ed pieces that lambaste him?

"Yee did what government investigators said he did," a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reader fumed to me in an e-mail. "Seems to me that it's Yee, and not the government, that needs to apologize."

Yee should apologize for nothing, especially since Uncle Sam this week dropped the picayunish claims of adultery and pornography, clearing him.

One can only imagine what Yee's critics -- and Army brass -- are thinking now.

How quickly this case, which began with Yee as a public enemy, collapsed like a house of cards. Adding insult to injury was the way in which Army Gen. James Hill, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, verbalized the government's hasty retreat on Tuesday.

Hill said: "While I believe that Chaplain Yee's misconduct was wrong, I do not believe, given the extreme notoriety of his case in the news media, that further stigmatizing Chaplain Yee would serve a just and fair purpose."

The good general has made bovine scatology -- tossing around b.s. -- high art.

Parsing Hill's words, it appears the government suspected its treatment of Yee was unjust, unfair. Yee spent 76 days in custody. At one point, Yee's lawyers tell me, Yee was blindfolded, shackled like a dog.

In a letter to President Bush, Yee's lawyer said that while he was incarcerated, Yee's guards refused to tell him the time of day and direction to Mecca.

What is worse, Hill huffily blamed the media for keeping Yee's story in the spotlight, where it belonged. The general should have better used that energy saying the government was sorry.

But it seems much easier for the government to maintain its wayward iron grip to the end. No sooner was Yee freed than he was given strict orders. "You may not wear a military uniform while participating in any speaking engagement or providing public commentary," an Army memo warned.

The chilly memo to Yee also said he "must adhere to strict laws and regulations governing public speaking and public commentary." And it reminded him that speech undermining "the effectiveness of loyalty, discipline or unit morale is not constitutionally protected." Uncle Sam basically wants Yee to zip his lips.

I wonder if the Army thinks its dismissal of charges can easily erase its scarification of the Yee family.

An e-mail I received last night answered that question.

"My wife and I are very happy that the Army has wiped the slate clean as far as James' record is concerned," Joseph Yee, James' father, told me.

He wasn't done. Joseph was angry the government refuses to come out and acknowledge its mistake. Like me, he is puzzled that the military last month dropped criminal charges against his son, citing "national security concerns" that could have arisen had the matter gone to court. The feds feared a public hearing might have exposed sensitive government secrets.

I have a hunch they were just being sensitive about airing dirty laundry, as in dubious prosecution tricks.

This week the government dropped the adultery and pornography charges based on "media attention" and what was described as "a matter of mercy and equity."

Mercy? Equity? No wonder Yee's father is in a funk.

"This is mercy because they will no longer prosecute him?" Joseph Yee said in the e-mail. "This is equity from the 76 days of confinement in a military brig and the hell that he and his family went through? Where is (James') career now and what is his future? Who leaked the original accusations of espionage and dragged this case for six months? Where is the vindication, the clearing of his name, and above all, an apology?"

Are you listening Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld? President Bush?

Joseph's son deserves to be known for who he is -- not for how the government tried to paint him.

The public should know this James Yee.

He is a proud graduate of West Point. He has two brothers, both of whom are also military men and officers. Together, the Yee family forms a living portrait of honor, duty and sacrifice.

He works hard. He serves our country.

He is well liked by neighbors in the Olympia area. In spite of his ordeal, he speaks well about the military. Still.

He is a loving husband of a wife who survived the crushing weight of this witch hunt. He is the father of a cute little girl. And a devout Muslim.

James Yee is also this: a victim of America.

And the cover-your-butt U.S. government that assailed him and abused its power is too wimpy -- or embarrassed -- to admit the terror of its ways.