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Guantanamo translations get second lookOfficials: Spying allegations call airman's work into question
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials are re-examining audio tapes of interrogations carried out at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility that were translated by an airman accused of spying, U.S. defense sources told CNN on Saturday. Because Air Force Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi faces more than 30 charges -- including espionage, aiding the enemy and making false statements -- his translations of testimony from suspected al Qaeda and Taliban detainees are no longer considered reliable, the officials said. Al-Halabi, a Syrian-American, stands accused of spying for parties inside Syria. The Syrian government denies any connection with him. U.S. defense, law enforcement and intelligence interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility known as Camp Delta use translators to convert questions from English to Arabic and answers from Arabic to English. The interrogations, which can last hours, are taped. Since al-Halabi's credibility has been questioned, all of the interrogations that he translated will be translated by others, said officials who asked that they not be identified. It was not clear how many interrogations were involved. "If the subject answered 'five' and [al-Halabi] told interrogators he said 'four,' then you have a problem," said one official familiar with the review. The same official suggested that any deliberate mistranslation by al-Halabi of the detainees' responses could damage the intelligence-gathering process, resulting in people being sent off in inappropriate directions. Al-Halabi was taken into custody July 23, but authorities did not announce his arrest until late last month. He is being held at a prison facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Also in custody on suspicion of espionage, but not charged, is Army Capt. James Yee, who worked on the Guantanamo base as a chaplain. Yee is a Chinese-American who converted to Islam after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. A senior defense official told CNN on Saturday that the investigation into the apparent infiltration of the remote Guantanamo Bay facility is ongoing and indicated that more arrests may come. Court documents obtained by CNN indicate that the offenses allegedly committed by al-Halabi at Guantanamo occurred between December 20, 2002 and July 23. He is also charged with offenses at Travis Air Force base in California in September and November, which allegedly occurred before he reported for duty at Camp Delta. CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Plante contributed to this report.
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